We would like to introduce you to Brandi Brooks, a 26-year-old former foster youth at Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries. Brandi was placed in foster care in 2009 after having a poor relationship with her parents.
“I moved around homes a lot in the system,” Brandi said. “I went to three different houses at Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries, and then left Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries to live with a friend. Then, I moved around Butterfield Youth Services four different times.” Brandi lived in eight different homes over a four-year period in foster care.
While living at Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries Brandi has fond memories of learning to communicate and feeling loved. “I was really sick one time – and I had to stay in my room so I didn’t get the other kids sick. My foster dad came in and sat down and we colored pictures together. That was my moment of realizing ‘they actually want me here and understand what’s going on.’”
Brandi kept moving around until she eventually decided to move back in with her mom. “I think that I mainly decided to move back in with my mom so I could get out of the system. I knew that if I rekindled that relationship, they would let me out.”
After graduating high school, Brandi had college plans, but did not end up going. “Right after I got college set up, I started using,” she said. “I got into the drug side of things because my situation at home got bad again. I had all the same influences, and more influences, with my stepdad using.”
“I ended up at Valley Hope in Boonville. I only lasted about a week before I became defiant and left, but then I never went back to using again. I’ve been clean ever since.”
After her experience in foster care, Brandi decided she wanted to give back what she was shown in foster care. Brandi says her happiest childhood memories were in foster care. “I learned how to communicate the most while in the foster care system. I’m still working on it, but I can remember one of my foster moms sitting down with me with a journal. We would pass that journal back and forth anytime I needed to talk without actually saying words. I want to be able to help another teenager that comes in and is as confused as I was.”
Today, Brandi is licensed as a Respite Provider through Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries. She works at Veteran’s United, and she’s engaged to her fiancé, Kaly. They just bought a house together, with more space for their four kids under the age of six.
“I think that the foster care system has made me who I am today and the mother that I am today.” said Brandi.
To learn more visit coyotehill.org/this-is-foster-care.
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