Albert Wilson has not forgotten what it’s like to be “normal.”
That’s how the Miami Dolphins receiver describes the seven years of his childhood spent in Florida’s foster care system — for Wilson, being a foster kid felt normal.
And if it were up to him, the children now being raised in foster care, torn between homes and families, would never have to feel this “normal” again.
Wilson spent seven years of his childhood in Florida’s foster care system. He found that to be rather normal at the time as he was in the system twice — when he was six years old for a one-year stint, then again for six years when he reached 12 years old, basically for much of his years growing up.
The reason Albert spent much of his teenage years in foster care was because his parents were in jail. But that did not deter Albert from staying in contact with his parents on a regular basis, communicating with them by phone and any other means.
It was a bit of a different parent-child relationship given the circumstances, yet Albert made the best of it on that front as well as with the Bayleys, his foster family, with whom he lived from the 10th grade on. The Bayleys already had eight adopted children.
Feeling secure and happy during those years, Albert considered the Bayleys his family as well. It was a balanced life; it was an organized and a structured life. There were family activities together with all the children, and school was an important priority.
Albert moved in with the Brown family after finding out that they were actually distant cousins with origins in the small town of Maysville in South Carolina. His dad’s family is from Maysville. He learned about that talking with his Port St. Lucie high school friend Moe Brown.
Guided by his father, Albert turned to football, in particular, from a very young age. It was a way to use sports for a better way in life. Albert was fully dedicated and committed to football in high school and it paid off as he earned a scholarship at Georgia State. And that eventually propelled him to the NFL where he was signed as a rookie free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2014. After four years in Kansas City, Albert is now back in his home state with the Miami Dolphins in the middle of a three-year contract valued at $24 million.
It is football that now allows Albert the opportunity to give his time and invest his money in something that he considers very important and takes close to his heart. He has created the Albert Wilson Foundation which places all its attention in helping kids in foster care. Albert held his fourth annual football, track, and cheer youth skills camp at Lawnwood Stadium in Fort Pierce on June 22, giving the boys and girls the opportunity to showcase some of their athletic aptitudes.
With that type of financial resources available, Albert knew he had an obligation to give back to the community, and not forget the early part of his life’s journey. He created his foundation to help kids in foster care, more importantly to help with scholarship programs for those kids who were in foster care at least two years, but did not get out of it.
In early June, because of his involvement with this type of program, Albert was honored by the Eckerd Connects’ Project Bridge as a Community Hero for his work with foster children, and ChildNet presented him with the nonprofit Champion of Children Award.
Both the Browns and Baileys remain close to heart for Albert and he considers them an important part of his life. What also is important is that Albert cares and is dedicated to the community work he does. That is something to respect and admire.