For foster youth, one dependable adult can change a life. A Cambridge woman did just that.

Just one dependable adult can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. But for many in foster care, that kind of stability can be hard to come by.

For the last five years, Cambridge resident Alexis Walls has been supporting a young woman in the foster care system as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate — or CASA — through court hearings, placements, some of life’s most difficult moments. And some of the best.

The young woman once told her that Alexis is one of the longest relationships in her life outside of her family. A listener to GBH’s All Things Considered nominated her for this week’s Joy Beat, and she joined Arun Rath to share more about the importance of showing up. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.

Arun Rath: Before we talk in more detail about your relationship, I want to talk about how you became interested in this work. I understand it was through your background in public health. Tell us a little bit about the journey from there that got you into this work.

Alexis Walls: Absolutely. Yes, I have a background in public health. Prior to my more recent roles, I actually did a lot of work in the substance use prevention space. One of the things that we focused on at the time was how to increase protective factors and decrease risk factors that lead a young person to start using substances at an early age.

We did a lot of research around what those protective factors are, and one of the things that protects a young person and prevents them from experiencing poorer health outcomes is having a trusted, caring adult who is a consistent presence in their lives. Young people who do not have that are actually more likely to experience poor health outcomes.

So, it was first in that public health space where I really started to understand more and more of the importance of a trusted adult in the life of a young person, and what it sometimes looks like when a young person is lacking that support. That’s certainly one of the things that first triggered my interest, I suppose, in foster care and supporting youth in foster care.

I would say another part of it was my faith. It just felt as though that was a calling. At the time, when this was coming up for me, I was not in a place or a stage where I could actually step into fostering. However, I knew that I could build a relationship even if it was not by welcoming a child into my home. And so the Boston CASA program felt like a really great way to not just invest in the life of a young person, but also be able to advocate for their best interests. That’s how I first got involved with CASA.

Rath: That’s a wonderful story. I love going from the data right to the individual.

Tell us about this individual — we’re calling her “J,” for respect of her privacy. Tell us about her.

Walls: J is a young person who’s involved in foster care and has been since she was a teenager. She recently turned 20, and so I’ve been a part of her life for the past five years. J is wonderful. She’s hilarious, she’s incredibly nurturing and sweet, and she’s somebody who, when she puts her mind to something, she’s able to accomplish it.

She’s a really sweet girl, but a girl who has not had the most stable home life and ended up entering foster care. And has had many different placements over the years that I’ve been able to witness her go through.

Rath: If she just turned 20, that’s five years of development. Tell us about how she’s grown from when you first met her.

Walls: When I first met J, she was living in a group home setting, or was recently transitioning into a group home setting. And I think she was just having a hard time with feeling wanted and loved. But also a hard time with feeling a lack of stability and the limited autonomy that can come from living in a congregate care setting, like a group home.

When I first met her, she was a teenager who really struggled to build safe relationships with peers and with some of the adults in her life. Over the years, I’ve been able to see her grow in understanding her inherent worth more and more. She’s getting better and better at identifying what is a safe and appropriate relationship. I’ve been able to see her grow and what it looks like to discover her own passions and cares.

J’s always been a really creative person and would gravitate towards outlets like poetry, writing, art, dance and music. She’s always loved cooking. When she was a teenager, I have this really clear memory of us spending time together on a Thanksgiving holiday. We made this big meal, and I remember her being really adamant about wanting to share that meal that we had created with some of the others in the congregate care setting that she had been living in at the time.

She’s always really enjoyed hospitality, cooking and culinary arts, and wants to become a chef and own her own catering business. At her graduation, more recently, the culinary director for the program — when it came time to get her certificate — said that she was the best line cook in her class. Despite being the youngest person in her class, which I was incredibly proud of and was not surprised at all. But those are just some of the ways that I’ve been able to see her grow over the years.

Rath: In terms of your side of being a dependable adult, on the day-to-day side of helping J out with these interactions in this difficult world, what is it like?

Walls: It depends on the day. I would say there’s the court side of it, which, as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate, I advocate within the courts for J’s best interests. More recently, for example, she had a hearing just to kind of check in to see how she was doing — now that she’s 20 and living independently with the support of the Department of Children and Families. I wrote a report that gave updates on where she is mentally and physically, how she’s doing in terms of transitioning into that adult stage of independence, and then also made recommendations to the court in terms of what I see her needs as being moving forward. So, that’s certainly one part of the role.

I would say on the day-to-day, especially as she’s gotten older, some of the interactions look a little less formal. We spend a lot less time on a virtual Zoom hearing or in a meeting, but rather, talking to each other on FaceTime or over the phone, spending time together over a meal. She might share some of the things that she’s grappling with or thinking through, and I might help encourage her with thinking about how to plan for those things moving forward.

I would say the relationship also looks like interacting with case managers and case workers, giving each other updates on where we see J being and working together to think about what she needs to be healthy, safe and thriving, and advocating for those things.

Rath: Alexis, how has this changed you over the last five years?

Walls: I would say it’s changed me in a few ways. I’ve grown stronger in that conviction that I will one day open my home to a young person in foster care. I think something else that it has done is it’s made me a more patient person. Supporting young people who are in foster care often means interacting with young people who have really complex trauma histories, and that impacts a young person’s ability to develop connections and attachments with anyone in their life. It means that sometimes, it’s not always easy to develop a connection or trust over time. I’ve been able to see the fruit of that. I think that it has also given me a much healthier appreciation for everybody who sort of has a hand in the child welfare space.

And lastly, I would say that it’s changed my career path altogether. I had been working in public health for years doing work that I really loved, but I don’t know if that chapter would have ever begun if I hadn’t stepped into the role as a CASA.

If you’d like to make a nomination for the Joy Beat, leave us a voicemail at (617) 300-BEAT [2328].