AUSTIN, Texas — Every week on KVUE, we feature a different child in the Texas foster care system, in hopes of helping them get adopted by a forever family.
Madison is a bright and bubbly 16-year-old who has a lot of hopes and dreams for her future.
She loves to paint, so KVUE met her at the Amanda Lee Jones Art Studio for a morning of mixing colors. She even created a beautiful sunset with mountains.
"I've always loved to paint. My room growing up as a kid was filled with beautiful colorful paintings all over the walls. I just love it," Madison said.
She thinks it would be cool to be a part of creating a mural someday.
"But instead of fancy artists, what if we just let everyday people come in and join and paint it together? We love to say 'Keep Austin Weird' – I think that would keep it weird," Madison said.
Madison said she cares about the world around her and even wakes up to watch the news each morning.
"I just like to watch different stories and even do my own fact checking sometimes," Madison said.
As for a forever family, Madison is a junior in high school and is starting to think about college. But she really wants a family that won't leave her side and will help her make it to the next step.
"Having that family to support me because there's sometimes I don't want to do it, you know? Because I feel like it is going to be very hard. You know, having that support, that never-ending love, you know, being there – it'll encourage me to be my best self," Madison said.
To learn more about Madison or to put in an inquiry to adopt her, visit her page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Meet Madison
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.