Advocating for Yourself and Those Who Follow
By Latasha Pearson
As a former foster youth, and now a child welfare professional and advocate, one truth has crystalized as a result of my lived and professional experience — there is a fundamental disconnect between administrators of child welfare services and the youth they support.
Growing up in the North Carolina child welfare system, I experienced firsthand what it means to live in a system that often prioritizes results over the actual wellbeing of foster youth. When they prioritized permanency for me and my younger sister over meeting our actual needs, we were placed with a family that — in all honesty — was not a great fit. Had those professionals kept in touch with us for any length of time, I believe they would have agreed with that assessment.
Placements like these are inevitable when a system designed to serve the needs of young people is largely devoid of any youth perspectives — and especially inevitable for youth of color in a system that lacks diverse representation. A critical component of child welfare that is often missing is the cultural competency that would allow professionals to make authentic connections with the youth they support. This in turn would allow for a more accurate assessment of what youth in care need, and create healthier permanency for those youth and their families.
We need to accept that just because youth are being “cared for” in the eyes of child welfare agencies does not mean that we are adequately attending to their needs and wellbeing. When the agency administrators and advisory boards making critical financial and programmatic decisions are overwhelmingly older, white, and male, they will naturally be less connected to a population of diverse youth. This was especially clear when one such board member invited me to a fundraiser and requested that I “make my story sound more emotional” so they could maximize donations from attendees. The youth trusted to their care should never be props or incidental actors used for another’s benefit — they should be central to the service and mission of child welfare organizations.
To have more youth, particularly youth of color, at the table where decisions are made would go a long way towards shaping the form and direction of child welfare agencies to better support their youth. Until then, youth in care should be empowered to be their own biggest advocate and to stand up for what they need to thrive. From my own experience I saw that learning more about the system and pushing for fair treatment was one way that I could take control of a situation that often felt out of my control.
Now as a professional I see that these efforts, both from within and outside of the child welfare system, can make a real, lasting impact on the quality of care for those who come after me. When you advocate for yourself, you are also advocating for the multitudes of youth in care who will walk the same path someday. Beyond child welfare, the vast majority of us will continue to operate within inequitable, insufficient systems. It is important to remember your own worth and push to be treated equitably and respectfully. Always know that your perspective is valuable — and desperately needed — to improve the world we live in, and remember that by advocating for yourself you can shape the lives and experiences of all who follow.
