HOUSTON, Texas — There are more than 31,000 children in the foster care system in the Lone Star State. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) says in Region 11, which covers 19 counties from Refugio to Brownsville, there are just under 2,500 children in the system.
Here in Nueces County, just over 700 children and young adults are currently in foster care. 30 of them were given the opportunity to take a road trip to Minute Made Park to see the Houston Astros take on the Texas Rangers in the Silver Boot Series.
The group loaded up in a charter bus early Sunday morning and hit the road for Houston. The person responsible for the idea is 10-year-old non-profit leader Nate Gonzalez with Nate's Next Kid Up.
“I’m looking forward to everybody just having a good time,” Gonzalez said before the game. “...and mostly just have the time of their lives and making beautiful memories here and just seeing how everybody was happy just to come here made my heart fill a lot of love.”
Monica Perez oversees community engagement for TDFPS and says this is a great opportunity for the kids to experience something like any other child would.
“We're very grateful for Nate his idea to come forward to say I want to do something for my community and I'm starting with the foster kids in South Texas,” Perez said. “They're creating memories, a new memory, something great that they're going to experience you know some of our kids that come in our system experience a lot of bad things and this is a positive thing."
Sienna Garcia, 18, has been in foster care for the last two years. A few years ago, her mother had a stroke that left her paralyzed.
While she tried to fill a mother figure as best she could for her two younger siblings, but it was all too much for her to do alone. That's when she made the tough decision to call in help from the DFPS.
“They removed us from care when I was about 16 years old. We were placed in emergency shelter for about three months,” Garcia said. After three months, we were moved into a foster family, the Gonzalezes, and they provided us with a safe and healthy home.
This was Sienna's first time attending a major league baseball game. She says she's only seen one game on television.
"Ever since then I've been super fascinated but with school study and other things like transitioning into adulthood it's been hard. “Now that I have time off from school, I'm just super excited to experience the whole baseball game.”
20-year-old Brielle Mattox also joined in on the fun. She's been in foster care for two years and now serves as a mentor for some of the younger children.
“It's so easy for them to go down the wrong path and it's so easy for them to get hurt out there," Mattox said. “Some do not want to listen to “Oh, my caseworker.’ They'd rather listen to someone that has liked minded been in their shoes."
Nate says he was excited to be able to provide local foster children with the chance to experience something many of them never had.
“They have to experience amazing things in life. Foster kids have limited choices, but this is why I'm doing this; to make them have their own adventures.”