foster youth advocacy

A new report from Foster Youth in Action identifies youth organizing as one of the strongest and most beneficial tools for engaging foster youth, calling on philanthropies and community organizations to support more youth-led political organizing opportunities for current and former foster youth.

In my life so far, I’ve heard a lot of promises; some are executed, but most of them do not reach fulfillment. It seems as if we live in a world of broken promises, and not with the negative connotation that usually comes to mind.

Growing up as a small child in a small town in the Mexican state of Morelos, Angel Lee Woolsey remembers the flurry of activity that would mark the annual celebration of Dia de Los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.

Tomorrow, June 15th, Foster Youth in Action is hosting a webinar titled, “Voices Rising: Live Online Showcase of Foster Youth Action Across the U.S..” This event will showcase action that foster youth have worked toward as advocates and leaders in their home states.

“When the social worker came, I lied, I said ‘we don’t get beaten, we don’t have those issues.’ We were trained, whatever happens in the house, stays in the house.” At thirteen, Sixto, in the foster care system since eleven months old, was dealing with abuse from his adopted mother. 

Over 10 years starting in 2000, Jasmine, now 23, moved through three foster homes, two group homes, five high schools, and eventually aged out of the foster care system. Jasmine is an alumni of Youth Fostering Change, an engagement program at the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia.

Surrounded by the effects of poverty in the heart of East Oakland, Calif., I arrived in 1989 as the fourth of my mother’s eight children. We lived without access to the resources critical for survival due to my father’s incarceration in a Louisiana state prison, where he has been serving a life sentence for the past 25 years.

California Youth Connection, one of the nation’s premier non-profits dedicated to foster youth advocacy, is looking for a new Executive Director. Interim Executive Director Robin Allen, in coordination with the board, staff and youth members, is seeking a qualified candidate.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Congress should find more ways to financially support peer networks and advocacy led by current and former foster youth, said a group of young advocates at a briefing held at the U.S.