Apply For Congressional Leadership Academy Today

Apply For Congressional Leadership Academy Today Hello, current foster youth, and alums of foster care! We invite you to apply to be a Foster Youth Shadow Day Delegate for the 2023 Congressional Leadership Academy Program in Washington, D.C. Click here to apply. To learn more, keep reading. The Congressional Leadership Academy Program is an opportunity […]

Congress to Meet With Foster Youth on Capitol Hill – June 22

MEDIA ADVISORY June 14, 2022 REP. KAREN BASS ONE OF MANY CONGRESS MEMBERS TO MEET WITH FOSTER YOUTH ON CAPITOL HILL – JUNE 22 For 10th year, foster youth travel to Capitol Hill for annual leadership training, including a special opportunity to shadow members of Congress. – Washington, DC (June 13, 2022) – Current and former […]

100 Former Foster Youth Visit Members of Congress to Advocate for Child Welfare Reform 

Shadow Day

Each May, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth introduces a resolution to recognize May as National Foster Care Month. Last year the resolution was cosponsored by more than 130 Members of Congress. In addition to re-introducing this important resolution to call attention and raise awareness about this issue, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth will […]

Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth Co-Chairs Endorse Bipartisan Child Welfare Package | Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth

It’s time to modernize our child welfare system. 5 bills take that leap.

June 15th, 2017 – The Co-Chairs of the Bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth endorsed five bipartisan bills that were previously provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), which passed the U.S. House of Representatives in the 114th Congress. This package includes five separate bills designed to improve critical components of care within […]

How Foster Youth Shadow Day Helped Me Find Peace | Teen Vogue

  In this op-ed, Ruth Contreras-Arnold explains what it’s like to be in the foster care system, and how a day on Capitol Hill empowered her. My name is Ruth Contreras-Arnold and I am a nineteen-year-old former foster youth. I have been in and out the child welfare system since I was three years old. […]

Foster kids spend the day shadowing California members of Congress – LA Times

On Wednesday, May 24th, 2017, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) spoke about Jimenez and the more than 100 other young people participating in the Congressional Foster Youth Shadow Program in a speech on the House floor.

Leonardo Jimenez, 21, of Los Angeles said after a lifetime in foster care, he never expected to have his congresswoman speak his name on the House floor, or to become a part of the historical record of the United States. “We have someone that is advocating for us that hasn’t been in our shoes, but is willing to […]