Chase is 16, lives in the Houston area, and does well in school. He likes building sets for his high school plays, has recently gotten into theater, and spends his free time listening to music and playing video games. What he does not have is a permanent family, and as he gets closer to adulthood, the search for one has taken on new urgency.
Chase entered foster care a few years ago through no fault of his own, according to FOX 26 Houston, which profiled the teenager as part of its monthly Finding Families segment. Reporter Sally MacDonald interviewed Chase and a representative from DePelchin Children's Center for the piece, which described a teenager who gets along well with his peers, enjoys being social, and likes learning about chemistry, physics, and space. Chase told the station he hopes to attend college and become an astrophysicist.
A Teen Who Wants an Active, Traditional Household
According to the station's report, Chase is hoping for a traditional household with a mom, dad, and siblings — an active family that shares and encourages his interests. He would benefit from a positive male role model, the profile noted, and he wants a family that supports his future academic and career goals along with any extracurricular activities at school or in the community. He is also looking forward to milestones many teenagers take for granted: learning to drive, earning his own money, and getting a job so he can become more independent.
Whatever family eventually takes him in, Chase wants a smooth transition into the home, along with the same qualities his profile emphasized as essential: patience, support, consistency, and nurturing. Those needs are common among older foster youth. DePelchin Children's Center representatives have noted that while Texas faces a general shortage of licensed foster homes, teenagers and sibling groups routinely experience the longest wait times before finding permanent families.
The Broadcast Partnership Behind Chase's Profile
Chase's story ran as part of a partnership between FOX 26 and DePelchin Children's Center, an arrangement established in 2008 to showcase foster children awaiting adoption. The collaboration earned FOX 26 the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Houston Chapter's 2025 Outstanding Communications Partner Award, and in April 2024 DePelchin presented the station with its Kezia DePelchin Award, recognizing anchor Sally MacDonald and the newsroom for helping foster children find permanent homes at an annual fundraiser that raised more than $340,000 for local child welfare programs.
DePelchin itself traces back to 1892, when it began as the “Faith Home,” founded by pioneer social worker Kezia Payne DePelchin. What started in two borrowed rooms caring for three orphaned infants has grown into one of Houston's oldest child welfare organizations, now operating as a statewide foster, adoption, and youth mental health agency.
What Adopting Chase Would Require
Families interested in adopting Chase or another child through DePelchin must complete an application, attend an orientation, pass a background check, and undergo training and a home study. Prospective adoptive parents must be at least 21 years old, pass a criminal background check, be in good physical health, and be able to financially provide for a child. The full adoption process through DePelchin can take up to six months or less. Interested families can reach the organization at [email protected].
A Race Against the Clock
Chase's age raises the stakes. Roughly 1,200 youth in Texas age out of the state foster care system each year upon turning 18 without ever achieving adoption or reunification, according to Buckner International. Federal data for fiscal year 2024 counted 6,124 children and youth in Texas foster care waiting for adoption, including 3,992 whose biological parents' rights had been fully terminated, per the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Nationally, adoptions from foster care have kept falling too — the Administration for Children and Families reported a fiscal year 2024 total of 46,935, down more than 6% and the lowest national figure since 1999, according to the National Council For Adoption.
The consequences of aging out without a permanent family can be severe. Research from the Texas Institute for Child & Family Wellbeing found that 33% of young adults who age out of Texas foster care experience homelessness by age 21, a rate higher than the national average — a risk Hoodline detailed in its coverage of Austin's foster youth homelessness plan.
State Support for Chase's College Dream
If Chase does reach college, Texas law offers him a financial advantage. Under Texas Education Code Section 54.366, students who were under the conservatorship of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, or adopted from DFPS care, qualify for a tuition and fee waiver at public Texas colleges as long as they enroll before turning 25. That statutory support is paired with newer state-backed resources: in March, the University of Texas at Austin launched the Texas Foster Youth Network, a statewide call center funded by a $4 million Texas Workforce Commission grant connecting former foster youth to higher education and employment help, a program staffed by people with personal foster care experience and previously covered by Hoodline in its report on the Austin hotline for former foster youth.
For now, Chase's path to a physics degree and a career studying the stars runs through a more immediate need: a family willing to take him in, support him through the transition, and stick around for the milestones ahead of him — learning to drive, landing a first job, and walking into a classroom or theater knowing someone at home is rooting for him.
