From Foster Child To Fostering Change

There is no place 19-year-old Kala Clark would rather be than lobstering like an old salt near her hometown in Maine; it's an escape from what she's been through.

"Every day I hoped I would wake up and be gone," she says. "I can't understand why anybody, anybody would hate a kid so much."

Kala says the beatings started when she was in the second grade. At 12, she was taken in by a foster care family she now considers her own, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace.

"I have her a little spoiled, that's all," says Larry Hodgkins, Kala's foster parent.

Kala found love and a safe harbor, but something was missing: her two younger brothers who stayed with her biological mother.

"My brothers were pretty much my life," she says. "There is such a void when you are separated, especially in that kind of situation."

Kala hardly got to see them, and she was stunned to learn there was no state law requiring visits for siblings in foster care. At 15, she decided to write the governor.

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Wallace Blogs: A Foster Child Success Story

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"As of now, visitations are in the hands of the parents, not the law" she wrote.

Gov. John Baldacci wrote back and worked with Kala on a bill that was signed into law last year, giving judges the power to order sibling visits.

"It's common sense; it should have been done," he says. "It wasn't being done, but she brought it to everyone's attention."

The law was passed one week after Kala's 18th birthday, meaning it was too late to benefit her and her siblings - but not for the brothers and sisters who just spent a week together at a special camp for kids in foster care.

Sam and Carl Martin have been separated since they were little.

"When you notice that they're gone and you can't see them, it's like a hole and there's nothing there," Sam said.

Kala's first visit to the camp exhilirating and emotional; she only reluctantly shared her story with Wallace.

"I didn't want to do it, and my dad said to me, 'Your story has happened, that's in the past. But these other kids, their story hasn't happened yet; that's going to come. You have to do this to make sure that what happens to them can be better,'" she said.