Fadwa’s Story

To say Fadwa is driven is an understatement. She doesn’t dream of becoming a surgical nurse, she is actively taking steps to make it happen. And to make her mother proud.

Fadwa lost her mother to cancer when she was just 13 years old. Her father expected Fadwa to assume her mother’s responsibilities and moved the family often, keeping them distanced from any extended family. She was not allowed to have friends or participate in extracurricular activities. She attended five different high schools and managed to maintain excellent grades while she cooked, cleaned, and took care of her two brothers and father.

At 17, she was abandoned by her father and placed in SCO’s foster care program. SCO helped stabilize the teen, placed her with a foster family, and eventually was able to locate a maternal aunt who opened her heart and home to her long-lost niece through kinship foster care.

Despite her early challenges, Fadwa stays focused on the opportunities ahead of her. SCO’s foster care staff helped her prepare for college; guiding her through the application process and helping her achieve both a Dream USA Scholarship and a Youth in Foster Care Award.  Currently a student at Borough of Manhattan Community College, SCO helped her secure an internship with a surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital.

Fadwa’s goal is to keep her GPA high enough to get into nursing school. And we have no doubt she will achieve this and so much more.

 

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Family Foster Care – Education & Permanency Support Services

The Education and Permanency Support program helps children, youth, and families in foster care receive the assistance and services they need to achieve reunification and other permanency goals by bringing together key areas of support related to family (e.g. housing, public assistance, immigration, child/parent therapy), youth (e.g. relationships, employment, housing) , and education (e.g special education, tutoring, early childhood programs, college).

 

 

This program is associated with...

Foster Care

For over 50 years, SCO's Foster Care practice has been helping children and their families grow, heal and thrive. We find safe, temporary families for children and teens throughout New York City and Long Island. Read More

A Vibrant Brownsville

Brownsville, Brooklyn is a vibrant, evolving, and unique neighborhood; and SCO is proud of our partnership with the community for over three decades.  Read More

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Advocates for Children and SCO Family of Services Develop Parent Toolkit to Improve the Education Experience of Children while in Foster Care

September 29, 2017

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