Former foster child finds forever family, hope for future

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ROUND ROCK—For Pamela Roberts, life looks much different now than in her early years. The first half of her life was characterized by uncertainty and chaos, but now she knows the love of a family and anticipates a bright future.

Pamela first came to STARRY—a program of Children at Heart Ministries—when she was 11 years old. Her biological parents struggled with addiction and often left their seven children unattended for hours at a time. When Child Protective Services learned about it, Pamela was sent to the STARRY Emergency Shelter.

Pamela Roberts

Pamela stayed at STARRY 90 days, the maximum allowable time for children, then she began a journey from one foster home to the next. It wasn’t long before she ended up back at the STARRY Emergency Shelter for another 90-day stay.

From there, she was placed in a cottage at Texas Baptist Children’s Home, where she met the people she now calls her parents.

The campus life program is designed to provide a temporary living situation for children experiencing crisis, but when house parents James and Angela Roberts decided to leave their roles at the children’s home, they didn’t want to go without Pamela.

“They asked me to come with them when they left, but I just needed more time to think,” Pamela said.

So the couple left, and Pamela moved into another cottage with house parents John and Brenda Toner. She stayed there a year before she made up her mind to accept the offer from the Roberts family.

STARRY and the children’s home worked together to orchestrate the transistion process, and in May 2008, James and Angela Roberts became Pamela’s foster parents.


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“James and Angela always had a special place in their hearts for Pam and welcomed her into their home as their daughter with open arms,” said Sara Henderson, a former STARRY case manager and mentor to Pamela. “I had the privilege of becoming employed with STARRY just as Pam transitioned into foster care and was able to see Pam and the Roberts grow in love and support of one another throughout the transition.”

Shortly after she moved in with the Robertses, Pamela realized they had become her family, so she decided to take their last name.

“I felt like God put me with them to be my family,” she said.

Several years later, life still is changing for Pamela. Last year, the Robertses left for Poland, where they are serving with the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. They will be there for three years, and Pamela hopes to visit soon.

“I talked to Pam the other day, and she misses her family now that they are overseas, but there is no doubt in her mind that she is theirs and they are hers,” Henderson said.

Pamela currently attends Temple Community College but plans to transfer to the University of North Texas in the fall. She wants to pursue a degree in early childhood development and become a preschool teacher.

“Pam has an amazing love and compassion for children,” Henderson said. “She will excel in whatever she puts her mind to.”

When Pamela thinks about how her life has changed, she sees the blessings Children at Heart Ministries have been, and how they allowed her to enjoy being a kid.

“My life became so much easier when I came” to Children At Heart Ministries, Pamela said. “It taught me how to be able to be me and not have to grow up so fast taking care of my siblings and having all the responsibilities that an adult would have.”

 

 


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