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. It can be especially hard for teens in the system to gain visibility and find loving, permanent homes.
Darleesia is a sweet and sassy 17-year-old who’s hopeful she can find a nurturing and consistent environment to help her grow to her fullest potential.
Having a creative outlet is important to Darleesia, so KVUE’s Hannah Rucker met her at Austin Creative Reuse, where she enjoyed combing through the aisles to find recycled treasures. She also found a fabric she liked featuring various colors.
“I like this one because it has purple and blue. I want my hair dyed purple and blue,” Darleesia said.
Darleesia said she often misses her brothers, who live somewhere else – a common situation for children in foster care. She made special bracelets for her brothers that she plans to give to them the next time she sees them.
Darleesia’s caseworker, Monica Salazar, said she is very well-liked at her group home and she has a big, spunky personality.
“She loves to eat and go [out to] eat whenever I go pick her up. Sometimes, we eat Mexican food. She likes hot sauce,” Salazar said, adding, “She’s a wild one. She enjoys having fun and making everybody laugh. Everybody at the home where she lives loves her. She likes taking care of the dogs there.”
Darleesia said her favorite animal is a husky.
To learn more about Darleesia 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 Darleesia
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.