Growing up in the United States as a Haitian immigrant wasn’t so bad for me. I came to America as a permanent resident when I was 2 years old. Everyone from my family was an immigrant as well. I grew up learning English as my second language. I came up here with my father’s side of the family, so my mother was left in Haiti.
When I entered the foster care system at 12, I was always asked if I’d think I’d do better if my mother was involved in my life. I never knew the answer to that question. When I was placed in African American homes, I would always feel like I didn’t fit in because being a dark-skinned girl that’s not from America was challenging at times. People would always assume I was Black American. I tried to fit in constantly, but just couldn’t because I had a different culture. But everything went well regardless. When I was about 13, the agency I was in made sure to help my mother get documents to come to America to see if I would be best living with her. When I turned 14, I met my mother for the first time since I was 2 years old. I was so grateful that the agency helped me out with meeting my actual birth mother for the first time.
After reunification, my mother and I eventually didn’t get along that well. I was placed back into the system after just one year of living with my mom. I feel like the problem was that we were basically strangers to each other and treated each other as that instead of trying to build a relationship from all the years we missed together. Since I was back in the system, my green card and passport got lost with this new agency I was placed in. That did not sit well with me. Luckily, they were able to help me get an up-to-date green card. With the new green card, I was able to work and get a new social security card. Everything was good for me. They tried to help me even get my citizenship. I wasn’t able to really focus much on my citizenship just yet when I became pregnant because I could only focus on my child and the new family I was starting. So I aged out with housing for me and my family, but I wasn’t able to get my citizenship, which was a big regret of mine.
Overall, my experience in the system as a Haitian immigrant was bittersweet. The agencies I went to would make sure my documents were all up to date and even help me meet my mom for the first time. That was good, but going into a different American home and feeling like I would have to alter who I was in culture and, sometimes, personality was not great. Plus, I unfortunately wasn’t able to get my citizenship while being in care. Now, I have to pay about $800 just to get my citizenship, which could’ve been waived if I had gotten it while in care. I know not too many children get the same experiences as me and probably are not as lucky to come into America as a legal resident, but I do know being an immigrant child in the system has benefits.
