Welcome to Footsteps To The Future Website!

So much of our everyday lives revolve around the comfort, safety and happiness that we enjoy in our homes. Home is where the American Dream becomes a reality—where busy families spend precious time together, where close friends gather, where wonderful memories that last forever are made. It’s no small wonder, then, why we focus so much attention on building, decorating and maintaining our dwellings. Truly, there’s no place like home.

Children, especially, reap the untold benefits of a living in a happy, secure household. Imagine, then, the more than 650,000 children in America who currently don’t have a home to call their very own. They live in foster homes.

Yes, there are many caring families—including those right here in Lee and Collier Counties—who open and share their homes with the tens of thousands of children who, for various reasons, are assigned by the courts to live apart from their natural families. Too often, though, those kids have already suffered traumatic episodes in their young lives and have a tough time adjusting to foster care. That’s why so many of them, often from a very early age, are shuttled from foster home to foster home. Most unfortunately, while they might be provided with basic food, clothing and shelter, many foster children grow up without learning the practical skills of how to support themselves in the outside world.

Now imagine those ill-prepared foster kids who, on the day they turn 18, “age out” of the foster-care system. Whatever home life they may have had up to that point—good, bad or indifferent—is suddenly taken away. Where they go and what they do next can be a daunting mystery. Beyond simply finding a place to live, too many of these teens succumb to drug and alcohol abuse, unwanted pregnancy, unemployment and other social misfortune which can ironically land them in an equally dreadful criminal-justice system.

I first learned of this shameful situation about six years ago. And the more I learned about it, the bleaker the picture grew. Finally, frustrated by the lack of viable alternatives offered to these children, in particular the teenaged girls who are so vulnerable  in this scenario—I set out to create one. Together with several other like-minded women in our community, we have launched a new program Footsteps to the Future, Inc. dedicated to assisting local young women as they make their huge
transition from foster care to the real world.

Footsteps to the Future’s goal is to inspire and encourage these young women to recognize their personal power and  potential, to become self-sufficient and to ultimately themselves become leaders and role models in the community. We have
developed a unique one-to-one life coaching/mentoring/empowerment program, drawing upon the wisdom and  compassion of a growing list of successful women who volunteer their time and talents to improving the lives of “our girls,” as we love to call them. We involve the  girls in leadership, empowerment, community service
and peer mentoring.

We need Transitional Housing here in SW Florida...  safe and affordable housing where these young woman can stay while they adjust to living independently,       get stable jobs and continue their educations. Footsteps To the Future and the young women (our girls), who are involved, will become the “Voice” in our communities for creating awareness of this enormous need. They too will become ambassadors and stakeholders as we focus on helping to raise the awareness and the funds to make this Dream a Reality….it does take a Village…

We have already had a number of success stories, and are daily encouraged with the progress of many of our young women. Yet the need to help others who every year age out of foster care is never-ending. We invite you to learn more about Footsteps to the Future and perhaps join us, either as a mentor or by getting involved as a visionary partner. Stay tuned, as you will hear the details about this and more in the near future.

For immediate information regarding Footsteps to the Future, Inc
Contact: Judi Woods (239) 275-5834 or email us. ++