Ava Earnhart: Resilience

Once in foster care, singer gives voice to children without one

By Maryanne Meyerriecks
Fort Smith Correspondent

Ava Earnhart loves to share her love of singing and music with those who really need it.

Earnhart, 22, was baptized and received her First Communion when she was 9, shortly after she and her younger brother, Matthew, were adopted. Her birth mother was a drug user, and she didn’t know her father. She went into the foster care system when she was 3, and over the next five years she lived in 14 different foster homes and shelters.

Today she attends Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith where she serves as a cantor at Saturday evening Masses, occasionally accompanying herself on guitar. She is active in University of Arkansas Fort Smith’s Catholic Campus Ministry.

She began singing, playing the guitar and composing songs at 16 and became proficient in two years to receive a music scholarship at UAFS. As a sophomore, she changed her major to psychology in order to study music therapy. She performs regularly as a soloist or with a band, but her favorite gig is working with The CALL, a Christian non-profit that encourages Arkansans to become foster and adoptive parents. She goes to recruiting meetings to tell her story in song. She also visits shelters to minister to the children there.

“There are far too many children without homes,” she said ”When I was in foster care, I was moved all over the state because there weren’t enough homes in my county. I work with The CALL because it recruits families who are motivated by love, and it gives them support and guidance if there are any problems. Last May, I went to Little Rock when Gov. (Asa) Hutchinson signed a proclamation for Foster Care Awareness Month. I sang at a banquet at the Governor’s Mansion, and it was more than I could ask for, that prominent people wanted to listen to me sing what children without a voice were feeling.”

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