Meet Devin, a 15-year-old finding his rhythm through sport.
AUSTIN, Texas — Every week on KVUE Daybreak, we feature children in Texas foster care with the hope of helping them find a permanent place to call home. This week, we introduce you to Devin, a young man who is navigating life’s challenges one pass at a time.
Finding purpose on the pitch
Fifteen-year-old Devin is a natural athlete. Whether he’s on the basketball court or guarding the net on a soccer field, this young man finds his rhythm through movement.
To sharpen his skills, Devin recently spent a morning at the Avila Soccer Training Facility on South Congress Avenue in Downtown Austin. Under the guidance of Eryck Avila, Devin worked on the fundamentals of being a keeper. For Avila, the lessons learned on the field extend far beyond the game itself.
“It teaches character,” Avila said. “These kids get to be older and they get into situations that are adversarial, and they know how to rationalize and get through it. It’s so important that kids are exposed to sports because it teaches them to be strong and resilient.”
Turning pain into play
As a high school freshman navigating the foster care system, Devin has faced more than his fair share of “adversarial” situations. However, he purposefully channels that history into his passion for sports.
“It just makes me more happy,” Devin shared. “I don’t wanna be just sitting there and doing nothing, just stuck in your thoughts.”
When he isn’t on the field, Devin is excelling in the classroom. His favorite subjects in school include physics, chemistry and history. His interest in history is particularly insightful.
“I think it [history] helps us learn from the past,” he said.
Looking toward a ‘forever’ future
Devin’s interests are wide-ranging. He’s a dedicated fan of the San Antonio Spurs, an avid collector of Pokémon cards and he dreams of attending his first Austin FC match someday soon.
But his biggest goal is finding a place to belong. When asked about what he hopes for in a forever family, Devin’s request was simple and poignant:
“I just hope it’s gonna be nice, you know? It don’t matter to me what. I just want to be there, I just want it to be there,” he said.
For Devin, “forever” means a home that stays, a family that supports his dreams and a place where he no longer has to navigate life alone.
How to adopt
Click here to learn about adopting Devin.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor’s note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE’s Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.