One girl's journey through foster care focuses on perseverance
KEARNEY, Neb. — With more than five thousand children in the foster care system statewide, one of your friends, classmates or neighbors could be someone who has gone through it.
But what is it like for children to be in the foster care system?
In Kloreace Linke’s case, her time in foster care was about perseverance and triumph.
She was 16 years old and the oldest of her four siblings.
Linke said her and her family were living what was a normal life until it suddenly changed.
"Five including me were able to be placed in the same home. It was a special placement, a case-specific placement and so we ended up living with one of my high school teachers and her husband and daughter,” said Linke.
At the time of their adoption, Linke's youngest sibling was around 5 years old.
However, not long after the adoption, Linke’s parents won custody back of her siblings.
But she stayed in her new home and worked on taking care of herself, which is something she said many foster kids need to keep in mind.
"Their world is just flipped upside down and to be able to take care of themselves and understand that asking for help for themselves is okay, that they don't always have to be cleaning up everyone else's mess,” said Linke.
Kloreace Linke is now 23 years old with a psychology degree. She said her foster family and the resources she had from the Central Plains Center and PALS helped her get there.
Now she is on her way to getting an Education Specialist degree in school psychology.
"I think I found my calling because I’ll be able to advocate for maybe kids who are in foster care and do some of that early intervention."
Kloreace Linke gives another piece of advice to any child in foster care: Find someone you can trust and trust them.
She said sometimes it is hard to believe someone when they say they will be there, but you can find someone that will help you through it.
For a look into foster care from the administrative side, you can hear from Department of Health and Human Services and Boys Town representatives here.
