Merissa A. / Always push to make sure you know your rights.

Merissa speaks on her biggest challenge she faced in foster care. She had undiagnosed ADHD and that caused a lot of her needs to get ignored. She was falling behind in classes and honestly thought she was not capable of doing anything great and it really affected her mental health. She would take classes and fail them over and over again, and even when she had motivation for a few weeks the cycle would always repeat. It was hopeless. Then she finally decided to listen to her schools support system (EOPS and their foster youth she services) and seek help. She finally found out she had ADHD. They were able to prescribe her a medication that helps her think clearly and also teach her how to manage her time better and face procrastination.

Navigating the foster care system, one of the most difficult part she faced in the foster care system was being separated from her siblings. When she was about 16. So when she turned 18 she had moved out and left Oregon. She had to leave her little siblings there without her, which her younger brother is still there. This is still constantly hard on her because she can't see him as much as she'd like. They also refuse to let her see him only sometimes and it's at their will. As a sibling she have no rights since he's in guardianship and in another state.

She think the general public should share foster youth stories. Donate to local organizations , such as foster nation, IFoster, or similar organizations. Even consider volunteering at an event. There are many ways they can help. They can also sign petitions and just stay updated and informed of issues they are going through.

"Told me more about everything I could have qualified for when I left the home. I also wish it was mandatory for social workers to make sure I had everything I needed. We had to use our own money to buy hygiene items and feminine products and we didn't have money so we often so had to find substitutes..."

Merissa wishes people understood she would much rather live with a supportive family and be with her siblings than move every other year with different roommates. Yes foster youth get grants to help us, but we really need them to survive and it also isn't really enough, depending on situations. She would like to see more support for students getting their masters degree. She’s not there yet, but she know not many of them get there so It would be cool if we can get support.

She speaks on the barriers she faced getting a college degree because of ADHD and her housing situation. She isn’t even in stable housing right now, but she’s learning to manage her outside life. As bad as things are for her right now, she do not want her life to suck forever. She want to provide for her younger brother and help him be successful for himself. She want to show her siblings that they can do it. She want to show them what it means to be worthy of doing amazing things because for a long time she thought she wasn't worth anything.

While in care she found comfort learning about organizations. She’s involved with Continuum of cares Youth Action Board ,she’s doing an IFoster AmeriCorps Internship. She also was part of and NFYI and was a congressional delegate last year. She got to shadow a congress member and ask him about what he does about foster care issues in his area.

She is most proud she did things way out of her comfort zone to be apart of change. She’s socially awkward- yet she was on a plane to Washington DC to talk to a congressmember about her thoughts of foster care. She protested Gavin Newsom’s budget cuts and spoke in a hearing, and even got interviewed by a news station. She was horrified? Very. But it was for a very good cause and she’s not just looking out for her anymore but everybody.

Her advice to those in foster care now is:

"Take advantage of all the resources. Go to ILP. do all the sessions. Always push to make sure you know your rights."

She envisions herself a master degree. Hopefully some sort of stable housing. A more reliable car. A job in resources or something similar. Her goal is to make her siblings and herself proud.