Since May, Heather Wilder, 12, and Raven Asay, 11, have written five booklets for foster care children. Friends since second grade, the sixth-graders want to help other children in foster care by sharing their own experiences.
"We thought it was a good idea to write the books, and we thought it was important," Raven said.
Heather said they wanted other kids to know they are not alone, "that it's going to be all right, it's going to be fine. They will probably be adopted. I hope they all might be adopted."
Heather, who was in foster care for almost three years, has lived with her guardian Tammy Wilder for about two years. Raven was in foster care for almost six years, and lived in 10 homes in three states before being adopted two years ago.
Heather and Raven's writing process begins with them thinking of a title before brainstorming together on the content. They do the drawings for the cover, type the information and then take the finished product to Kinko's to make copies. The girls were approved for a $1,000 grant through the city of Las Vegas, and with the money they have been able to cover their expenses, which include making 100 to 125 copies of each booklet.
Heather and Raven gave copies of the booklets to Gov. Kenny Guinn and Congresswoman Shelley Berkley in August, and have distributed copies to social workers, youth counseling services and Child Haven.
The booklets are three to four pages long and each title reflects the topic, such as "Heather's Hurts," "Raven's Rampages," "What Is a Foster Parent?" "Why Do I Have to Take Medicine?" and "Why Do I Have to Move Again?"
Heather and Raven are planning on creating activity and coloring books to help explain to foster kids the court system and its procedures for working with foster children.
"All foster kids are told is 'Oh, you're going to court,' " Tammy Wilder said. The booklets are to help foster kids understand what awaits them at court, to "give them an idea of what a courtroom is like, who the judge is, to walk them through hearings."
Over the summer Heather was selected as a regional winner in the Kohl's Kids Who Care youth volunteer recognition program. She was awarded a $1,000 college scholarship, a $50 gift card at the store and was given a recognition certificate.
Both girls have dreams for their future professions. Heather, who enjoys riding horses, would like to be a horse trainer or caretaker of horses when she gets older, while Raven aspires to be an actress. "I love to be onstage and perform for people," she said.
Besides writing booklets, Heather and Raven also have a toy drive at Christmas to collect gifts for foster kids. They collected more than 1,000 toys from local malls last year and gave them to Kim Callis, their former case worker, to distribute. Heather and Raven are doing the toy drive again this Christmas and hope to collect even more.
If you know of a worthy candidate for this column, mail information to Youth Spotlight, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070, or send faxes to 383-4676.
