Above: Nakia, age 23, studying Psychology and English at Queens College

Where do you attend college and what are you studying?

Nikia: I go to Queens College and major in Psychology and have a minor in English.

Tell us about the day you moved into the dorms!

Nikia: The day I moved into the dorms was such a revolutionary feeling to have both my support systems helping me. They were so proud which helped to ease some of my anxiety. I met the housemates and they were ok. For the first few days I mainly stayed to myself.

Tell us about some of the classes you took this year! Which classes did you enjoy the most, and why? What was the most creative and interest assignment you had to complete?

Nikia: This year I have taken Art, and many English and Psychology courses. I believe the most interesting course I have had was English: Genre course. I learned about something I had never heard about, elegies. It was a great experience to attend a course where the professor kept the class alive.

We know college is hard! What was the most challenging part of living in the dorms and going to school?

Nikia: The most challenging part of doing both was the transition. As a child in foster care all of my life, I have had to move constantly. My last home has been my last home for over 7 years, so the anxiety of having to face a new element did not help me at first. Once you get your feet planted though, you learn how to maneuver in your everyday life of dorming and going to school.

What extracurricular events did you participate in?

Nikia: I attended a few workshops throughout the year. I especially enjoyed meeting a fellow Latino poet. His words made everyone mesmerized and it was an overall great experience.

How did your Resident Advisors and tutors help you navigate dorm living and college classes?

Nikia: My R.A’s helped make every obstacle a breeze. At times when I felt like I was out of place, my R.A would reassure me that although I was there by choice, I still was capable of great things and that I shouldn’t give up. Also, the R.A’s helped each other; if one was not available, regardless if that R.A was assigned to me, then I would still have someone to assist me in whatever I needed.

Tell us about your current (or previous or upcoming) jobs or internships—and what you hope to gain.

Nikia: I will be working as a camp counselor during the summer for Fresh Air Fund. I hope to gain the respect and enlightening experience that I am sure my R.A this semester, has received. As my R.A has been a model of patience, understanding, and respect, I hope to spread that on.

Click here to learn more about The New York Foundling’s efforts and role in the CUNY/ACS Fostering College Success Initiative.

Read the essays of other students by clicking their photos below:

On May 31, The Foundling welcomed about 30 foster youth to discover their passions, talk to professionals, and start planning their future careers.

At the annual Career Night event, held at The Foundling’s headquarters in Manhattan, teens were able to bring their resumes, get feedback, ask questions, and talk to professionals in various fields about what they do.

Several companies had tables at Career Night, including the FDNY, WeWork, Megpies, UPS, Spotify, CodeGreen, The Ink Well Foundation, and Greenhouse. Individuals and volunteers from Haddad Brands, Kaltura, Fortress Investment Group, Educo Consulting, Medical Link, and UBS were present as well. Myriad fields were represented thanks to professionals in the nursing, law, and journalism professions who also sat down with the teens.

The evening ended with raffles of game systems, accessories and gift cards.

Thank you to our many volunteers for helping to make this event a success for yet another year!

For the last two years, Linda Robbins has been donating her time and enthusiasm to caring for children every single week at The Foundling’s Crisis Nursery, the city’s only 24/7 care center where newborns and children are able to stay with fully trained staff while parents get their health and household back in order.

Linda devotes herself to making the children’s temporary stay as fun and nurturing as possible, from getting creative with arts and crafts, coloring, and reading stories to pitching in with laundry, making home-cooked meals and comforting the children.

As the parents are receiving the help that they need—potentially due to drug or alcohol abuse, domestic abuse situations, housing crises, etc.—Linda helps provides much-needed love and individualized attention to their children. She has even gone the extra mile to give extra attention where needed, like when a toddler was struggling with a speech delay.

The impact that she makes on young lives is tangible. You see the joy in children’s faces when Linda walks into the room on Wednesdays.

In an environment such as the Crisis Nursery, volunteers like Linda are critical. Every moment that the staff spends with these children can have a huge impact — and that’s certainly true with Linda. She will do anything to ensure children staying around the clock feel comforted, safe and loved in their temporary home.

Above: Foster parents enjoyed a night of food, dancing and raffles.

Each day, The New York Foundling’s foster parents give so much of themselves to care for kids in need of loving, safe homes. So on May 18, we made sure they knew how special they are at our annual Foster Parent Appreciation Night.

More than 100 foster parents from all five boroughs and all three of The Foundling’s foster care programs came together for an evening of fun at Astoria Complex Catering in Queens.

In addition to a warm welcome, the celebration included recognition of the more than 20 foster parents who have provided 15 years of service — and four who have been foster parents for more than 20 years.

During dinner, Brieanna Hayes and Rosie Williams, two former foster youth with You Gotta Believe’s “Nobody Ages Out” Advocates for Youth, talked about their life experiences, the important role of foster parents, and the need for more foster parents in New York City.

Foster parents spent the remainder of the night entering raffles and dancing.

To see photos from this year’s Foster Parent Appreciation Night, visit our Facebook page.

During the month of May, we celebrate National Foster Care Month. Here in New York City, The Foundling has about 700 foster children in our care at any given time.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of children are in need of temporary foster homes until they can be reunited with their parents and return to a safer, more stable home environment. To learn more about foster care and becoming a foster parent, visit The New York Foundling’s foster care page.

Cory Robbins, MSW, with The Foundling contributed to this blog post

The New York Foundling’s therapeutic teams are consistently working to learn new skills that can help the families and children they serve. And on May 11, 2017, one of the Kids Experiencing Young Success (KEYS) teams participated in one such activity, taking on the challenge of constructing a tower through only verbal communication.

KEYS, one of the many evidence-based therapeutic programs at The Foundling, provides in-home therapeutic services to families whose teens are at risk of falling out of school or being placed out-of-home due to behavioral challenges.

On May 11, one of the KEYS teams met for a quarterly skills training with their consultant from Pittsburgh, and as an ice breaker, they were split into two groups and given the task to make the tallest structure possible using only raw spaghetti and marshmallows. The groups had two minutes to verbally discuss their plans, and then four minutes to execute their plans and build their tower without talking.

The therapists were encouraged to do this activity with their families in session in order to help them strengthen their family’s teamwork and communication skills.

Pictured is Cory Robbins, MSW, Multisystemic Therapy Supervisor with the Bronx Team’s KEYS Program, posing with the winning tower, which the consultant said was “the best she’d ever seen.”