Jimmy Wayne, country singer and author of Paper Angels, logged 1,700 miles walking from Nashville to Phoenix for 463,000 kids he’s never met, but for whom his heart aches. He, like them, was a foster child volleyed between caregivers and his birth mom for most of his turbulent, abusive childhood.

At 16, he was “aged out” of the system and homeless. He knows how the insecurity, the hurt, and the fear wound children’s souls and set them up for a lifetime of defeat. Now he’s fighting to raise awareness of their hardships and institute measures that give them a better chance of succeeding in the world through Project Meet Me Halfway.

1. What is Project Meet Me Halfway?

I began Project Meet Me Halfway to raise awareness of the fact that too many youth — especially those that are aging out of the foster care system — are facing circumstances similar to those I faced, being without a home and without a family.

This guilty feeling came over me one day. I thought, here I am living life. I'm comfortable and I felt like I hadn’t done anything to make a difference. I got to thinking, and I said, 'What if I walk halfway across the country to raise awareness [about youth who age out of the foster care system with nowhere to go]?'"

2. What is it like aging out of the foster care system?

There are 30,000 children a year that age out of the foster care system. Imagine blindfolding yourself, getting on a plane, and saying take me anywhere. You don’t know where you’re going to be dropped off. It’s going to be a place where they speak a different language, have a foreign culture and you have no food, no money and no shelter. That’s what it’s like. When I was on my own, just trying to figure out how to get food for that day was a struggle.

3. What is it about the foster care system that people should know?

I refer to the foster care system as a foster carelessness system. It’s not one person’s fault or the other. It’s a system that is just overburdened and overworked and there is more demand than it can meet. The foster care system is gridlocked. It’s our responsibility and everyone’s responsibility to take care of the kids.

4. How can people help?

Besides fostering children in a healthy, loving home, there are other ways to help that don’t cost anything. Vote for the person who is doing the right thing – like increasing the age at which foster children are released from the system to 21. Foster kids are already behind academically and emotionally because they’ve been in the system and moved around. On their 18^th birthday they are expected to all of a sudden catch up. That’s why half of all emancipated foster youth will end up homeless and 30% in prison.

The additional three years would give children time to graduate high school, get a two-year degree, and acquire minimum funds and resources to make that transition into adulthood. Prisoners are given an opportunity to go to college, so why can’t foster kids be given the same opportunity?

You can also donate your time and just talk to people about Project Meet Me Halfway. If 100 people told one other person than that’s 200 people who know. Awareness is important right now and it’s free. It doesn’t cost anything to talk about it.