AUSTIN, Texas — Every week on KVUE, we feature a different child in Texas foster care in the hopes of helping them find a forever family to adopt them.
Ashley is a sweet and bubbly 16-year-old girl who is about to enter into her sophomore year of high school. She loves listening to music, and her favorite genres are hip hop, country and R&B.
KVUE's Hannah Rucker met up with Ashley at Breakaway Records in Austin's North Loop neighborhood for an afternoon of sifting through old vinyl.
"Knowing that there's rappers and singers out there going through the struggles like I am, [who] are also trying to benefit from it and trying to build from the past and build a better me, it helps me" Ashley said.
She said sometimes, it's hard not to feel lonely and think about her biological family while waiting in foster care.
"This summer isn't good without my family," Ashley said.
But she said she's excited about the possibility of getting adopted and finding a forever family to help guide her into the future.
"I just want someone to be there for me to show me that I'm not alone," Ashley said.
Ashley also loves playing volleyball and said she would like to be able to go to college someday to become a caseworker.
"I want to be able to help guide other children who are going through what I'm going through," Ashley said.
To learn more about Ashley 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.
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Meet Ashley
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.