Scarlet Service Stories: Rosemarie Arroyo-Martinez
Rosemarie Arroyo-Martinez, Tabor Children Services
Rosemarie Arroyo-Martinez was 16 when she landed in the foster care system after her mother’s failed suicide attempt.
Struggling with depression and anxiety and bouncing between three foster homes, Arroyo-Martinez considered dropping out of high school. But after entering therapy her senior year, she experienced a breakthrough that changed the course of her life.
“I realized I need to get myself together. I don’t want to be down, I want to be a positive person and turn my story into one that can be used to help others,” the Camden resident said. “I didn’t want to be another statistic in suicide rates, another statistic in the foster care system. Only a small percent of students in foster care go to college and graduate. So, I made a goal to get to college and navigate it as best I can.”
Today the first-generation college student is a rising senior at Rutgers-Camden, where she is studying biology and spending the summer as a Scarlet Service intern with Tabor Children Services, where she works to enrich the lives of children who are still in the foster system.
As a program development intern, Arroyo-Martinez coordinates events for families served by the Philadelphia nonprofit, including a graduation celebration for this year’s high school graduates. The paid experience is allowing her to partially fund her housing expenses while providing a glimpse into what it would take to help children in foster care as a social worker – a possible career route she is considering.
This summer Arroyo-Martinez is also working on a separate research project with Tabor to help ensure kids like her don’t slip through the cracks and succumb to mental health issues when they are in foster care – and especially when they age out.
“As I was doing my research, I realized that foster youth who age out of the system are more likely to suffer from mental health issues than those entering the system,” she said, noting that many are reluctant to take advantage of potentially life-saving resources because of the stigma associated with mental illness. “I understand the stigma, because I went through it myself.”