Episode 59: Foster Care and Higher Education: One Man's Story of Beating the Odds
The Forgotten Podcast
The Forgotten Initiative
4.9 • 532 Ratings
🗓️ 8 October 2018
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The statistics for youth who age out of foster care receiving a college degree are extremely disheartening—fewer than 5% finish a secondary education. Royce Markley beat the odds—as a child, he was in and out of foster care, eventually aging out of the system. His childhood was a roller coaster of emotions and situations, including times when his mom was doing what she needed to do to keep her kids to various foster care situations to several near adoptions, until an older couple offered him and his brother something they had never had before: stability. Royce’s story of frustration and determination to accomplish his goals, get his college degree and make a difference in the foster care community will inspire you!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Forgotten podcast, bringing voice to the foster care community. |
| 0:11.2 | There's a lot of sacrifice that goes into being successful in foster care, and there's a lot of |
| 0:15.8 | negotiation, I would say, at the best. And what I mean by at the best is that, you know, in the good foster homes, you can negotiate a lot of things and do pretty well for yourself and not have to sacrifice all of who you are. But in a lot of situations, and depending on how many homes you've burnt out, a lot of times you just end up in a place where you don't get to really choose who you are or what you want to do |
| 0:37.5 | or who you want to be. |
| 0:39.0 | This might be your last foster home that you have a chance in next stop is group home or next stop |
| 0:44.5 | is you be. |
| 0:49.5 | Hey, it's Jamie Cabe. |
| 0:51.1 | Welcome to the Forgotten Podcast. |
| 0:53.5 | Today we are going to hear from Royce |
| 0:55.3 | Markley, who spent the majority of his teenage years in foster care, and we also talk about |
| 1:01.2 | what it's like for kids once they age out of foster care. This conversation is so, so good. |
| 1:08.7 | Royce Markley is a 25-year-old foster care advocate and grad student from the state of |
| 1:13.7 | Oregon. Since the age of 16, he has been advocating for a better foster care system on the local |
| 1:21.2 | level and also the national level. In fact, at the age of 19, he was able to intern with the nonprofit Foster Club. |
| 1:30.8 | He continues sharing his experiences and advocates on his blog at fosterfight.com. |
| 1:37.5 | You can learn more about Royce and today's episode on our show notes page at the forgotten |
| 1:42.1 | initiative.org slash S5e9. That's for season |
| 1:47.5 | five episode nine. And if you haven't yet subscribed to the forgotten podcast, you can do that |
| 1:53.6 | today so that you never miss an episode. Let's go now to my conversation with Royce. |
| 2:06.1 | Okay. Let's go now to my conversation with Royce. Royce, I'm really happy to have you on with us. I cannot wait to hear more of your story. |
| 2:11.7 | You are an advocate for kids in foster care because you were once a child in foster care. |
| 2:17.3 | And actually, you have graduated |
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