AUSTIN, Texas — Violetta, who goes by "Vii," is 16 years old and a sophomore in high school. She has been in foster care for four years and has moved around to different group and foster homes during that time.
"I really just want to have like, a normal life. I never really had a normal life, especially in my teenage years," Vii said.
Vii aspires to go to college and eventually law school.
"I want to practice family law and help broken families and children who have gone through what I've gone through," Vii said.
Vii loves cats and is always looking after strays she finds.
"They're my angel babies," Vii said. "They make me very happy. They reduce stress."
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Meet Vii
KVUE's Hannah Rucker met up with Vii at Austin Pets Alive! to hang out in the cat nursery. The nonprofit set Vii up with a mentor program so she can visit the cats more often.
Vii spoke about why it can be hard to be a teenager in foster care and how, sometimes, she worries she's going to age out and not end up with a family.
"Foster parents that are like, ready to foster and adopt, they don't want teenagers because I feel like they think that we're more trouble," she said.
To learn more about Vii or to put in an inquiry to adopt her, visit her page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
Catch Vii's full story on KVUE Midday on Friday at 11 a.m.
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.