{"id":98845,"date":"2016-08-12T12:00:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-12T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=98845"},"modified":"2019-08-12T01:27:12","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T06:27:12","slug":"olympian-simon-biles-adoption-story-challenges-us-to-consider-those-in-foster-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/olympian-simon-biles-adoption-story-challenges-us-to-consider-those-in-foster-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympian Simone Biles’ adoption story challenges us to consider those in foster care"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When 19-year-old Olympian Simone Biles does her signature move, the “Biles,” crowds go crazy. \u00a0Fans may adore the 4 foot 9 inch, three- time world all-around champion, but no one is as proud as her parents. Simone’s parents have been with her from the early days of seeing her tumble in their living room to witnessing her rise as one of the world’s greatest athletes. What makes Simone’s family unique is the fact that her committed and loving parents are also her grandparents.<\/p>\n

Simone was born to a drug addicted mother. Her mother’s abuse placed\u00a0Simone and her siblings into the foster care system. When Simone was three years old, her maternal grandfather Ron and his wife Nelly took her, her\u00a0younger sister Adia, and two older siblings into their home. The children remained with their grandparents temporarily for two years until their mother lost parental rights. At that point Ron and Nelly adopted Simone and her sister Adia and Ron’s sister adopted the two older siblings.<\/p>\n

While Simone’s story is inspiring, to her it’s simply normal. She told<\/a> TIME magazine,<\/p>\n

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When I was younger, I thought every kid was adopted…I didn\u2019t understand why people made it such a big deal. To me it\u2019s just normal.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Simone may not see her story as a big deal yet, but it’s an important one because she publicly represents thousands of children whose stories we don’t often hear. According to the 2014 latest statistics<\/a> from the\u00a0U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau, approximately\u00a0415,129 children are in foster care.\u00a0\u0083 Out of 415,129 children, 29% are placed in relative foster family homes.<\/p>\n

Similar to Simone’s experience, there are other beautiful stories of children in foster care finding forever families. My friend Natalie and her son Braxton<\/a>\u00a0are an example of a foster to adopt success story. However, other children will age out of the system still yearning for families\u00a0to call their own. \u00a0CNN reports<\/a> that in\u00a02012,\u00a023,439 children in foster care turned 18<\/a> and were “aged out” or “emancipated” in the U.S. For young women who ‘age out,’ stats<\/a> show 71% of them will become pregnant by the age of 21.<\/p>\n

Children who’ve been through the foster care system are sharing about the stigma that goes along with it. The Storyboard project <\/a>is an initiative co-founded by a former foster youth, Jasmine Torres. Through engaging videos, young people in the foster care system are offering insight into their lives in hopes to change the perspective of others and reduce the stigma.<\/p>\n