Email: Password

Forgot Password?
Create an account

Geylen

El Paso, Texas 

Hello! My name is Geylen and I am 20 years old. I am a junior in college and I am also working two jobs. I am a Youth Advocate and Event Planner at the Pride Center in El Paso, TX. The center prepares and provides resources for youth that are aging out of foster care. Some of the services we provide are housing referrals, medical services, job skills and referrals, and GED preparation courses. I enjoy planning summer activities for the youth and also sitting in as a foster care alumni representative at meetings as a voice for change. I also host Circle of Support meetings for youth. I’ve been an Advocate and a Voice for Youth for 6 years and it is my passion. We have recruited the fraternity in El Paso University to volunteer and mentor some of the youth in foster care. Some of these youth are in foster homes, shelters, or living on their own. I also attend parent preparation classes (MAPP) and talk to the prospective foster and/or adoptive parents about the children in care, my hope is that I’ve touched some, if not all, of them to do right by these children.

I was in foster care since age 7 with my four siblings. From age 7 to 17 years old I was in relative care and then from 17 to 18 years old I was in a foster home. In the foster home, my sister and I were living with 13 people and it was very difficult. We had to deal with different attitudes and personalities; the attention factor was greatly missing in this home. I felt like I had to watch over my sister, I felt obligated to parent and mentor her. Our foster parent could not focus on our emotional needs; all that was provided was food and shelter. What was ironic to me was that I was taken from my mother because of neglect and here I was in a foster home also feeling neglected. It did not feel like there was someone there that could provide me comfort or whom I could express my feelings to, I definitely did not receive the attention I needed.

My advice to all youth is that no matter what the situation, you have control of your future. Believing in something gives us the strength we need to succeed and overcome any obstacles. Do not repeat the past, STAY FOCUSED. And for, foster and adoptive parents please treat the child in your care as you would your own biological child. These children have lost and been through so much. These children need compassion, love, a sense of belonging, and most of all, we want to feel like we are a part of something.