Broken Arrow mom and daughters travel all 50 states to raise awareness for foster care families

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — A Broken Arrow mom and her three daughters are turning the entire country into their classroom while raising awareness about the need for foster families.

Maggie Nichols and her daughters left Oklahoma on Aug. 1 with an ambitious goal: visit all 50 states in 53 weeks.

So far, they have traveled through 13 states, road-schooling along the way while meeting foster, adoptive and kinship families.

For Nichols, the mission is deeply personal. She spent time in foster care as a child, later became a foster parent herself, and says more than 25 children came through her home before she eventually adopted her three daughters.

"I was in and out of foster care until about 2 and a half years old, and then I was adopted. I did not get to be adopted with my biological sister though. So, I always knew I wanted to get into the foster care system and be a foster parent and to adopt at some point. When I was 16, I found myself pregnant and I ended up doing what I felt at the time was best and putting him up for adoption," Nichols said.

Her daughters are along for the ride — and at least one of them has her own priorities on the road trip, hoping to find out which state has the best chicken tenders.

Nichols says she didn't limit the journey to Oklahoma because the need for foster families is nationwide. She hopes their trip starts conversations across the country with one simple message: not everyone can foster, but everyone can do something.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.