Rainn knows her life could have been dramatically different without her faith in God and the support she has received from Methodist Children’s Home.
“I could’ve been dead, but my faith has gotten me through everything in my life,” said Rainn, a 22-year-old enrolled in the MCH Transition Services (TS) program. “God has been with me every step of the way – from my placement at MCH to now sharing my story that He designed.”
Rainn and her four siblings were removed from their mother’s home by Child Protective Services (CPS) when she was 11 years old. She moved from home to home for nearly four years – staying with her pastor, her grandmother, foster families, and eventually living at emergency shelters. Then MCH stepped in.
“MCH became a true home for me,” Rainn said. “My eyes were opened even more because I saw how God was working in my life and how He was changing me.”
Rainn graduated from the MCH charter school in 2018 as salutatorian. Two weeks later, she moved to Corsicana, Texas, and started her collegiate journey at Navarro College. She became a peer tutor, made the Dean’s List and graduated with her associate’s degree in applied sciences in 2020.
“Everyone knows when I set my mind on something, that’s it – I’m going to get it done,” Rainn said with a smile. “I even gave one of my final presentations at Navarro while I was in labor with my daughter! The pandemic was still at its height and everything was virtual. I had my iPad on my hospital bed tray and did what I had to do.”
Those closest to Rainn strongly affirm her determination to beat the odds.
“It is Rainn’s sheer willpower that has kept her going,” said Kenneth Alexander, Rainn’s TS case manager. “She could have easily stopped going to school after having her first child. But she didn’t. Rainn is a survivor and she knows what she wants in life.”
After graduating from Navarro College, Rainn and her daughter, Ocean, moved to Fort Worth where she enrolled in the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Rainn recalls bringing her now 2-year-old daughter with her to classes from time to time. The young mother graduated with her bachelor’s degree in social work in December 2022.
“I want to beat the statistics,” Rainn said. “I am a part of the 2 percent of youth in the foster care system who have gone on to college and graduated with a bachelor’s degree. Now I’m going for my master’s degree in social work at UTA and I’m also enrolled at Texas A&M University pursuing a bachelor’s in business at the same time – and I’m not stopping there.
“I want a PhD,” she stated emphatically. “I want to be that success story and I’m not going to stop until I get there.”
Rainn’s ultimate goal is to create what she calls “her own version of Methodist Children’s Home” for young adults who have aged out of the foster care system and have nowhere else to turn.
“I grew up in the system and I’m going to be the one to change it,” Rainn said. “I want to provide a home for large sibling groups in foster care so they don’t get separated from one another.”
In addition to gaining knowledge through her schooling, Rainn gained even more insight and experience through her internship with Unlimited Potential. The nonprofit organization in the Brazos Valley is geared toward helping the exact demographic Rainn wants to empower in the future – young adults, like her, who have aged out of the foster care system.
“I’m living in a nice apartment; I’m in school, have a full-time job, and have two healthy, beautiful kids,” Rainn said. “I’m still making it. Nothing is stopping me. I’m showing my kids and everyone else that I am not finished yet.
“I want youth at MCH and other young adults to know that no matter what situation you are put in, it can always get better,” she said. “God has something greater for you. Life is hard. But it’s not going to get better just because you say it’s going to get better. It’s going to get better when you’re determined to make a change.”
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