Mockingbird Society

As a teenager in foster care, Zack Zibrosky was detained eight times, five for running away from the same group home where some of the other kids had a history of aggressive behavior.

In 2017, California began implementing statewide reforms of its foster care system, a sprawling initiative designed to reduce the role of group homes and rely more heavily on relatives and foster homes.

Since she was 6 years old, Caitlin Cheney has lived in a mishmash of places in Western Washington that includes motels, cars, and campgrounds. Yet she made it through her senior year of high school without being identified as homeless.

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.

The Mockingbird Society, a Washington State nonprofit that operates youth empowerment programs and foster care services, is searching for a successor to its founder, Jim Theofelis. The organization’s staff of 21 oversees two central programs: Mockingbird Youth Network: an empowerment program that trains and supports youth between 13 and 25 who have experience in foster or kinship care.