If you're fortunate, you were raised by your parents, sometimes strict but always loving. They watched over you when you were sick, wiped away your tears, and celebrated every success. You had the luxury of taking them for granted.
Now think of the children who aren't raised by their parents. Perhaps their parents have died. Perhaps their parents simply couldn't afford the basic costs of shelter, food and clothing. Perhaps their parents suffered from the illness of addiction or ended up incarcerated. Perhaps they were victims of war or oppression.
You might think of those kids as not standing a chance.
But many many famous and successful people had childhoods filled with loneliness, loss and desertion. Maybe they spent time in orphanages. Maybe they were put into foster care. Maybe an aunt or a grandparent became their guardians.
Sometimes the kids were lucky and the adults in their lives were able to give them the love their parents couldn't. But all of those kids, one way or another, made their own luck. They created their own chances.
Here are some people you've heard of who spent part of their childhoods in foster care or orphanages or raised by family members. The names come from FosterFocus and Wikipedia. It's just a handful of names, but they represent all the thousands of children in America growing up without their parents, children who will stand a chance if we give them the help and the support they, like all children, need and deserve.
Louis Armstrong
Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Ray Charles
Cher
Dr. Wayne Dyer
Tom Monaghan
Marilyn Monroe
Eddie Murphy
Willie Nelson
Rosie Perez
Babe Ruth
Sylvester Stallone
Barbara Stanwyck
Charlene Tilton
Francois Truffaut
Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Malcolm X
