Justin's Story
Growing up, Justin recalls being told he was “worthless” so many times by family members that he actually began to believe it. When he was finally removed from his unhealthy family situation at the age of 11, he went through a series of foster care and group home placements.
“My anger was the enemy of me. Once I learned to control my anger, I was free,” he recalls. “I transitioned through a lot. I learned to deal with my mistakes. I believe I can do things now.”
Justin is now 18 and for the past two years has lived at the Board of Child Care’s Hagerstown Group Home. While at the home, he has developed self-confidence and a drive to achieve. He realizes he has valuable contributions to make and snatches up any new opportunities and experiences that come his way. In school, he is an honor roll student who strives for A’s in every class, while also playing football and running track.
“For a teenager, just in general, he is doing really well,” says Melissa Nash, Unit Treatment Director of the Hagerstown Group Home.
Outside of school, Justin has proven himself to be a leader as well, serving in 2008 on the Maryland Youth Advisory Council with 17 other high school and college-age youth to advise Maryland’s Governor and General Assembly on issues important to youth in the state. Most recently he participated in the Youth Business Initiative, a DC-based program to help youth in foster care successfully transition to independence through a summer institute at Georgetown University and year-round service learning activities.
The Maryland Association of Resources for Families and Youth recognized Justin at its 2009 Youth Achievement Awards banquet with a plaque and a cash stipend for all of his accomplishments.
While Justin says he wishes he could live with a family, the Board of Child Care has stepped in to serve as family for him. He is one of four teenage boys living at the Hagerstown Group Home – a cozy brick rancher located along a quiet country road.
Each of the boys has their own room and in the common living spaces they prepare and eat meals together, watch television and play basketball in the home’s driveway. With the group home’s five staff transporting them everywhere they need to go, the boys volunteer in the community, workout at the YMCA and attend each other’s special events, including Justin’s football games and track meets, where they give him his own cheering section. Ms. Nash says Justin has served as a good mentor for the other boys.
Beyond high school, Justin plans on getting a college degree – possibly in sports medicine and philosophy - and is already setting his sights on graduate school and then a career working with top athletes. In fact, he isn’t wasting any time in getting started. In summer 2010, just a few weeks after graduating from high school, he began classes at Coppin State University, taking the next step on his road toward successful independence.
