Catherine Konold

“My worst experience in foster care? After 9 years in the system, you can imagine how many awful experiences I had, and how difficult it can be to distill them into one worst experience. Instead, my life is a laundry list of worsts: the worst move I had to make, the worst physical abuse, the worst emotional abuse, the worst experience of being bullied at school because of my living circumstances, the worst time I was exploited for money... and ultimately, the worst aspect of how foster care still affects my functioning as an adult.

Through it all, the foster care system taught me that I could pick and choose what values and skills I wanted to carry with me from each home that I lived in. I have been able to make the most of those skills.

To those in the system now, remember that foster care is temporary. It's unlikely that you will experience anything as bad once you are out, so hang in there!”

-Catherine Konold, pictured at the Utah State Youth Council for Foster Youth Leadership Summit

#inspiration #believe #leadership #werise #fostercare #fosteryouth #ItGetsBetter #YouMatter #StrongerTogether #FosterNation