33 miles from Orange, California will take you to a seemingly distant and different world of South Los Angeles. Behind the curtains of freeways lie historical red-zones built to segregate people of color. Generations of families are kept in poverty, likely because underfunded schools and communities have exasperated violence and disease. Families struggle to overcome generational trauma and as a result, Los Angeles has the largest foster care system in the United States of America.
I spoke to Miriam Cortez-Cáceres, Program Coordinator of Peace4KidsLA, and a bright, resilient alumna of the Los Angeles foster care system. Peace4Kids is a non-profit organization, founded in 1988, that works as an ally to children and young adults in foster care. They’ve built a youth driven program to support children through choice-driven personal agency. Miriam is especially passionate about the work at Peace4Kids because of her lived experience in the foster system.
When Miriam was 9 years old, she and her siblings were removed from their parents home because of abuse and alcoholism. Her parents were undocumented, and her mom was a refugee of the Salvadorian Civil War. She says housing, security, poverty and unfair wages influenced the way her parents raised them. She reflects on the experience,
“I really believe at the core of my heart tried to be as present as possible with us, and as patient as they could. But these overwhelming obstacles in their lives had an effect in their relationship with us so they were addicted to drugs and there was alcoholism and there was a lot of abuse and violence going on in my household and that ultimately landed my siblings and I in the foster care system. So I entered when I was 9 years old, no idea where I was, why I was there. Just kind of waited at a police station for hours and hours. Then I was separated from my family.”
When Miriam was young, she believed she was inherently bad because of her circumstances and the stigma surrounding children in the system. She tells me through research, Peace4Kids learned that Americans believe the media describes children in foster care as victims, survivors, criminals, murderers and drug addicts. She wants people to see children and alumni of the foster care system as unique individuals with their own experiences, needs, talents and abilities.
“TO OVERCOME PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS, YOUTH IN FOSTER CARE MUST BE SUPER HUMAN.”
Peace4Kids is dedicated to creating a program that gives children and young adults the freedom of choice. Children enter foster care and have no advocacy over their home, their caregivers, their social worker, their lawyer, their healthcare providers and more. At Peace4Kids location in Watts, Los Angeles, children have a safe place “to come together, learn from each other and lift each other up.The whole intention is to make sure that young folks discover their voice, find a way to connect to community, and build value added relationships that will add to success.”
Through their initiative, Heroes Circle, you can donate monthly to support a child transitioning out of foster care. Once you are a member of the Heroes Circle, you will “be invited to exclusive events, receive a limited edition 20 Year Anniversary t-shirt, be inspired by stories of resilience, strength and promise from our Peace4Kids family, and #SeeTheHero in our youth!”
Below is a clip from my interview with Miriam. Please visit https://www.peace4kids.org/ for more information on their program.