A big city. A rural southern town. A multi-ethnic suburb.

Throughout my childhood, I grew up with a constant sense of displacement due to a series of relocations throughout my school years. When I tutored foster children through a non-profit organization that paired high school students with the youth, I felt an instant connection — the difficulty of adjusting to new environments, the pain of childhood trauma, the self-doubt and detachment were feelings I had experienced, even though I myself had never been in the system. While I was teaching the children about creative writing and complex chords on the piano, they were teaching me the power of resilience and the art of living in the moment.

It was during that phase that one student helped me discover a purpose and a passion much larger than I had ever felt. She told me how confusing the juvenile court system can be, how meetings with social workers and strangers are sometimes filled with awkward silences and mutual frustrations. As she described her experiences, I felt that there was a need to create resources to help these children, especially youth involved in the foster care system for the first time. What started as a simple seed of creating a children’s book to illustrate the court system grew into something much larger than I had ever conceived. After hundreds of hours and several months of research — interviewing Superior and Juvenile Court Judges, talking to Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), collaborating with staff from Georgia Office of the Child Advocate, taking photos of the Fulton County Juvenile Court to be replicated in my story and having meetings with various child welfare law specialists — I published the resources, including a fully illustrated children’s book and a CASA Activity booklet. It is hard to put into words just how many components went into making my little idea and vision come to life.

Not only did this project teach me so much about the juvenile court system, the inherent struggles that youth in the foster care system face, the important work that child welfare professionals are doing on the front lines every day, and about law in general, it also taught me so much about myself. It taught me the true meaning of perseverance and collaboration. It taught me about entrepreneurial and communication skills. It taught me the importance of believing in one’s idea. It made me realize that it doesn’t matter where — big city, southern town, diverse suburb — I will always strive to make a difference on the communities around me.