SMITHVILLE, Texas — Moving around from place to place is a common reality for many children in the Texas foster care system but, for some children, it happens more often than for others.
Barbara is 16-year-old junior in high school. She has been in foster care since she was eight years old.
"I've been moving a lot ... I think I've been to, like, 14 different placements in my whole foster care thing," Barbara said. "Sometimes, it just goes by way too fast. And, like, sometimes I feel like you can't really trust immediately or you don't really appreciate immediately and then, by the time you do appreciate it, it's gone."
Although Barbara has had to live out of a suitcase for most of her life, she has an incredible outlook on life.
"I feel like when you come together and you meet your right people, it's like – it feels like nothing ever happened in the past," she said.
KVUE's Hannah Rucker met up with Barbara at the Central Texas Pig Rescue in Smithville, a place where more than 200 gorgeous pigs have been able to find peace after experiencing a wide range of animal testing, abuse and more.
"I feel like, with these pigs, I can connect because they never really had a home until they came here. And they've been through so much trauma, and so have I," Barbara said.
Barbara told Rucker she wants to be a pediatric nurse when she grows up.
To learn more about Barbara or to put in an inquiry to adopt her, visit her page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor's note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE's Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.