A Quinceañera Fit For a Princess, All Five of Them

Sitting in a makeup chair, a girl is in the process of getting her makeup done.

Her eyeshadow has been applied – an array of dark blues and purples to match her dress for tonight. Her eyeliner has been sharpened, glitter has been added to her eyelids, and her cheeks are rosy with blush.

All there is left to do is pick out how dramatic of a lipstick she wants.

“It’s a one-in-a-lifetime quinceañera, so be dramatic,” she jokes with the makeup artist as they pick out a bold red lip.

For Latinas and girls of Hispanic descent, a quinceañera is a one of lifetime celebration and an important milestone marking the transition from girlhood to adulthood. It’s a tradition that millions of young girls experience around the world and this one is no different.

Except, this isn’t just any quince and there’s not just one princess.

Last month, five girls celebrated their quinces at the Settlement Home for Children, a group home for children in foster care.

“We get to celebrate five of our girls’ coming of age, and we're really excited for them,” says Kelly Betz, community relations coordinator at the Settlement Home, a group home that provides emotional support, like therapy, for kids who have experienced emotional trauma and abuse.

Settlement Home staff have spent months planning the quince for the girls. Betz and a team of volunteers transformed the conference center at their campus into a quince ballroom. Portraits of the girls in their dresses greeted guests, tables were adorned with flower centerpieces and a tiered cake sat on a table.

The girls attended mass days before their big day. They made their grand entrance, escorted by a person of their choosing. They danced in somewhat synchronicious moves to Selena Quintanilla’s "Dreaming of You” before jumping into a faster-paced bachata.

Much like other quinces, the girls received their “symbols” of adulthood – a rose, tiara, bear and a candle. But, more importantly, they each got their chance to feel like a princess.

The girls each got to pick their dresses in their favorite colors – red, yellow, navy blue, baby blue and pink. Betz says they were also able to customize their dresses, pick out jewelry and how they style their hair and makeup.

“They loved putting on the dresses…putting on the petticoats and, like, spinning around and being really girly, " Betz says. “That was, I feel like the best part for them.”

For Betz, the quince is just another example of how The Settlement Home aims to make things feel normal for kids in an otherwise not so normal situation.

“We try to do as many things as possible to make the kids feel like they have a normal life,” Betz says. “The quinceañera is just another way that we can help them feel and live a normal life, even though they're not living at home with their families.”

As of January, there are about 16,000 children in foster care in Texas, according to The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Since 1916, The Settlement Home in Rundberg has been providing emotional and physical support for kids in foster care through several programs, including a group home program that offers 24-hour therapeutic support for children.

That’s how Betz says she got her start working with the girls. She started as a houseparent, someone who lives on-site and provides consistent care for the girls. She says she was able to build relationships with the girls, which made making their quince wishes come true even more important for her.

“That was really the motivating factor,” Betz says. “They are the reason that at the end of the day, and I'm tired and I'm going home and my feet hurt, they are the reason why I want to put so much effort and make sure everything came together as perfectly as possible.”

Betz says all these things – everything from big events like a quince to smaller everyday things like trips to Buc-ee's – are what help make the kids feel like kids.

“Everything we do is for the kids,” Betz says. “It's just to make sure that the kids get to live as normal of life as possible…and so for us, as a care provider, it's really important to know that we go above and beyond what the state provides.”

To learn more about The Settlement Home visit www.settlementhome.org