PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two brothers are stepping their way from South Carolina to Philadelphia to raise awareness for kids in the foster care system.
Davon and Tavon Woods, twin brothers who were placed into the foster care system at birth, began their 600-mile trek in Sumter, South Carolina, on Dec. 1. They plan to reach Philadelphia by the month’s end.
The two say they’d like to see some changes to America’s foster care system, and that better screening of prospective caregivers is sorely needed, as a lot of people do it for the wrong reasons.
“But it's a lot of people that do it for the right reasons,” Davon said. “So it's two folds to everything in life. And the foster care system is one of those things where, unfortunately, you hear a lot of the bad and the horror stories.”
Davon and Tavon said when they were in the foster care system, there were times when it felt like they were treated like servants by their foster families.
Now, at age 28, Davon says they want foster children to know that they have the support of others who have been in their shoes.
“We just didn't receive the proper love that a kid should need, and that's what led us to, you know, speak out on kids in foster care, because I know so many kids all over the world that go through so many things, and they are afraid to speak out about it,” he said.
This is not the twins’ first walk for the cause, but it is the longest.
They’re averaging about 20 miles per day, but Tavon says they have special plans for the last day of their walk, Dec. 31.
“We’re already gonna be in Pennsylvania, so we're going to just be walking for that 24 hours,” they said. “We're going to be dedicating those 24 hours for every kid that passed away in the foster care system.”
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, there are more than 390,000 kids in the U.S. foster system. In 2020, more than 2,000 kids in the system died from maltreatment.