Candace Ortiz: Single Mother Struggling to Get By With Two Sons
“This virus is so negative, and I hope this is over soon so I can obtain my degree and seek out jobs to work for my family to get their needs met.”
When Youth Voice Program Manager Raquel Wilson put out a call to current and former foster youth to tell us their stories of how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted their education or career paths, we were hopeful a few essays would trickle in. Instead, dozens of young people from California to Texas to Illinois and New Jersey have shared with us their fears and struggles, as well as their optimism in the face of the terrifying unknown.
The devastating outbreak, and the upheaval it has caused, is resulting in emotions that are not unfamiliar for young people who have spent time in foster care. They know about abrupt life changes, being uprooted, scarcity, feeling like there is nothing certain in the world around them.
But because of that lived experience, they are also expert navigators. They look for the way forward, any way. They know they’ll make it through because they’ve done that before. In this way, we hope our readers will appreciate these essays – written from quarantined dorm rooms and unemployment lines – for the wisdom, optimism and clear vision they provide us all.
“This virus is so negative, and I hope this is over soon so I can obtain my degree and seek out jobs to work for my family to get their needs met.”
“You go to college, have study sessions with some friends in your favorite spots on campus, find an amazing internship that gives you a head start in your career. I had all of this until the effects of COVID-19 brought all of that to a halt.”
“Everyone I have reached out to and expressed my instability in life has had one of two reactions. One: They try and help. Two: They tell me about other people who have it worse.”
“My straight A’s that I had been maintaining are starting to look a bit unrealistic during this crazy stressful time and the online structure we are now working with.”
“We get sick easier, it affects us more, and it takes us longer to recover. Just by going out and looking for a job, youth in similar situations could be putting their very lives at risk.”
“The system put into place to protect us continues to fail – and forget – us.”
“I’m struggling with adjusting to online classes, because it’s so hard to focus on a computer while I have so many things to worry about – will I not be able to pay some of my bills?”
…”For kids in this situation what we can do is provide them a hotline or somebody they can talk to.”
“I’ve been overcome with emotion as these constrictions have brought up many feelings of my past as a foster child: the constant change, the rules, the unknown and the limit of being near the ones I love.”
These youth shared their stories in mid-April about how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting their higher education goals and careers.
“School is where I’m able to focus and actually thrive with my peers helping and encouraging me. The coronavirus has minimized my ability to be successful in the classroom.”
“Living independently, I have been a one-man operation since I reached self-sufficiency. Now I’m in the unfortunate position of relying on aid from others for those basic necessities.”
“My guidance counselor always tells me that family is not defined by blood, family is what you make it. I chose to create a family for myself and that was school. Having a place to escape to, a place where I feel seen and most importantly heard is my school.”
I am the sole and full caretaker of my sister, who has lived with me for the past two years. I hope and pray that I don’t have COVID-19 or pass it on to her as she has asthma and has needed breathing treatments since age 3.
“We get sick easier, it affects us more, and it takes us longer to recover. Just by going out and looking for a job, youth in similar situations could be putting their very lives at risk.”
“First off, it is extremely weird to have to work from home. I find it more difficult to get motivated to wake up and say to myself, ‘Well, it’s time to get to work.””
“I had about a month to prepare my application, three letters of recommendation, my letter of intent, submitting all of my transcripts, and taking and submitting a GRE exam.”
“I’m worried that there’s someone out there who needs our resources and help finding shelter or a job or wanting to know how to fill out a form, and we’re unavailable, and then they go downhill.”
“I would see my friends heading home where they had parents and a family who loved them. I would go home to my little room and my dog.”
“From classes being canceled and starting spring break earlier than planned, everything I knew then was floating above me in the air. I felt unstable and unbalanced.”
These youth shared their stories in early April about how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting their higher education goals and careers. Their unique stories launched this series.
“As a foster youth with limited support, I knew that I had been playing with fire, but it was all worth my dream of one day becoming a physician.”
“Being a former foster youth, there is one thing that you learn and that is to find your strength and fight to make yourself and the world better.”
“In hopes that the pandemic will come to a close eventually, I have begun obtaining the resources necessary to continue on the path of college graduation.”
“Toward the end of winter term, I had heard about something that caused growing concern throughout the world, though I had no idea just how big of an impact it would have on me.”
“By the end of this year I will be a professor, a principal, and have earned a master’s degree in education administration … or, will I?”
“This pandemic made me realize that I have never been on an equal playing field as my peers. I don’t want to keep living off the snacks from the Next Up office at Bakersfield College.”
“I had subconsciously been planning to distract myself from the negative parts of my life, and found out it was more difficult than ever to distract myself from them.”
“The opportunities I’ve had to make others’ lives better is something I will never take for granted. With situations like the COVID-19 outbreak making it very difficult to think optimistically, I know that this too shall pass.”
“Sure, we have technology where we can communicate or see our friends and loved ones, but it is not comparable to life with in-person interactions.”
“If I’ve learned anything from this pandemic, it’s that we need to truly appreciate all that we have, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed – especially not now.”