Heather’s Story
“A Childhood Should Be Felt, Not Survived.”
“My name is Heather Baird. I founded A Better Life For Foster Kids in 2014 but the story really begins much earlier.”
Heather was just two and a half years old when she entered the foster care system. From that young age, she was moved between orphanages and foster homes, sometimes cared for, sometimes overlooked, and often carrying far more than any child should have to bear.
One memory never left her.
She remembers standing in the schoolyard with other foster children, wearing clothes so worn they felt like rags, outfits so outdated they could have belonged in the 1920s. She remembers how it felt to be seen as “one of the homies,” marked by her appearance before she even had the chance to speak.
“I remember wishing and praying that I could have nice things… just like the other kids.”
This deep longing, not for luxury, but for dignity, planted a quiet seed that would grow for decades.
When Heather left care at 17, she stepped into a world she didn’t understand.
No one had explained how life worked. She hadn’t seen a supermarket before. The basics of adulthood were overwhelming, and the only way she knew to cope was through denial and survival.
But deep inside, she carried a promise to herself, that one day, she would help others like her.
