Baltimore native Peggy Murphy developed a heart for helping young women in difficult situations while raising her son as a teen mother. As she navigated mothering, working, graduating high school, and furthering her education, she recognized the immense value she had in a strong support system. Her mother, brother, aunt, cousin, and other role models in her life allowed her to have options and opportunities that may not have been available otherwise. However, having a strong support system didn’t make the road easy.  Peggy still had moments of doubt, fear, and loneliness as she learned to navigate being a young mother working to provide stability for her family. It was during the difficult moments that Peggy began to think about other young women who were trying to move forward in their lives without a stable support system.  This is when the seed to help other young women was planted in Peggy’s heart.

In the, 1998, Peggy first opened her home and family to fostering young women. Specifically passionate about teenagers, Peggy has fostered many young ladies, some of which were teen mothers. While trying to become the most effective foster parent she could be, Peggy learned the best ways to support, influence, inspire, and connect with foster children. Excited to share her insight with other foster parents and agencies, Peggy founded Women in Transition and began designing programs and coordinating classes to teach young ladies the skills they need to become productive, self-sustaining adults.  For the past 18 year’s, Peggy has successfully created employment opportunities, provided professional training, and created a scalable transition model for young women as they age out of foster care. She is passionate and determined to assure that all young women in foster care know that they have a support system available to them through Women in Transition.