| Subject: Finding a forever home |
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Date Posted: Thursday, March 29, 09:30:13am
Alexandria, LA. (KALB) - Htet Htet Rodgers is a psychology major at Northwestern State University. She’s set to graduate in 2019 and is a contestant in the upcoming Miss Louisiana Pageant. But life wasn’t always grand for Rodgers.
Htet Htet Rodgers photo
She's originally from Burma (Myanmar), and was sent to the United States at 10 years old along with her brother to live with their extended family. “That wasn’t the best situation, either,” Rodgers says. "My Aunt was a drug addict and alcoholic. We had to be removed from the home."
Foster care was the next step, and she remained in the system for six years. Htet Htet was grateful for the chance to be a part of a better environment. "Foster care became a haven for me,” she says. “A lot of kids never get that opportunity. It gave me a forever family. Having that security from my foster mother was something that I imagined I would never get."
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, children eligible for adoption will wait, on average, four years for an adoptive family. And those who age out at 18 years old are left without the emotional and financial support necessary to become thriving adults.
Htet Htet also says that abandonment is a real concern for many children in foster care, as well. “This fear that you can or cannot trust this person if they might just leave you on the side of the road one day,” she says. “The conflicting ideas they face. It's trauma. It creates emotional disruption.”
Htet Htet says she was fortunate to find a foster home with the necessary support, and it's now her life's mission to make sure someone else gets an even better opportunity.
She had the chance to interact with foster kids as a Peer Support Representative and later worked with the National Foster Youth Institute in Washington, D.C. From there, she helped to introduce legislation aimed to improve the lives of foster children and learn political procedures from leaders like Louisiana’s Fifth Congressional District Representative, Ralph Abraham. “She is everything that we look for in a leader,” Abraham says. “Young people like Htet Htet can only make a positive influence. They come in with so much energy, and so much passion.” Rodgers credits Abraham and U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy for being inspired to go to law school, and eventually run for Congress.
The name ‘Htet Htet’ means ‘to be Intelligent or sharp’ in Burmese, and so far, she's living up to the name. The NSU student also has a message for those who are thinking of becoming a foster parent.
"At the end of the day, I don't believe anybody, whether they're a foster kid or not, can be the person that they are if they don't have a support system. Finances are great, resources are great...but if you don't have the belief that someone else in this world cares about you and you matter, you're not going to be able to use that stuff properly."
Htet Htet will participate in the 2018 Miss Louisiana Pageant set for June 21 in Monroe.
More statistics on foster care in the United States can be found in the related topics above.
http://www.kalb.com/content/news/Finding-a-forever-home--478060063.html
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