Ending up in a California foster care system at the age of 12 was scary, confusing and traumatic for veteran tattoo artist Robert Gonzales.

He said he was more perplexed by the fact that while his father had died, his mother had decided to surrender her children.

“It sucks, man,” Gonzales told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “You’re hurt because you don’t understand why you’re in there. You’ve got a perfectly good parent still out there. Why would she give you away?”

Added Gonzales: “The state raised me.”

As co-owner of Koolsville Tattoo shops — founded decades ago by his wife, Mari Gonzales — he has made it his mission to provide a sense of belonging and gifts to local foster youth, and others.

Clark County honors

One of Koolsville’s traditional fundraisers, in which artists exchange

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