Coordinator, "Wednesday’s Child"

NYC Children’s Services

Born into poverty to two substance abusers, it would have been easy to count Keema Davis out. No one would have raised an eyebrow if she didn’t succeed. But then New York City stepped in and changed the course of her life forever.

Keema entered foster care the day before her tenth birthday. By 14, she was headed to her third foster home and her future seemed uncertain. She had grown distrustful of adults and suspicious of their intentions. She recalls:

"I had decided from that point on, if a relationship with a family ended, it would be on my terms and not theirs."

Initially, Keema resisted any efforts by her third foster family to get close to her. She wanted to be part of a family, but was afraid of growing comfortable and being rejected again. She routinely cut school and acted out until one day she was fed up with herself. She realized that no matter what she did, her foster mother was not going to give up on her as many other people in her life had done. This foster family was different. Keema eventually realized that her foster mother was the permanent connection she had longed for her whole life and a good enough reason to get herself together. Keema was determined to make her foster mother proud and make sure she knew how much she appreciated the chance she took on her.

Since that time, Keema earned a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree in Communications from NYIT and is now completing her MBA in Management at Baruch College. Currently, she works for New York City Children’s Services coordinating The Freddie Mac Foundation’s “Wednesday’s Child” segments, which air weekly on WNBC Channel 4 News. Each vignette features a foster child who needs an adoptive home. Across the nation, this program has helped 1,300 children find their “forever family.”

Keema helps teens in foster care in her own community by leading a Circle of Youth support group in Jamaica, Queens. She considers her work a way for her to pay it forward – to help other children make permanent connections that can benefit them the way hers did. She hopes to start her own nonprofit organization that would provide wraparound services for teens aging out of foster care and offer ongoing support to young alumni in their 20s.

Now, at age 26, Keema remains very close to her former foster mother and looks forward to attending the family reunion this summer. She says:

“My Mom continues to motivate me to strive for excellence in everything I do. I hope to inspire youth in foster care to do the same. I want them to expect the most from themselves and to view foster care as a stepping-stone and not a barrier to success.”