Foster Care Alumni of America

members such as grandparents or aunts and uncles, encouraging incentives for permanent placements which increase stability in a child’s life, ensuring supports for youth during emancipation from foster care to keep them out of a life of poverty, and addressing the disproportionality of African Americans, American Indians and Latinos in foster care compared to Caucasian children, are among the key priorities.  

As alumni of foster care, we have always had a marginalized seat at the child welfare table prior to the formation of FCAA. Yet as former consumers of the foster care system, we are the only adults who can legitimately claim the expertise of knowing firsthand about living in foster care. In just a few short years we have established a reputation for bringing the alumni voice to policy discussions, and for activating the alumni community as advocates and educators before their elected officials. Our personal stories, shared from experience, offer people a true picture of life in foster care, emancipation from foster care, and how the experience continues to influence our lives long after we have exited the foster system.

As alumni of the foster care system, we know intimately what it is like to be removed from our homes, to live in placements, and to carry around all of the questions that come with our 
history with us into the adult world. We also know the challenges we face upon leaving the system -- one in four of us experience homelessness within one year of leaving foster 
care; our rates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are twice as high as the rates for war veterans; thirty percent of us are without health insurance after leaving care, even though we
are more likely than the general population to have health and mental health concerns; and only two to five percent of us complete college with a bachelor’s degree or higher, 
leading to lower rates of suitable employment and higher rates of public assistance.

Yet, even with these challenges there are thousands of alumni who have found success after foster care. Their stories are powerful examples of how with the right support and resources, alumni can become leaders in our communities and lead the way for others to follow. FCAA’s membership is full of such individuals, including the editor and founder of this magazine, Chris Chmielewski. For FCAA, success isn’t measured by fame or fortune, but rather an alumni’s ability to reach their personal goals and to avoid or overcome those roadblocks that may lead to a poor outcome.

Chapters

Chapters of Foster Care Alumni of America are organized to achieve our mission to Connect Today…Transform Tomorrow within their respective territories. Each chapter has the specific purpose of coordinating and facilitating the volunteer efforts and activities of chapter members toward achieving our mission in ways that make the most sense in that area. FCAA has 17 chapters across the country and we are continually seeking new locations to develop new ones.

Our chapters participate in a variety of activities which includes hosting holiday events for members, and providing leadership growth and training opportunities. Our chapters have hosted events that bring awareness to the challenges faced by youth and alumni by providing training to community leaders and youth who are currently in foster care. For example, the Ohio chapter co-hosted their second annual Connecting The Dots conference to help connection the dots between Ohio foster care youth and the resources they need to succeed in young adulthood. Participants were provided with hands-on learning, and opportunities to network and share ideas. Another example is the Colorado chapter hosted The Brighter Side of Foster Care event to bring community resource providers together with the hope of reducing the gaps in services that are available for young people and alumni as they prepare to exit the foster care system.

Chapters leaders are involved in their local communities, providing alumni speakers for panels and conferences, meeting with local community leaders and legislators to share their stories and experiences, while making recommendations for changes in current policy and practice. And while advocacy and community education is important, FCAA members also value the personal connections that they make with one another. They provide support and informal mentoring to each other, which leads to positive decision making and guidance.

Proven Advocacy Successes

FCAA’s “value added” to child welfare policy is our ability to mobilize individuals who are also voters, taxpayers, and constituents of decision-makers. FCAA played a critical role in the passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 in both houses of Congress. Our members and staff were involved in the following ways:

• FCAA’s members made congressional office visits to members of the House, as well as provided testimony and an organizational letter of support for the House bill.
• FCAA and its members were recognized as leading voices by the House of Representatives when, during floor debate, FCAA’s letter of support was read aloud and officially entered into the Congressional Record, and testimony provided by 4 of our alumni members was quoted.

Through this process, FCAA heard repeatedly from Congressional staff members responsible for child welfare issues. They told us that their Members of Congress wanted the voice of consumers and that they trust those voices.

