Before the world knew Simone Biles as an Olympic champion, she was a little girl who did not know where she belonged. At just 3 years old, Biles entered foster care with her siblings after her biological mother struggled to care for them. Initially, she was anxious in foster care because her brother slept in a different room, and she worried that he might be taken away from her. Fortunately, Biles and her siblings remained together before her grandparents adopted them. Now, decades later, the girl who once needed someone to tell her that she was safe has become the woman standing before young people who need someone to believe in them.

On October 6, Biles brought that message to youth and their mentors in the Twin Cities as part of her ongoing work with Friends of the Children, where she serves as national ambassador. Friends of the Children Twin Cities shared photos from the afternoon on Instagram, showing Biles surrounded by children, talking with them, answering their questions, listening to their dreams, and sharing pizza and laughter. But the message Biles brought that day was bigger than gymnastics.

“Dream big. And then dream bigger,” she told the youth. She encouraged them to ask for help when they need it, to have trusted adults in their lives, to keep going when things become difficult, and to believe that the dreams they have for themselves are possible. For Biles, those words come from a place she knows well. Before she stood on Olympic podiums, she was a child in foster care who knew what uncertainty felt like.

As a former foster youth herself, she also explained why Friends of the Children means so much to her. The organization pairs children with professional mentors, known as Friends, who commit to supporting them for 12 or more years. “I wish I had something like that, kind of that constant, that you guys have with your mentors,” Biles said.

Her connection with Friends of the Children goes back to 2020, when she began supporting the Friends Network and connecting with young people through virtual events. Over the following years, she continued to speak with youth, promote the organization’s work, and meet with children in person. In 2023, Biles’ involvement grew as she helped bring attention to Friends of the Children through media appearances and a campaign with Axonius.

The campaign resulted in a $50,000 gift to the organization. That year, Friends of the Children also publicly welcomed Biles as an ambassador. She has since served as the organization’s national ambassador. Her support has never been separate from her own story. “I see myself in these children, having experienced foster care in my youth,” she said in 2025. That connection makes her message to the children in the Twin Cities feel different.

And if foster care had never been part of Biles’ story, the path that led her to the life she has today might have looked very different.

The little girl who found a new home and a new dream

Biles was just 3 years old when she and her siblings entered foster care after her biological mother, Shanon Biles, struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, while her biological father, Kelvin Clemons, also struggled with addiction. Before entering foster care, Biles has recalled experiencing hunger as a young child and how she and her siblings would sometimes go without enough food. One memory has stayed with her. “I would be so hungry. They would feed this cat and I would be like, ‘Where the heck is my food?’”

Her time in foster care brought a different kind of uncertainty. Biles has recalled worrying that she could be separated from her siblings, particularly because her brother slept in a different room. But she has also spoken about the positive side of that period, saying, “We had a very nice and loving foster family and we got to stay in one place, really.” 

Then, another turning point came. Biles’ maternal grandparents, Ron and Nellie Biles, stepped in and took Simone and her younger sister, Adria, into their care. The girls moved from Ohio to Texas to live with them, and the grandparents who had come to their rescue gradually became the parents they knew growing up. In a 60 Minutes interview, Biles recalled her grandparents telling her and Adria, “You guys can call us Mom and Dad if you want.” She remembered going upstairs and practicing before returning downstairs and trying out the new names herself: “Mom? Dad?”

Ron and Nellie later adopted Simone and Adria when Biles was 6 years old, while her older siblings were adopted by their paternal aunt. For Biles, the move to Texas meant more than a change of home. It gave her the stability of a family that would remain in her life. And then came another unexpected turning point: gymnastics.

When Biles was 6, she went on a daycare field trip. After rain canceled the original plans, the group visited a gymnastics facility instead. Biles began copying the gymnasts she saw, and a coach noticed her. She was encouraged to take gymnastics classes, and that unexpected field trip became the beginning of a career that would eventually make her one of the most recognized gymnasts in the world.