May 25, 2026

At seven years old, Alina began asking the kinds of questions many of us take for granted. Where do I come from? Where do I belong? Usually, family provides the foundation for answering these questions. But when young people enter foster care, they aren’t only separated from their families—they are separated from their culture and traditions that shape who they are.

After Alina’s parents passed away when she was only a toddler, she entered the foster care system and transitioned through multiple placements. Slowly, Alina’s memories of her parents began to fade. She held onto one distinct moment where she recalled being in the kitchen with her mother and watching her make tamalitos de elote—a recipe her mom had carried after immigrating from her native country of Guatemala.

Alina remembered playing with the corn flour in her highchair and making shapes in the dough. The house would always be filled with savory smells of mom’s home cooking—a warm memory Alina would return to whenever she felt sad and alone.

While transitioning through different foster care placements, Alina was not placed with families who shared the same racial background. The cultural aspects of her identity became lost. Living in areas that were predominantly white, Alina found herself feeling out of place and faced challenges in school among her peers. She learned to camouflage herself and tried to find ways to fit in.

She ate peanut butter sandwiches, even though she preferred arroz con pollo. She stopped speaking Spanish and suppressed her accent to please the ESL teachers. Despite her efforts to mask her identity, her tan skin and dark hair made her stick out. She felt out of place and didn’t fit in with her foster family. She struggled to feel connected and accepted, often questioning her own worth and identity.

In transracial foster homes, it is important for caregivers to actively honor and support a child’s cultural identity, traditions, and experiences with race to help them build a strong sense of self and belonging.

Once Alina came to Plummer Youth Promise, we knew we had to change her mindset and build her confidence. Her Guatemalan heritage was something to be celebrated—not something to feel ashamed of. As part of our permanency practice, we incorporate meaningful opportunities to support a young person’s cultural identity, experiences, and traditions.

We began by building Alina’s network of supportive connections and found paternal relatives who lived outside of the state. Although the relatives couldn’t take her in, staying connected with Alina became important to fill in gaps about her past. We matched her with Johanna, a Guatemalan foster mother who lovingly provided the safe space for her to heal. Together, Johanna and Alina’s family members became a dynamic team and helped her feel more supported on the path to permanency.

Each week, Johanna joined Alina on video calls with her family, who shared stories about her parents’ lives in Antigua, Guatemala. For Alina’s birthday, Johanna surprised her with a trip to Guatemala! A trip to discover her roots. After getting off the plane, she stepped into a new world. A place where people looked like her and spoke the same language as her parents. At first, Alina felt nervous about traveling to Guatemala, but with her foster mother standing by her side, she found her strength.

Johanna led her through the colorful city nestled between the volcanic mountains. Alina felt excited to try on the traditional embroidered dresses and loved listening to the marimba bands playing in the downtown square. With Johanna and her extended family’s encouragement, she also visited her paternal grandmother who welcomed her with open arms. They spent the day together looking at family photographs and cooking together in the open-air kitchen.

As she ate tamalitos de elote made by her grandmother, she felt the warmth of nostalgia as she recalled the memories of her mother in the kitchen. Only this time, she wasn’t feeling alone. Alina was surrounded by her supportive family and experienced true belonging with the comfort of caring adults by her side.

She finally experienced the culture, language, and traditions that were always part of her story. To Alina, this was not just a trip—it was a moment of recognition.