FCAA started building its public policy portfolio in 2007 when we hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol to highlight the need for foster care reform. Since then, our chapters have hosted dozens of events throughout the country for alumni to share their experiences with community leaders and legislators in order to make changes to the foster care system.  

FCAA was an active partner in the Kids Are Waiting Campaign of the Pew Charitable Trusts. The Kids Are Waiting Campaign raises awareness about the need for federal foster care financing reform through research, outreach, and advocacy.

FCAA has prepared a cadre of trained alumni spokespersons through a program we developed named the Alumni Leadership Institute. Through the Institute, FCAA trains alumni to share their foster care experiences in a meaningful and effective way, while minimizing their own vulnerability. The Institute also supports trainees in understanding the broader child welfare system and the experiences of other people in and from foster care, in order to increase their capacity to represent the broader needs in the foster care system. Training on effective speaking and writing techniques is a key element of the Institute, and sessions are led by seasoned professionals who donate their time to work with FCAA.

Improved Foster Care Practice

Much of FCAA’s policy work has had the ripple effect of strengthening foster care practice. Through collaboration with non-profit organizations, child welfare agencies, and the judiciary, FCAA has had great success in harnessing alumni expertise to improve program implementation. Alumni and FCAA staff have presented at the following national child welfare conferences:

• National Convening on Youth Permanence
• Child Welfare League of America National Conf.
• Voices for America’s Children National Membership Conf.
• Daniel Memorial Footsteps to the Future National Conf.
• Casey Family Program’s It’s My Life
• Foster Family-Based Treatment Association National Conf.
• National Foster Parent Association National Conf.
• National CASA Conf.

In addition, FCAA has presented at numerous conferences on the state and community level, reaching audiences that include juvenile court judges and other court personnel, foster/adoptive/kinship caregivers, educational professionals, health/mental health care professionals, housing professionals, and employment professionals.

FCAA has partnered with several other organizations to help administer the National Foster Care Youth & Alumni Council. The Council, made up of 20 alumni from the foster care system, creates recommendations for changes in the foster care system and presents them to The Administration for Children and Families twice yearly. In 2012 and 2013, FCAA joined forces with other advocacy groups to take youth and alumni to Washington DC to shadow legislators for a day. This event provides a great opportunity for alumni to share their experiences and recommendations directly with legislators.

Publications and Training

Our reach is especially strong in areas related to young people in transition from foster care to adulthood. As alumni of foster care, FCAA members have a particularly strong connection to and credibility with young people. It is a predictable part of the foster care experience that too many young people grow up without role models and mentors who have similar life stories—FCAA changes this. FCAA created a Handbook for Life After Foster Care, called Flux which was published in the spring of 2009. The Handbook is a resource for young people in transition (target audience ages 15-25) to support them in understanding and managing the emotional part of entering adulthood. Over one hundred alumni of foster care were involved as advisors, writers, artists, and leaders in the development of the book. FCAA members have the specific perspective as the ‘older brothers and sisters’ of youth currently in transition, given the shared experience of having the government as parents. FCAA also created a training curriculum to accompany the Handbook and we have conducted trainings with teens and young adults to help with be prepared for the emotional transitions that they will face.

FCAA offers a variety of in-person and online training opportunities for youth in foster care and those who care and work with them.

As the alumni movement has grown and gained momentum, we have discovered that regardless of age, race, ethnicity, geography, education, occupation, or placement history, as alumni of the foster care system we have a great deal in common. Our shared experiences form the basis of a shared culture-the culture of foster care. We are exploring the culture of foster care through our community art project where people in and from foster care share their observations, insights, and lessons on postcards.

Our national community art project is intended to build our community at the same time we educate foster care professionals and providers, and the general public, about our culture. In addition to our postcard gallery FCAA created the publication Postcards From The Soul. When you open this full-color book, you'll see into the depths of the often-hidden emotions of people who have shared extraordinary experiences. This collection of postcards is both moving and illuminating. The emotions are raw and genuine. Every postcard tells a piece of the life story of a real person.

Foster Care Alumni of America continually seeks new members and organizations to support our mission and efforts.

To learn more about the organization, please visit our website at www.fostercarealumni.org.