Every Child Deserves a Champion: A Spotlight on Fostering

Fostering is less about getting a child for your family and more about giving your family to a child. What if you opened your home and provided hope to a child in need? What kind of difference would you make?

Almost 15 years ago, Sahra White hit rock bottom.  White had just graduated from Courtland High School. She had been pregnant at 16, had a boy, and was seven months pregnant with a baby girl. She thought that she was following in the footsteps of her mother who was 15 when she had the first of her 14 children. White said that her mother abandoned her soon after she was born, and her father and stepmother took care of her. They loved and adored her but they could not shake their drug addiction. Both died on the streets of Brooklyn. From there White was moved to Virginia with her siblings and got pregnant for the first time. Shunned by the other children at school and told by many that she’d spend her life on welfare, White could have easily given up. However, in 2004 things took a shift. White filled out paperwork to get assistance and from that day forward her life changed for the better. “You never forget the people that helped you”, White said. 

Today, an accomplished business women with a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and mother to six, White is providing care and advocating for Virginia youth through UMFS. There are nearly 5000 children in foster care and even more waiting for a safe, secure, and loving home. 

In 2017 White made a call to UMFS, and immediately it felt like home. UMFS, a nonprofit social service organization with locations throughout Virginia, is branded as being an unwavering champion for high-risk children and families. White said “I don’t just want to help any kid, I want to help the children who are a little more challenging”. At the time she had three biological children and her hope was to help as many children as she could until it was time for them to go to their forever home.

Since beginning her journey three years ago, White has adopted three children. The six children are best friends and her family is certainly ready to extend their arms to more children in need. “My past is a big part of where I come from,” White said. Someone made a difference in her life and now she is impacting the lives of others. 

Sahra White and her family

Every child deserves a champion, an adult like Sahra. One who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best they can possibly be. Could that be you?

To learn more, please contact Angela Rivers at (703) 927-0359 or arivers@umfs.org. Someone you haven’t met yet may just be wondering what it is like to have you as a parent.