mission

My goal is to use this solo circumnavigation to create a story that can be a light for youth who come from backgrounds like mine, demonstrating through the challenging act of sailing around the world that foster youth are capable of unlimited achievements. I sail to new places, connect with local communities, and find the best ways to make a difference in that location.

Additionally, I seek to increase awareness globally about foster care, to promote local organizations working with foster and at-risk youth, and to inspire more people to get involved with and support foster youth in their community.

 

FOSTER YOUTH CAN soar higher

Foster kids need more advocates. Most youth in foster care have to grow up too fast, knowing they only have themselves to rely on when they come of age. That leads to short-term thinking. Well-meaning but overloaded social workers are satisfied if youth age out of the system without addiction, homelessness, or teenage pregnancy. With such a middling definition of success, the ceiling for achievement seems low. It’s extremely rare for foster youth to attend or complete tertiary education, let alone come into the success and power that would allow them to become influential advocates for the next generation of foster kids. I’m incredibly privileged and lucky, and I want to use my voice to make a difference for them.

Throughout my sailing journey, I connect with communities of foster and at-risk youth and those who work with them. When I was in care, I never once met anyone who had left the foster care system and achieved success. I believe that just one story like mine has the power to encourage a young person to imagine a better future is possible for them, and that it is an option for them to follow their dreams. I’ve done this in classrooms and via Zoom summer camps, and am constantly seeking new ways to reach kids.

Foster Care, Selected Numbers

  • USA: 437,000 youth in care with >25% waiting to be adopted. Average age 8 years old.

  • New Zealand: 6,100 youth in care, 11.3% in non-home placements (i.e. group homes).

  • Australia: 45,756 youth in care, median age 8 years old. Indigenous children 8x rate of non-indigenous.

  • UK: 95,000 youth in care, 16% living in non-home placements. Need: 7,220 more foster homes.

  • Canada: 78,000 youth in care, little national accounting. Aboriginal children 7% of general population; 48.1% of foster children.