Former foster youth defies the odds to earn three UTSA degrees

"I have always loved learning," she said. "It was the one thing that was so true to who I was, because it was the one thing I knew nobody could take away. It was not something tangible like clothes and makeup. It was something I knew would stick with me for a long time."

That determination kept Ramirez-Franklin focused throughout high school, even while being shuttled to various foster care placements and not having a permanent home. She graduated high school with 33 college credit hours thanks to advanced placement courses and enrolled at UTSA, which wasn't part of her original plan.

"I wanted to leave the bad memories of Texas behind," Franklin-Ramirez recalled. "My goals were the big-name universities like Harvard."

As the oldest of seven siblings who had been in and out of foster care, she realized she might need to stay put.

"When I aged out of the system in 2009, I realized that every year after that, one of my siblings would age out, too," she said. "I wanted to be near them to support them."

For Ramirez-Franklin, UTSA became her home base. She felt comfort and safety within it, despite the initial discomfort of moving to campus housing.

"It was such a shock for me when I moved into University Oaks," she recalled. "I had just moved out of a home with 12 girls, and now I was by myself with one roommate."

For the first time in her young life, Ramirez-Franklin learned how to manage her finances, manage her academics and balance her sense of freedom with the weight of responsibility, all while learning who she was when she wasn't the "foster kid."

She enrolled in the UTSA Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice due to her interest in peacekeeping but also because of her former experience as a "crossover youth," a minor who is in the foster care system and the criminal justice system simultaneously.

"When I was in the Juvenile Probation Department, there was nothing in place for foster kids," Ramirez-Franklin recalled. "I was stuck. Nobody knew what to do with me. Had it not been for my foster parents at that point advocating for me to go back home, I very much would have sat there."

Continuing her drive to use her lived experiences to advocate for change, Ramirez-Franklin knew that learning law and policy could enable her to have a well-rounded approach to advocacy. It is what also led her to pursue a second bachelor's in public administration.

Today, Ramirez-Franklin's three degrees embody the purpose of HCAP. Every one of the college's 22 majors layers and complements each other to offer a well-rounded approach to learning, advocacy, change and action.

"I also earned a minor in nonprofit management, which will help me toward my dream of opening up my own nonprofit one day," Ramirez-Franklin said. "And getting my social work degree was the icing on the cake. It taught me how to meet people where they are, and how I can truly help people."

Currently, Ramirez-Franklin works as a specialized case management specialist with Compass Connections, a national provider of case management services. Compass Connections provides various services focused on permanency, including intensive case management services that emphasize placement stability and safety and utilizes seasoned professionals trained to support the child-centered family unit through a culturally sensitive and trauma-informed approach. Prior to that, she worked with BCFS Health and Human Services Emergency Management and Response for eight years.

Her work covers five states and, as a clinician with post-release services, she works primarily with minors. In addition to her day-to-day, Franklin continues to speak at public events, sharing her story and her passion for foster care reform.

"Everything that I have done to this date has been driven by a personal sense of obligation to look out for the next generation of foster youth," she said. "I had some people looking out for me and that's how I was able to get into college and experience all the things I have."

Ramirez-Franklin stayed busy outside of the classroom and remains connected outside of her day job. She was the youngest person appointed to the Council for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

At the state capital, Franklin collaborated with UTSA First Lady Peggy Eighmy to advocate for state funding for the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success Project (BCFES). UTSA facilitates the BCFES program and partners with the Bexar County Children's Court, Child Advocates San Antonio, Texas A&M University San Antonio and the Alamo Community College District.

The mission of BCFES is to increase the number of youths with foster care history graduating from college, and to increase the number of youth in foster care who know that college is expected and achievable. The program is already having tremendous impact. The enrollment rate for youth with foster care history at UTSA has increased by 74% since starting the program in 2020.

The three-time HCAP alumna is also a member of the Bexar County Blue Ribbon Task Force, which develops and advances community-based solutions to prevent child abuse and neglect.

"Krizia was one of the first students I met at UTSA with foster care history. I think the world of her," said Eighmy. "She has deeply shaped my understanding of what universities must do to best support students who have been in foster care. Krizia came with me to Austin to advocate for state funding for BCFES ,and I credit Krizia with our success. She said quite simply to the senators and representatives, 'It shouldn't have been so difficult for me, and there shouldn't be so few kids like me.' Krizia's legacy at UTSA is that we are now an exemplar of how to support students with foster care history."

Looking back on her college experience, Ramirez-Franklin is glad she chose to stay in San Antonio. To work to fix a system she has been through personally has been challenging but rewarding.

"I continue to advocate for myself, and I continue to advocate for my brothers," she said. "And now I continue to advocate for all the other youth who still don't have a voice."

Another great part of staying in San Antonio? Ramirez-Franklin has had several "full-circle" moments.

As she was completing her public administration degree, she took a job as a juvenile probation officer. When she met her coworkers, she realized that one colleague was her former probation officer from her days as a crossover youth.

"They couldn't believe it was me," Ramirez-Frankin recalls. "The chief at the time and everyone there was so surprised, and it was an amazing feeling to be living proof that this is what these programs can do."

In just over a decade, Ramirez-Franklin has achieved so much: She has earned three UTSA degrees, continues to advocate for foster youth inside and outside of her office and is being the best, most present mother she can be for her four children. But it's only the beginning, she says.

"The sky's the limit for me," she said. "I want to apply for a Ph.D. I also want to open my own nonprofit. And I want to continue helping within the childcare welfare system."

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