UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Deanna Terry sees herself in many of the teens she now helps who are aging out of the foster care system in North Carolina. 

What You Need To Know

  • A North Carolina woman is helping to bridge the gap for kids aging out of foster care   

  • As a teen, Deanna Terry found herself in the same difficult situation, and now she’s paying it forward   

  • Deanna Terry, the co-founder of Keystep, is an Everyday Hero 

“I was removed at 13 for child abuse and I lived in a group home for two years, then I moved into foster care,” Terry said. 

She says foster care was even more difficult than living in a group home.

“Foster care was one home to another, and different rules. Different schools, different people, and hard to make friends or find support,” Terry said. 

When she eventually aged out, she was homeless and pregnant. Like many others, she had to figure out life on her own.

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, teens aging out deal with struggles like unemployment, substance use, criminal activity and mental health disorders. In North Carolina, 546 children aged out of foster care from Dec. 1, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024, the agency said. 

Terry started a nonprofit called Keystep, based in Union County. Immediately, there was an outpouring of support. Many in the community donated items like hygiene products, cleaning supplies and food.

“It’s brought me to tears multiple times, because even at 55 it throws me back to that girl who left,” she said. “Never could I have dreamed that I could offer this to other people.”

“I was fortunate to have people in my path that led to me being able to be successful with my small business, and it’s my turn to give back,” Terry said.“I was fortunate to have people in my path that led to me being able to be successful with my small business, and it’s my turn to give back,” Terry said. “I really feel like this is where I'm supposed to be.”

She says if she had this type of support when she was younger, she thinks she would’ve gone farther, faster.

“If somebody said to me then, ‘Deanna, this is going to be hard, but when you get through it, this is what you’re going to be doing.' I would've chosen to go through it,” Terry said.