As a child growing up in foster care, social work senior Natalie Kyles longed for a sense of support in her life.
“A lot of the experience I had made me want to become a social worker when I was older,” Kyles said. “When I was in foster care, (social workers) were always there to talk to.”
After being moved back and forth from adopted homes to foster homes and enduring hardships, she now dreams of offering the stability she never had to children in foster care by becoming a social worker.
Along with advocating for placements of children in foster homes and adoptions, Kyles wants to be a mentor to the kids.
“I want to provide independent living skills and a work force for them, giving them that support, letting them know they have someone in their corner to be there and help them in life if they have questions and needs,” she said.
Kyles already is gaining experience in this line of work. In addition to an internship with the NorthWest Initiative, a nonprofit organization that aims to strengthen and sustain healthy family communities in Lansing, Kyles also previously participated in Foster Care Alumni Services’ foster camps, where she taught high school students in foster care about the college experience and how to prepare for it. She continues to mentor students from the camp.
Kimberly Chambers, who attended the foster camp in 2009, said Natalie was there for her then and has been ever since, even co-signing the lease for her apartment and offering emotional support.
“She has always been there, and if I ever need to get away, she would even come and pick me up,” Chambers said. “She’s like a big sister.”
Cheryl Williams-Hecksel, clinical instructor of the School of Social Work and Kyles’ mentor, said Kyles’ greatest strength is her compassion.
“She has a very big heart and is really drawn to those who are less advantaged than herself,” Williams-Hecksel said.
In the end, despite her struggles growing up, Kyles said she wants to give back to those going through the same thing. She aspires to start her own nonprofit organization, where she will work to place foster children in stable environments.
“The biggest issue I had growing up was just not having that one constant, stable person in my life,” Kyles said. “Being in foster care you have social worker after social worker, foster home after foster home. I just want to provide that kind of stability for them.”
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