The Child First REVOLUTION

There was something eerie on the streets of Tunisia when I visited in 2008. Whether it was in the capital Tunis, or in the oasis city of Douz in the middle of the Saharan sands, the scene was the
same: male youth, in their teens or twenties, loafing on corners or sipping tea with nothing to do, no work and a seething disdain for the powers that be.

Three years on and we know what this lack of opportunity bred: the Arab Spring with youth led protest dismantling longstanding autocratic regimes in Tunisia and Egypt. While the Western
media painted a picture of a surging, vibrant Democratic movement, which it in part was, I saw something more sinister: the failure of adults across the world to put children first.

Since the Arab Spring, we have seen new youth-led movements, driven largely by anger at the adults who have squandered their future, crest in Greece and even England. In the United Kingdom
one fifth of young people are unemployed, feel deprived of their future and are ready to run amok in the streets. When this happened in the summer of 2011, the adult backlash was expectable,
authoritarian and is in all likelyhood doomed to failure.

Children across the world need at least the chance of a fair future, and the more they don’t get it, the more trouble we will all have.  

In this country we are no better. Teens are experiencing 25 percent unemployment, thus missing out on the summer jobs that build the character of the workers of the future. As our leaders
watch the unrelenting tempest of economic failure drive forward, the talk is not of helping children, but rather what quick fixes, illusions and budgetary gimmicks can help adults today. In the
vacuum of true adult leadership across the world and in this country, there is an opportunity.
It is here, in America, that the youth-led movements that are brewing have the chance to inspire and even save our increasingly imperiled future. And at the core of what will be mighty change, is
a crack corps of iron-cast leaders – our nation’s foster youth.
Let’s take stock of what is true. In my home state, the California Youth Connection (CYC), an advocacy group run by-and-for current and former foster youth, is a clear political force. With
hundreds of dedicated members and the ability to organize efficiently, California politicians listen to what CYC has to say. In the battle to extend foster care to age 21 in the Golden State, it was
CYC that led the charge with media events and rallies that shook the steps of Sacramento’s Capitol building.  

The founder of CYC, Janet Knipe, has taken the model and applied it on a national scale, signing up affiliated youth-run advocacy groups in Indiana, Virginia, Mississippi and Oregon under the
umbrella of the National Foster Youth Action Network. This summer the affiliated Oregon Children’s Action Network vociferously lobbied for college tuition waivers for former foster youth. I
delighted as I read newspaper clippings and watched videos in which the familiar voices of driven young leaders like Pamela Butler and Jamie Hinsz cogently argued their points. The power of
their truth compelled Oregon legislators to pass the bill, and now Oregon foster youth have a better shot at attending college. In Salem, Oregon, Foster Club has grown into one of the national
leaders in expounding the youth voice, with members speaking in the halls of the Senate and Congress.

Up the road in Washington, Jim Theofelis, founder of the Mocking Bird Society, starts every legislative session by writing out bills the youth members want moved and tracks them until victory.
The youth involved in this advocacy group publish their own weekly newspaper, which consistently speaks to the way in which they believe the world should be formed.

Across the nation in Massachusetts, the Department of Children and Families is working with young people to create the Massachusetts Network of Foster Care Alumni. In neighboring
Connecticut, I had the chance to visit with current foster youth who were part of Casey Family Services’ Youth Advocacy Leadership Academy. While I was discussing the use of guerilla media
tactics to a group of 15 high-school-aged foster youth, I mentioned all the other youth groups across the country. One young man matter-of-factly said, “we just got to get everybody together and
bang this out.” Indeed.