Raising Our Voices: Parent Advocacy
Across the country, birth parents are working to improve how the child welfare system treats parents and to educate other parents to advocate for themselves. Parents are playing many roles: meeting with child welfare staff, training caseworkers, speaking at conferences, running support groups, and working at foster care agencies as parent advocates. In this issue, parents—and foster care staff who work with parents—explain how parents’ expertise and input are changing the system.
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Congratulations to our Parent Advocate graduates!
On behalf of everyone here at Rise, we’d like to say congratulations to all of our 2023 Graduates!
In May, 18 parents graduated from our Parent Advocate program. Our next session will begin in September 2023 with more information soon to come.... Read More
Rise’s Mandated Reporting & Childcare surveys are now open!
Rise is collecting data to better understand parents’ experiences with reaching out for resources and support from mandated reporters. We’re also collecting data on parents’ and caregivers’ experiences around the lack of child care, accessibility, and what solutions they want... Read More
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In this special issue article, the voices of mothers affected by the child welfare system are at the forefront. A group of five women, including our own, Jeanette Vega and other Rise staff and parents, discuss their experiences with... Read More
Halimah Washington Speaks at AQE Press Conference Demanding $5B for Universal Child Care
Rise joined Alliance for Quality Education (AQE), parents and child care providers at a press conference in the Bronx on February 24th to demand NY State invest $5 billion in universal child care. Rise Community Coordinator Halimah Washington spoke... Read More- On October 22, 2021, Naashia B., Rise parent organizer, testified at the New York State Assembly's Public Hearing on Family Involvement in the Child Welfare System.
- Rise Parent Leader Imani Worthy testified opposing ACS Family Enrichment Center expansion during the virtual hearing of the NY City Council Committee on General Welfare on 6/14/21.
- Shatavia Hurt testified against ACS Family Enrichment Center (FEC) expansion during the virtual hearing of the NY City Council Committee on General Welfare on 6/14/21.
Black Families Matter: Parents Protest ACS and Family Separation
PLAN (Parent Legislative Action Network), led by advocate Joyce McMillan, organized a "Black Families Matter" rally on July 18 protesting ACS and family separation. Here, Shamara Kelly and Tenisha Sanders, recent Rise & Shine graduates, share why it was important... Read More- Do you have personal experience with ACS Foster Care or Preventive Services? Do you want to become a voice for your community? You know your community's challenges better than anyone else. Apply for Rise & Shine!
- Nancy Fortunato, Senior Parent Leader, and Jeanette Vega, Training Director at Rise, submitted written testimony to the NY State Assembly Committee on Children and Families and the Task Force on Women’s Issues as part of a public hearing in... Read More
- My son was in several daycare centers starting when he was 6 weeks old. I checked them all out carefully and, in all of them, my son was almost always happy when I picked him up. I felt secure.... Read More
- Nancy Fortunato, Senior Parent Leader at Rise, testified at the October 31, 2019 hearing of the General Welfare Committee.
- Careena Farmer, Rise contributor and child welfare system-affected parent, testified at the October 31, 2019 hearing of the General Welfare Committee.
- Hope Lyzette Newton, Center for Family Representation (CFR) Parent Advocate, Rise Board Member, and child welfare-affected parent, testified at the October 31, 2019 hearing of the General Welfare Committee.
Now Recruiting: Rise & Shine Parent Leadership Program, Feb-May 2020
Do you have personal experience with ACS Foster Care or Preventive Services? Do you want to become a voice for your community? You know your community's challenges better than anyone else. Apply for Rise & Shine!Collaboration Is Our Key – How parents in Washington State are changing hearts, minds and laws
In 2007, Children’s Home Society of Washington held a statewide summit for child welfare leadership. Parents who had been involved with the system made up 10% of participants. The keynote speaker, Brenda Lopez, “stunned everyone with her story of... Read More
Writing a Wrong – The courage of dedicated advocates can correct the injustices in the system
I unjustly lost 7 of my 8 children to the child welfare system because I was seen as unfit because I was a poor, African-American mother in an abusive relationship.
During my fight for my family, I discovered how child... Read More
Minnesota parents take to the streets, the courts and the legislature
In Minnesota this year, parents and their allies began protesting what they say are routine violations of families’ rights as well as bias that leads to the overrepresentation of black and Native American families in the child welfare system.... Read More
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In this issue, we celebrate the hard work, perseverance and success of the parent advocacy movement and of parents across the country working to end the negative perception and treatment of families affected by the child welfare system.
Parent advocates... Read More
Paying It Forward – As a peer mentor, I help fathers and change the system
Interview with Dustin McClard
When child protective services entered Dustin McClard’s life in 2014, he was using and selling drugs, and facing the possibility of prison. His twins were removed shortly after birth and remained in foster care for... Read More
Peer Pressure – How parents are changing the child welfare system
BY KEYNA FRANKLIN and JEANETTE VEGA
For decades, parents in the child welfare system have felt powerless, demonized, silenced and alone. Things have begun to change in places where parents have united to use their shared experience to support one... Read More
Plan of My Own — I didn’t think I needed services but I did them anyway
I will never forget the day I returned home from an appointment and saw a note on my door saying that my children had been removed from home. I thought, “Did they take all of my kids?”
When I opened... Read More
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One of the biggest challenges for parents affected by child welfare involvement is planning. When you are in crisis, your mind can’t focus on planning. That can make it even harder to keep track of the many mandates, appointments,... Read More
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Toni Miner and Sherry Tomlinson, parent advocates in Jefferson County, Colorado and Columbus, Kansas, discuss how parents can work effectively with their caseworkers to get the services they want and need.
Q: What can parents do if their worker isn’t... Read More
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Parents fighting to reunite with their kids often feel like they have no say in their family’s service planning and are given services without being asked what they need. Many also feel alone in the process.
Several child protective agencies... Read More
Using Our Experiences to Make a Difference – Organizing for system change in New York City.
One night on my way home I saw a blue flyer with three questions that caught my eye. 1) Are your children in foster care? 2) Do you have a child welfare case? 3) Do you want... Read More
Parents as Partners – Workers and families learn from each other in 15 cities nationwide.
NATIONAL UPDATEFor the past 18 months, social worker Randy Jenkins and parent advocate Sandra Jimenez have been training birth parents to become advocates and supports for parents at child welfare agencies in 15 cities nationwide. Here, Jenkins explains how... Read More