Tommy DobczykOpportunity Zone Advisor, OZ Wizard · Director of Development | Certified Opportunity Zone Advisor

Foster Care to Forever Family: Saving Lives One Adoption at a Time #shorts

5 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:00

In this YouTube short, the speaker introduces their nonprofit, Chosen Forever, which aims to ensure that the roughly 120,000 adoptable children in the U.S. foster care system find permanent families before turning 18—a point the speaker refers to as the "final black trash bag day," after which many become homeless. The speaker cites statistics that 30% of the homeless population and 60% of trafficking victims were formerly in foster care, linking these outcomes to a lack of stable family bonds. They argue that adoption rewires neural pathways, enabling healthy adult relationships and breaking cycles of poverty, drug use, prostitution, and trafficking. The speaker shares a personal narrative: they were a "black trash bag kid" adopted at 16, which they credit with saving their life, and later adopted twins from foster care who are now 21 and thriving. To date, Chosen Forever has facilitated 69 adoptions and continues to work toward the goal of placing all 120,000 children in forever families, emphasizing a one‑child‑at‑a‑time approach.

Chapters

My nonprofit, Chosen Forever, focuses on getting the 120,000 adoptable children in the US foster care system adopted before their 18th birthday, which is their final black trash bag day, which statistically these kids end up homeless. 30% of our homeless population came outta foster care, which leads to drugs, prostitution, and being trafficked. And 60% of the kids being trafficked came outta foster care. So literally the solution is adoption. By giving them a family, a forever family, it changes their neuron pathways and allows them to form healthy bonds with other adults., and that allows them to stop the— break the cycle that they were born into. They can go on and be productive, contributing members to society. And so why this matters is I was a Black trash bag kid and I was adopted when I was 16 and it saved my life. And I also adopted my twins out of the foster care system when they were babies, and now they're 21, grown up, doing all the things. We've already gotten 69 children adopted and got, again, 120,000 to go. So one kid at a time, we can get this done.