May is National Foster Care Month in the United States and the founder of Cousin T’s, a budding food brand that launched to help the void left by Aunt Jemima, says the foster care system that saved his life is one of the "great" things about America.
"I thank God that I live in a country that has a foster care system. That's the great thing about America, because if I was born in another country, and I was in foster care, or if I didn't have a mother and a father, and I was born in some third-world country, I would probably be on the streets right now," Terrence Williams told Fox News Digital.
Thanks to the foster care system, Williams is far from the streets. In 2021, he founded Cousin T’s, a pancake mix and syrup company, and the company has since expanded into a food brand that sells everything from coffee and biscuits to fried chicken mix and hot sauce.
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Williams grew up in the foster care system, bouncing around from home to home until he was adopted by a loving family at age 15. He said that many people are hesitant to adopt teenagers, but urged Americans to give it some thought.
"Every child deserves to be loved, whether it's from their biological parents, or foster parents, or adoptive parents," Williams said.
"If I were not adopted out of the foster care system, I really do not know where I would be," Williams continued, noting that children who "age out" without being adopted often end up on the streets or in jail.
"They leave the system without family, without a support group," he said. "If I were not adopted, I absolutely do not know where I would be at. But I do know, before I was adopted, bouncing from foster house to foster house, I really didn't have any guidance."
Williams said he was a good kid at heart, but there was a moment when he wanted to be a "thug" or "gangbanger" before adoption put him on the right path.
"I was looking up to bad people, but once I was adopted, and finally had a father in my life, I had someone to set me straight. Someone to tell me, ‘Terrence, pull your pants up, you look stupid. Terrence, who do you think you are? You are not a thug. You are not a gangbanger. You are better than that,’" Williams said.
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On the Cousin T’s website, the company explains that Williams "always dreamed about big family gatherings around the breakfast table with grandma in the kitchen cooking up a big family breakfast" and longed to cook for his own family one day. But his passion for food morphed into a desire to fill a void when cancel culture came for Aunt Jemima in 2020.
"Now, the pancake idea came after Aunt Jemima was canceled. She was one of my favorite food brands, and when they canceled Aunt Jemima, I was really upset because I loved Aunt Jemima. I was introduced to Aunt Jemima in one of my foster homes… that's when I first had her pancake mix," Williams said.
Quaker Oats announced in 2020 that it recognized Aunt Jemima was "based on a racial stereotype" and rebranded the beloved product.
"I had her pancakes all the time," Williams said.
"After they canceled her, I came out with Cousin T’s because I love food. Everybody who knows me knows Terrence loves food," he continued. "So, I created Cousin T’s."
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Williams, who calls cancel culture a "cancer," has also wrote the book, "From the Foster House to the White House," and piled up a massive social media following. He said many children in the foster care system seek guidance from role models who successfully made it out, and he’s thrilled the success of Cousin T’s put him in a position to help.
"Cousin T’s represents the American dream, because, you know, I am the founder, and I come from the foster care system," Williams said.
"I do use the company to motivate and inspire foster kids all over America and to show them that if I can do it, you can do it," he said. "That’s one of the greatest things about my company: Food is great, but inspiring and motivating children is even greater."
