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Shanteese has been in foster care ever since she was two years old.
"I grew up everywhere," she said of her life spent in various foster homes. Here's what she's learned from that experience: "There will be hard times and there will be great times, but you have to take what's there for you and get the best from it."
Shanteese hopes to go to college and study criminal justice. Someday, she said, she would like to be part of a law enforcement SWAT team.
For now, though, she's content spending time with her little sister, playing house or playing with Barbie dolls. With friends her age, she likes going to the mall and shopping. When she's alone, Shanteese usually reads. "I love reading Harry Potter books," she said.
Among her favorite memories are the two weeks she spent away at camp - boating, hiking, swimming and kayaking. Someday, she would like to travel.
"I would go to Scotland because I've heard so many wonderful things about it," she said. "I have a friend from Scotland and I love her accent. And I would go to the United Kingdom because of London. I would love to go to London and be there."
Someday the publishing houses may be fighting over Zhade's work. She recently started writing her first book.
"It's called 'Once Upon a Mysterious Doubt,'" she said. “My teacher titled it. It's basically a fantasy book, about this girl, she grew up in poverty but she didn't know she was the most impoverished in the world and she thought that her mother and father died because of what people would tell her, but it wasn't true. She has to go through the good and evils of where she lives and at the end, it's very confusing. You might have to read the book over again."
If her writing career doesn't work out, Zhade would like to be a fashion designer or a model. Among her dreams is attending college, where she says she would take classes in art, fashion and child psychology. She says she has a good rapport with little children.
"Sometimes, when people I know bring their little brothers or little sisters and we'll play around and then the little kids won't want to leave," she said.
She has some sage advice for children about to enter foster care: "Try to take it one day at a time. Let somebody help you out when you first get in there. If anything happens, try to do your best, be as good as you can be. That way, you won't have to move from home to home."
For More Information
Inquire about Shanteese & Zhade via email or call 1-800-99-ADOPT
Please specify the child, date of birth, and Heart Gallery website when calling.