So what drew me to the organization—I think I’m going to answer that first. I am an immigrant by choice, I moved here to the US 17 years ago or so. When I got introduced to the idea of fostering, it was through a commercial I watched on TV; it was some mattress commercial, I believe, that was helping kids in some capacity, maybe they were trying to get some sleeping pj’s for foster youth. And that was the first time I got introduced to the idea of fostering and it just felt really good.
How I got into this is through Krissy Perry, who is with you, right, as Director of the local Seattle Chapter. I was an intern with her, and she volunteers and she’s so good with adoption and fostering and she introduced me to this. I was like, “Wow!” I wanted to foster kids in the future, and I can’t right now because my own kids are really young, so I was like, “That’s one way for me to really get into that.” She introduced me to A Home Within.

Dedication and being so selfless. I mean, I was surprised—like you, you are giving your time for it. That was very inspiring for me, I mean, Krissy, for example, she’s running her own practice, a group practice, and she’s also volunteering. So when I got introduced and I was seeing the selflessness of all the people, and many of them are not coming from a foster background, and yet they have so much compassion and care for foster youth. And the concept of “as long as needed,” the commitment with your client, that was super awesome for me, because the therapy… That doesn’t really happen even for paying clients. I think “for lifelong,” is just so beautiful. And I don’t think anybody can really recognize the benefit and such a great impact that can do for people who were in foster care.

So, I just got a client, and without of course getting into anything that is about the confidential information, anytime I was contacted (about) a client to find a match, the respect, the care, and the way that the information was presented to me was so dignified anytime I was contacted for a case until I found a good match. It was amazing.
The dignity that is given to the clients. It was so humbling to see. So, okay, I’m going to be more honest about it. The way the foster youth and foster adults are treated in the program is with so much dignity that you do not feel like they are given a favor, and that felt so good to me, that they don’t have to feel like someone is doing any favor, or that it’s kind of a charity to them. They are dignified in this program, and that was very honorable for me.

So, I’m a play therapist as well. All the cases I was contacted about were children primarily. What impact it made on me? Oh my god, I of course have to keep the confidentiality of my client, but when working with my client, the way my client was working—it just opened a new avenue. I’ve never worked with foster youth before. I’m getting emotional right now! I literally went out and I bought new toys because I just felt this client needs more ways to express themselves, and I just felt like it’s the support they need, and there should be more people doing it.

I like to work in my capacity as a therapist with one or two people who cannot afford therapy. That is one thing I desire to do as long as I can afford to do that financially. My biggest goal is to open the world to social justice advocacy. I don’t see that necessarily a lot in our country, and I don’t see that when people talk about social justice advocacy they’re actually really recognizing what they’re talking about. I do see a lot of racism, so I’m a very loudmouth, and I’m very proud of it! When you say, “What other projects are you doing,” I am being a loudmouth. I’m telling people, “Nuh-uh, you’re talking about social justice advocacy but you’re not doing it!” Your glance is not the same for everyone, not for the world, not for the local people. So I’m very proud of that—being a loudmouth, and helping the world recognize what social justice advocacy really means.

My desire for A Home Within is for it to be more mainstream, more people know about it, even it being promoted better and more, and also within the foster youth—you know, by faith I am Muslim, I am an immigrant by choice, and I am from the South Asian community, so I sometimes feel that there are not many resources for marginalized people. And it’s just opening the doors for them—as I am saying, I didn’t know about A Home Within, and there are foster youth within our community. So that is my desire, if there are more doors open towards them.
Thank you so much. I’m so, so honored and humbled to be part of this team.