Grace for the Kids: Former foster kid returns to Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina

LAKE WACCAMAW, N.C. (WECT) - Ramaj Parker considers the Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina campus more than just a campus. The 18-year-old considers it home.

It’s the place where he met people who will be in his life forever and where he discovered some of his greatest talents.

Music is one of Parker’s biggest passions, and the Lake Waccamaw campus was the place where he was encouraged to pursue that passion.

“People such as Mr. Harrington, he taught me how to play the piano. He taught me how to sing which encouraged a lot of other musical abilities in me,” Parker said.

It was a homecoming weekend for Parker, getting the chance to visit his old room and reconnect with old friends and staff members who he said changed his life.

“It’s nostalgic,” Parker said about being back on campus.

Like many others on the campus, Parker first arrived after a family tragedy.

It was Christmas Eve 2019. He said his mom was driving under the influence while he and his siblings were in the car, then they crashed.

“It was about a three, four car accident with my youngest siblings, ages two and three, at the time being launched from the vehicle and my brother being launched out of the car and me getting hurt as well,” Parker said. “Social services came into play.”

He was separated from his family at 12 years old.

He still remembers his first day on campus.

“It was terrifying because it was the first time I was really away from my family,” Parker said.

But with time, Parker said he grew to love it.

He felt encouraged by the staff to not only enjoy his time on campus but also dream of all the opportunities that could lay ahead of him.

“Obviously it isn’t ideal being separated from your loved ones, your family, your friends, everything you have back at home. But I feel like everything happens for a reason,” Parker said. “If that accident never happened in 2019 and I never came into care, I wouldn’t be in school like I am today.”

Parker is in school on a full ride scholarship. He is a rising sophomore at Livingstone College in Salisbury.

“I knew that I was good at school so I was like, ‘okay, if I have something, if I have this talent, I shouldn’t waste it,’” Parker said.

He is majoring in sports management, but that could soon change.

Serving as a role model for others in the foster care system on campus has him thinking maybe he could continue that as a career.

“They kind of looked at me as like a big brother,” Parker said. “I feel like me being the system, seeing the ups and all the downs, I feel like I know exactly what it lacks, and I know that I have qualifications that could help. I’m thinking about changing my major to maybe psychology, sociology because I know I want to work with kids.”

He wants to help them the same way he was helped at Boys & Girls Homes.

While Parker is still deciding what’s next for him, one thing is clear: the song of his life is still being written.

“I’ll just say your condition is not your conclusion. What you’ve been through does not define you,” Parker said.

Parker is taking classes and has an internship with a foster care service called Children’s Home Society this summer.

Boys and Girls Homes says he has encouraged other kids on campus to look into colleges and get excited about their future careers.

To learn more about Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina, click here.