According to the Christian Alliance for Orphans, around one in every two-hundred children in the United States are currently in foster care. That equates to roughly three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand children, or 0.1% of the population. Children in foster care often experience some of the hardest lives anybody could ever live, yet they remain unheard. No one knows this better than my youngest brother, Walker Wing. Walker’s status as an ex-foster child, as well as his age, cement him into the category of the voiceless. The purpose of this paper is to show that Walker’s voice is not one that should remain unheard.
Walker was born on May 22nd, 2014, making him a little over ten years old at the time of writing. He spent the first year of his life strapped into a car seat, malnourished and ignored. Him and his sister, Elli, soon entered foster care. Their first foster assignment happened to be that of my family. After a couple long and difficult years of visitation and healing, we were able to adopt the two of them on June 20th, 2017. Though he faced an unfair and unjust start to his life, Walker has grown to be a strong, smart, and healthy boy with a bright future ahead of him. Despite his trials, he has made it out the other side all right.
Throughout his entire life, Walker has been unable to make any real choices for himself. He was not even given the opportunity to develop at the start of his life. Today, he remains voiceless because he is still a child. I know that Walker is a very insightful individual, yet his insight has never been thought of as more than the mere musings of a child. I decided that my best choice for this assignment was Walker, as he deserves a voice more than anybody that I know. Through my interview, I asked him a series of questions not only about his life, but about his views on the world. I learned a plethora of valuable information from this experience.
The story of Walker’s adoption as told by his mother, Amber Wing:
The first of the insights I gathered from my interview with Walker is that he feels like he has been pushed around by his older siblings for much of his life. He says that he has never been given a voice because he is the youngest sibling. He has often been the butt of the joke and the first to be picked on. Walker did not seem resentful or angry about this, rather he seemed deeply saddened. I will not even begin to pretend that I was not a part of his bullying, and this insight granted to me into his feelings has caused me to feel deep remorse. Walker said that he knew that he would one day have more of a say in his life, though at the moment he has been pushed down by his older siblings. Walker then went on to say that he was very thankful for the opportunity to be given a chance to speak everything on his mind. He also took a quick moment to wish the viewers of his interview a merry Christmas, a kind gesture that is representative of the kindness within his soul. Walker surely put his time in front of the camera to good use.
The second thing Walker provided insight into were his fears for the world. Though I have no doubt that Walker fears the typical things young boys do like ghosts or grizzly bears, he did not discuss them. Rather, Walker discussed how scared he is of the current state of the world, specifically with the division caused by the election. In Walker’s words, “it feels like every year things get more, like, trashy and worse.” He lamented the two-party system and all of the chaos that it has wrought on our world. Walker said that as a person and a Christian, he cannot get behind either party as they both have rights and wrongs. Walker also took the time to decry the waste management of the world, calling it “so freaking stupid.” Walker called for the ceasing of pollution, lest we “end up living the reality of the movie Wall-E.” I have rarely seen such insight into the world from any child, though I doubt I would have listened in the first place. He then returned to his more boyish roots by suggesting that every town should increase security to stop burglars and kidnappers. He thought that it would be very funny to see the shock on their faces, and I cannot help but agree. It would be hilarious.
The final question I asked Walker was “if you could tell the entire world something, what would you tell them?” He made me immensely proud by taking this opportunity to speak the gospel to the viewers of the interview. Walker said that “all those things that are happening in this world, Jesus fixes all those things if you just believe in Him.” Walker went on to talk about how, through Christ we can truly make a difference in this world and change lives. The final message that Walker left us with was that “turning to Him is the best thing that ever happened to me (Walker), and hopefully is the best thing that ever happened to you.” Walker could have used all of his time to complain about how he is treated poorly or how his life has been so hard, but he instead took the time to preach the gospel to all who listened. If that is not reflective of the goodness within him, I do not know what is.
Throughout this experience, I have learned of the great depth within my youngest brother. He has deeply profound opinions on many of the biggest problems in our world. More importantly, he is a Christian whose primary goal is to turn as many people to Christ as possible. Yes, Walker is still a child. However, he is not just a child. Through this interview, I have learned that his opinions and ideals are just as, if not more intelligent of those of many adults I know. He may not think that he has a voice right now, but this interview has proven the opposite. It is now undeniable that Walker Wing has a voice, and it is not one to be ignored.
