Crystal's Story

Years ago my Mother told me something that sparked my interest in child care. She informed that as children move through the foster system, from house to house, they lose their personal belongings. Usually these children have no place to store their things, such as a suitcase. They lose all childhood photos and toys, and even clothing; many times they are left only with the clothes on their backs. Crystal Martinez is an 18 year old who has lost most of her belongings. She was neglected and abused by her biological family and was taken in by the Texas Child Protective Services at age seven. Three years ago, in 2009, she was sent to the San Antonio residential treatment center.
When she completed her treatment six months later, she went to go claim her belongings from the State, that had taken them in plastic bags when she was seven years old. It was then when she realized that most of what they had taken had been lost. Luckily, Crystal found help in a woman named Mary Christine Reed, who helped her track down two boxes (half-full) of her personal belongings, which was a far cry from what she had given them. There are 30, 000 children in the system and this scenario is very common. However, these children are not as fortunate as Crystal, and often times never see their mementos. Hopefully, more people will see these types of stories and do something about it. A solution to this problem would be to provide suitcases and/or storage bins to foster children. At the time when my Mother informed me of this problem we planned to create a foundation to do just that, it did not happen. I still hope to one day create some kind of program to help children in the system with these types of problems.

Courtesy of the New York Times