Children’s Home Society of Florida has a program called Project 18 Mentoring, where they match teenagers in foster care with an adult in the community who can help provide guidance and encouragement.

Amarni Campbell said his mentor has now become a father figure, someone he knows he can rely on, and he wishes more kids in foster care had the same support.

“At the end of the day you always have to have someone who has your back. It’s always good to have a team,” Campbell said.

The Regional Executive Director, Charles Scherer, said the adults really do provide support and guidance for the teens going through the foster care system.

“And to be that support, that they are not alone and that they have someone they can fully rely on at any point in time,” Scherer said.

Campbell spent more than eight years in foster care after moving from Jamaica, and days before turning 18, he met his mentor Michael.

“I got a job now,” Campbell said. “I’m going to get my license next, so there is a lot of stuff we work on together as like a team.”

After meeting his mentor, Campbell graduated high school and is looking into the military and says things would be different without guidance.

“He was in the Navy, so he told me about that and he talked to me about a lot of other stuff,” Campbell said.

Right now, many kids in foster care are facing struggles because of COVID-19, and the program is in need of caring adults willing to help kids reach their potential.

“There is a huge need in Palm Beach County. We currently have a waiting list of 17 kids that can be matched to mentors,” Scherer said.

To be a mentor, you must be over the age of 21 and willing to go through a background check.

For more information on how you can become a mentor, please call (561)868-4300.

Originally posted by: ABC 25 WPBF News