Debra Glover, a teacher working in the Jefferson County Public Schools system, has firsthand knowledge about the hardships foster kids face. Adopted at birth, she is grateful for the love and support she received from her family, but Debra also realizes that many kids in the foster care system are not as fortunate. “I get these intake emails, and I recognize in Jefferson County that we have children sleeping on the floor in the DCBS (Department of Community Based Services) offices.”
Compelled to help, Debra became a certified foster parent through St. Joe’s after having a brief encounter with one of her former students at church. “I saw her and asked how she was doing, and she said, ‘Not good.’ She had been removed [from her home] and didn’t have a place to go. I said, ‘You can come live with me.’” Debra began fostering the 14-year-old girl in June of 2022 and says she couldn’t ignore the problem. “As a teacher, I see a lot of children who need stability. And at that point in my life, I was able to step in and provide that for her.”
Debra and her foster daughter vacationed in Debra’s home state of South Carolina.
Connecting through shared experiences
Last summer, the two vacationed in South Carolina where Debra is from and built a close friendship based on their commonality of being foster kids. They talk about adaptability and in these conversations, Debra shares stories with her about the challenges she’s had. “I think God uses your story for others and growing up was not the easiest route [for me] …so being able to talk to her about my own family and struggles I still experience as an adult, but also the appreciation of having a family that took care of me – I think it is very helpful. Even if what I am saying to her is not the most articulate, she recognizes that I have in some way, been there before.”
While in South Carolina, she recalls a special moment they shared: “She met my friends that I grew up with. We hiked, we drove [along] the Blue Ridge Parkway and when we were in the car, she said, ‘You know? I am having a lot of my firsts with you. And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ And she replied, ‘Well, the first time seeing a waterfall, the first time being on an island.’ These weren’t huge experiences, but it was cool to get out of myself for a minute, because these were things I was used to doing and she hadn’t traveled much outside of Louisville.”
Using your past to empower yourself
Since living together, Debra says she can see similarities in character between the two of them and is happy for the opportunity to be a positive motivator in her life. “Hard situations build resilience. I have never seen a child who is able to read a room, code switch and make adjustments the way she has, but she has lived in a lot of hard situations and that was a coping mechanism, and I did that as well as a child – even into adulthood.” She adds, “To be a few years ahead of her in my journey to heal from things and looking back on who I was as a teenager and how that benefits me now as an adult and how I’ve been able to use the things that I have learned from poverty and hard situations to be a successful adult is really encouraging to me for her future. I tell her: ‘You can do anything you want with your life.’”
Debra and her adoptive parents.
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