SFCASA – A Love Affair (Part II) – Featuring Liam Mayclem CBS 5 TV’s Eye on the Bay by Puneh Sohrabpour
Puneh Sohrabpour, a member of the SFCASA Guild (an auxiliary fundraising group) blogged about SFCASA for A Band of Wives – an online site, providing virtual and direct support for women. ABOW is a place for women to connect, socialize, network and promote their businesses, talents, events and passions. Please see her second post below where she interviews Liam Mayclem about his experiences in foster care and the importance that one dedicated adult can bring to the life of a child.
SFCASA – A Love Affair (Part II) – Featuring Liam Mayclem CBS 5 TV’s Eye on the Bay by Puneh Sohrabpour
I recently sat down with Liam to talk about SFCASA and his personal experience growing up in the foster care system. It was inspiring to hear his story and be witness to such a happy outcome of a life that could have easily gone so differently.
Puneh: Liam please tell me about your personal experience as a child in foster care and what led you there.
Liam: I was born in London and grew up mainly in Northern Ireland. From the age of 2-16 my brother and I were in and out of children’s homes and foster homes – at least half a dozen. My mother was not able to take care of us properly. It was some of the foster parents and caretakers that helped shape me and were most important to me during my formative years.
P: Who were the main influences during those crucial years for you?
L: When I was about 16 my best friend Monica Lawson’s family took me in. I had been living in a children’s home, in and out of different foster homes and it just hadn’t been working. A month after I moved in, the parents split up and the mom disappeared. It was just the dad John, who was a really important figure in my life. He was a teacher, and drummed into me that the most important thing was my homework and education. He was there every night with a meal on the table; there in the morning with a knock on the door when it was time to get up; breakfast was always ready; weekends we’d go to the theater, play soccer. He was a guy that showed up non-stop, steadfast in his commitment to his two girls and equally to me. It made me feel that I was as important as his girls and that I wasn’t the foster kid. I was the son he never had. He once said that to me, and it really shifted everything because finally I was in a situation where I was fully embraced, not just a temporary presence in the house.
P: You have a successful television career, you are an Emmy Award winner, you have a steady and wonderful long-term relationship, a great standing in the community, and on and on. I don’t know what else I’ve left out, but all and all life seems wonderful! How might your life have been otherwise, without the care, advocacy and love you had during your years as a foster child?
L: I know it was different for sure because of the commitment and devotion by an adult – someone telling me I mattered; it really helped me keep my feet on the ground and gave me confidence and courage to follow my dreams. Who knows without John Lawson, I could probably be serving time somewhere in England or who knows what, just going through life with a chip on my shoulder feeling I was owed something. Instead I feel like the luckiest guy on the block: I got to relive my best life and live life to the fullest. That’s not the case for most of my friends who I’m not even in touch with right now because our worlds are so different, yet we came from the same place.
P: How are you involved in SFCASA and why is it so important to you?
L: CASA matters so much to me because I’ve been there – I’ve been that kid in a foster home. Luckily I was never physically abused but I was verbally abused. I’ve been in a foster situation where I’ve been told “you’ve got to behave, you misbehave we’ll send you back.” I felt like I was like a bike rental just for the weekend and was going to be returned. When I heard about SFCASA, of course I wanted to get involved, tell my friends, show up as best I could and help with their fundraiser because it is close to home. I was that kid, and joyfully I’ve turned out all right because of the mentors and people who were there for me. SFCASA provides the opportunity for a kid to get a break. Sometimes when you’re a foster kid and you’ve lost a parent or both parents, you feel like you’re never going to get a break. Then all of a sudden comes this ray of light in the form of your CASA – your person who’s there by your side really taking an interest in you. It can change the course of your life. The work they do is life changing. That’s why I’m involved, because the work SFCASA does is life changing.
VIDEO:
Attached is a video interview with Liam discussing his emotional journey with his brother back to Conneywarren Children’s home in Ireland, after being gone for 30 years. Liam and his brother Rory lived in the children’s home from 1975-1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNbVLj1gIP4&feature=youtube_gdat…
Tags: CASA, foster care, Liam Mayclem, Mentor, SFCASA
