Lukas is from San Antonio, Texas, but currently resides in Austin. He is a graduate of the Young Adult Leadership Council and is pursuing an associate’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at Austin Community College. His goal is to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin and graduate with a bachelor’s degree. He hopes to become an aircraft mechanic.
Lukas recently worked with TNOYS on a blog post about his experience with foster care and justice involvement, challenges with behavioral health, and the support and interventions that could have helped him. Read his blog post below.
I entered foster care almost two months after my thirteenth birthday, an experience that quickly led to my involvement in other systems such as the behavioral health system and the juvenile justice system. Growing up, my mom struggled with drugs and mental health challenges, leading to housing instability for both of us. Eventually, CPS got involved, and I was removed and placed in a group home. The trauma I had experienced greatly impacted my mental health, which spiraled into behavior issues.
I started fighting, and I received my first criminal charge for breaking and entering. I was kicked out of my group home and spent the next year and a half bouncing around different Children Without Placement (CWOP) facilities, emergency shelters, and mental health hospitals. I was being moved to a new facility as often as every three weeks, constantly changing school districts and never in one place long enough to actually do well in school. In response, my behavior spiraled out of control. I spent time in a juvenile detention center and was eventually placed into a lockdown behavioral health hospital for two years.
While in the lockdown facility, my mental health suffered as did my relationship with my family. I felt alone and wasn’t making improvements in my behavior until I moved into a private residential treatment center in Houston that truly turned my life around. At this facility, I discovered caring adults and a model based on trust which ultimately led to me improving in school and becoming the person I am today. I stayed there until before my seventeenth birthday when I moved to a group home in Austin.
The lack of stability I experienced in foster care had a huge toll on my performance in school and my relationships with my peers. After entering care, my grades started to drop from straight A’s to barely passing, meaning that I was not able to continue playing sports or any other extracurricular activities— impacting my mental health even further. I am grateful to several of the teachers at school who pushed me to complete my classwork in order to graduate, as well as offer moral support while I was struggling. Today, I am happy to say that I’m currently in a Supervised Independent Living (SIL) program and working on finishing school, and will graduate within the next year in a half to two years from now. My goals for the future are to go to trade school and study aircraft mechanics. I also plan on traveling to Japan for the first time and connecting with my family members that moved there. In my free time, I want to continue pursuing freelance photography.
While in foster care, I feel that I could have really benefited from more supportive adults in my life and the opportunity to be placed in a foster home. Looking back, I believe that one of the causes behind my behavior issues was the feeling that acting out was the only way anyone would pay attention to me. It was extremely difficult to see my friends being adopted, and I believe that my behavioral issues would not have been as severe if I had a normal home setting. Having to feel like I was on my own at such a young age caused drastic issues that I still battle today, such as a sense of hyperindependence. I think if I would have had just one adult see me for who I was and not just a kid going through the system, my life would be vastly different and I wouldn’t have felt like I was facing the world by myself.
Being part of the YALC has been a blessing for me as I’ve been able to build my confidence, gain the ability to lift up other people, and inspire change. I’ve been able to build a community of people whom I know I could call on if I needed to. The YALC has opened lots of doors for me and allowed me to develop supportive friendships with people who understand me and push me to grow both personally and professionally.