Succeeding as a Foster Child: A Roadmap to Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Success

Dr. Jamie Schwandt provides first-hand experience and in-depth research on the steps foster children must take to achieve success. These powerful lessons provide a roadmap for foster children to beat the stigma and pave their way to excellence.“I wish someone would have shared this insight with me when I was in foster care.” This is a common contention by the author and research participants. This book is a shortcut to eliminating this feeling and steering directly towards action and results.This book will provide tools to overcome challenges as well as contribute to the knowledge foster children have about the great opportunities they have been afforded by simply being foster children. Life in foster care is a temporary solution, but success is permanent.Embrace this opportunity, take advantage of the vast of resources, be positive and succeed!

Dr. Jamie Schwandt is a former foster child who understands how to succeed in life. He is currently a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve. Dr. Schwandt serves as a public speaker and has presented his research and personal story of challenges and triumphs for many organizations and audiences. He enjoys providing positive motivation for young individuals in foster care. Dr. Schwandt had a difficult childhood and overcame significant obstacles to get where he is today. He was born in a small town in Kansas in a family where his parents abused drugs and alcohol. Both parents battled depression while suffering from other mental health issues. His father committed suicide when he was eighteen years old. As a child, Dr. Schwandt witnessed many dangerous and poor decisions made by his parents. From birth to eighteen years old, Dr. Schwandt moved more than twenty times with his parents, grandparents, and in the foster care system. He enlisted in the United States Army Reserve when he was just seventeen years old and continues to proudly serve his country, including deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. Despite the challenges he faced during his upbringing, Dr. Schwandt obtained a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from Fort Hays State University. In May 2013, he completed a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) from Kansas State University. Dr. Schwandt is both determined and tenacious and is blessed to have experienced many successes in life.