AUSTIN, Texas — Graduating high school and entering the unknown world without a family to call your own can be a scary process for a teenager in foster care.
But 17-year-old Alizeah isn't giving up hope in finding her people. She's been in foster care since she was 13, but she's hoping to enter this new chapter with a family.
“Especially being in foster care, it makes it feel like I’m another number or another person in the system. I don’t feel like I firmly belong," Alizeah said.
Spending even a few moments with Alizeah, it's very easy to tell she's an animal whisperer. KVUE's Hannah Rucker asked her why she loves animals so much.
"Because they’re so relatable. Even though we don’t understand them, I love looking for universal language," Alizeah said.
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Alizeah
Alizeah had the chance to spend the day at Safe in Austin, an animal rescue ranch that takes in all kinds of animals, including some rescued from horrific stories of abuse and others who born blind or with a disability.
Alizeah is about to graduate high school. She explained why it's so important to her to find a family to call her own before she ages out of the foster care system.
“I just feel like I want to feel accepted and like I’m a part of something. I want to be able to come home for Christmas to someone, or have a father to walk me down the aisle when I get married, or have people to take care of when they’re old," Alizeah said.
To learn more about Alizeah or to put in an inquiry to adopt her, visit her page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor's note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE's Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.