Elevating Lived Expertise Vision and insights of those impacted by child welfare system must guide solutions we design, test, and scale
In 2024, Foster America furthered our commitment to centering lived experience in our work. • In the fall, we welcomed the second cohort of the National Leadership Circle (NLC), a unique fellowship for lived experts whose firsthand experience in the child welfare system inspires and informs their efforts to drive change. Each fellow is a lived expert who holds a professional role in an organization that impacts children, youth, and families. • Programming for the National Leadership Circle is shaped by our National Leadership Advisory Group (NLAG), composed of individuals with deep personal and professional experience in child welfare. Their thought partnership ensures that the NLC is designed with — not just for — those it seeks to support. • As a founding partner of OPT-In for Families, an initiative of the Doris Duke Foundation, we are ensuring that at least half the members of the advisory bodies guiding work in the four pilot sites are bringing lived expertise to inform the approach. By embedding firsthand experience into the core of this initiative, community-driven alternatives are stronger and more responsive, rooted in the real experiences of families. • Across our work, we not only recruit and engage lived experts to advise on transformation efforts but take steps to ensure that 1) decision-making power is truly shared with those with firsthand experience in child welfare and 2) those sharing their insights are compensated fairly for their expertise. Our work ensures that leaders with firsthand experience are valued not just as storytellers, but as experts whose contributions shape the future of child welfare.
18 | Foster America 2024 Annual Report
Made with FlippingBook Digital Proposal Creator