FORMER FOSTER BOYS
From “At-Risk Youth” to “Leaders in Training”
What if aging out of foster care
wasn’t the beginning of instability….
What if it was the road to leadership?
Welcome to Former Foster Boys.
My name is Tim King.
I’m 62 years old, a trauma counselor for the past twelve years, and along with my son Gabriel, I’m starting a nonprofit built on a simple belief:
No young man’s worth is up for debate.
The Moment That Stayed With Me
I once looked into the eyes of a homeless man.
He looked away quickly.
In that split second, I understood what I was seeing.
Shame.
Don’t even look at me.
I remember wanting to help him — and realizing I didn’t have the resources yet.
Frederick Douglass said it best:
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
That’s why we’re here.
Why I’m Doing This
People sometimes ask if I was ever in foster care myself.
I wasn’t.
But when it comes to having a traumatic childhood… Let’s just say I’m not just the president — I’m also a member.
I grew up financially comfortable. It looked very privileged on the outside, but my parents were the product of generations of unresolved trauma. You would only need to see us in action once at the family dinner table to understand.
I spent well over 20 years searching for healing. Therapy. Workshops. Men’s groups. Personal development programs. I kept hearing, “My life is changing,” while I was learning firsthand what “your mileage may vary” really means as I mostly just spun my wheels.
PTSD and trauma are buzzwords these days, and are rightfully getting a lot of press. Complex trauma is even harder to heal, because it’s from repeated traumatic events over in one’s early years. That’s what happened to me and I won’t sugar coat it, it was incredibly hard. You may know someone who freaks out easily, that was me.
Gradually I found what worked for me. It was a combination of different healing modalities:
• Breathwork
• Trauma Release Exercise (TRE)
Rapid Trauma Release
• Family Constellation Work
• Hypnosis
• Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
• Exercise
• Meditation
• Nutrition
Finally something changed. I had rewired my nervous system enough that I stopped having trauma-generated reactions to everyday life. I could relax. I could move forward.
I learned what it means to “repair a broken man,” and if I could do it for myself, maybe I could help others.
Over the last twelve years, I’ve watched clients experience that same shift. Other than repairing the relationship with my son, nothing in my life has been so rewarding.
Why This Matters
About half of all homeless people were in foster care.
Annually 23,000 kids in foster care turn 18, most weren’t taught to care for themselves.
Over 40% get arrested by age 26.
They aren’t “bad kids.” These are young people who aged out of the system without stable adult support, life skills, nervous system regulation tools, and without anyone consistently in their corner.
When no one builds you strong… you’re left trying to repair yourself alone.
For more info, see our “Mental Health” page.
Our Mission
To help former foster boys:
• Avoid homelessness
• Heal from childhood trauma
• Develop emotional regulation tools
• Build self-sufficiency
• Learn they can count on themselves — and on each other
• Build brotherhood, accountability, and mutual support
• Teach them to help others do the same
We don’t see “at-risk youth.”
We see leaders in training.
Sometimes all leadership needs is a safe place to grow.
How We’re Starting
We’re beginning simply — renting a home and starting with eight young men.
A safe home with healthy food.
A place to decompress in the company of their peers.
And maybe most importantly — a safe place to sleep.
Each day will include structured healing practices like:
• Breathwork
• EFT (tapping)
• Family Constellation Work
• TRE
• NLP
• Yoga
*EMDR
These are the same practices that helped me heal.
We’ll also have regular activities proven to build self-confidence:
• Gardening
• Cooking
• Self-care
• Caring for their home
*meditation
*Exercise
• Caring for pets, and eventually horses
• Juggling
When men begin to regulate their nervous systems, you start to see the shift in their posture… their voice… their eyes. They’ll learn all this and learn to rely on one another as brothers.
We will live and work alongside them.Something settles.
And when it does, something else becomes possible.
Where We’re Headed
Our five-year vision:
1,200 former foster boys living and working on ten farms up and down the West Coast.
Partnering with retirees who want to teach the next generation, we’ll launch businesses:
• Coffee shop
• Restaurant
• BBQ/Smokehouse
• Bakery
• Landscaping
• Nursery
• Fencing
• Tree service
• Appliance repair
• HVAC
• Plumbing
• Electrical
• Roofing
*fire wood and lumber sales
Providing real jobs.
Real income.
Real dignity.
Further down the line we’ll start convalescent hospitals and eldercare facilities. These are crucial places where people who truly care are needed and they are lucrative. When someone deeply heals, something wonderful naturally happens — they want to help others.
What We Need
To launch our first home, we are raising $50,000.
This covers:
• Housing
• Food
• Transportation
• Basic setup for 3 months
• A $15,000 operating buffer
If any part of this speaks to you, we would love to hear from you.
Sometimes a future changes
because someone decides
not to look away.
In Service,
Tim King