Julia Determined To Succeed

JFCS Youth in Transition services for foster youth and at-risk youth, Arizona Julia’s mother passed away when she was 4 year old. She lived in Phoenix with her father and suffered years of abuse until she was 15 years old, removed by Arizona Child Protective Services.

Like so many other children and teens in Arizona, Julia bounced around from foster family to foster family until she aged-out of the foster care system at age 18.

During this time, Julia battled symptoms of PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Julia’s father had told her that she would never accomplish anything in life, but Julia now knows this was not true. While working a full-time job, she graduated from high school with honors at age 19.

Julia was first referred to JFCS for counseling and psychological services. She also began participating in our Youth in Transition program (YIT), which assists foster care youth (ages 15-21) in their transition out of the foster care or behavioral health systems to become healthy independent adults.

Our staff took Julia to tour colleges, helped her to enroll and pick college courses, and spent hours working on scholarship applications. Julia works hard and is very determined to succeed in this next season of her life. We will be there to help her every step of the way.

Julia was recently awarded the Nina Mason Pulliam Scholarship which will cover tuition, books, and a monthly stipend.