Craft your story
Learning to tell
Attend a Town Hall
Your Senators and Representatives in Washington DC regularly travel back to their home states and hold public meetings called Town Halls. Come back for more information about how you can participate.
Assemble a Panel
Constituent panels are an effective way to educate others about the foster care system from the perspective of people who have lived experience with the system. Come back for more information about how to arrange a panel.
Write an Op-Ed
Policymakers and other VIPs pay attention to opinion pieces that are published in local newspapers. Come back for more information about how you can partner with the Family Voices United campaign to get an Op-Ed published.
Using Share Your Perspective to Educate Policymakers
Using the Family Voices United monthly Share Your Perspective (SYP) Paper is a great way to engage and advocate at the local, national and state level.
Families at risk or involved with the child welfare system can use these papers to make sure key child welfare stakeholders understand the needs and experiences of families. These papers can help them identify the supports needed to prevent maltreatment and unnecessary foster care entry as well as policy barriers that prevent families from accessing the services they need.
Access our Advocacy Library here for social media messaging, graphics and other materials to educate national, state and local policymakers and child welfare stakeholders.
Using Family Voices United Share Your Perspective to Educate Policymakers
Feel free to use the below graphics, social media messaging and email templates to engage with national, state and local policymakers and child welfare stakeholders, using Family Voices United’s Share Your Perspective (SYP) papers.
Each month Family Voices United asks youth and alumni of foster care, birth parents and relative caregivers a question to elevate their voices and inspire meaningful change. Responses are published in a SYP Paper.
Our hope is that families at risk or involved with the child welfare system will use these papers to ensure key child welfare stakeholders understand the needs and experiences of families.
1. Send your policymakers quotes and graphics from Share your Perspective on social media.
2. Share with your Member of Congress (MOC) online in an e-mail to educate and inform about current issues impacting the lives of children and families. Find your member here.
3. Share your support with the local child welfare directors and state governors.
Social Media Messaging
Birth parents, kinship caregivers, current and former foster youth share their perspectives with Family Voices United on needed support and prevention services for families involved with or at risk of experiencing the child welfare systems. Learn more at: www.FamilyVoicesUnited.org #FamilyFirst
Family Voices United highlights the voices of kinship caregivers, birth parents, current and former youth on topics such as how families can access prevention services, crisis support, mental health, and substance abuse treatment. Read about their experiences and learn how you can protect, support, and prevent unnecessary entry at FamilyVoicesUnited.org #FamilyFirst
FamilyVoicesUnited.org is devoted to preventing unnecessary entry into the foster care system. Read recommendations at FamilyVoicesUnited.org as well as perspectives given by birth parents, kinship caregivers, and former foster youth and how you can support them today. #FamilyFirst
Read @family_voices Share Your Perspective paper on how systems must change to support and keep families together by providing preventive services. #FamilyFirst
The @familly_voices Share Your Perspective paper helps you understand the needs and experiences of families in or at risk of being involved in the #childwelfare system. #FamilyFirst
Hear from birth parents, #fosteryouth and relative caregivers on how #childwelfare should support families and promote resilience via @family_voices. #FamilyFirst
This month I am featured in @family_voices Share Your Perspective paper where I highlight #prevention services #fosteryouth, kinship caregivers and birth parents need. #FamilyFirst
Mental Health Messaging for Social Media
The Family First Prevention Services Act (P.L. 115-123) became law in 2018. This law can be seen as the most significant reform to the child welfare system in decades. Family First aligns the investment of federal dollars with what people with lived experience and the research have told us: children do better in families.
The Family First Act allows states, jurisdictions and tribes to reimagine child welfare systems - including how they can make sure family placements are prioritized for young people, especially young people who are experiencing trauma-related behaviors.
We've created some graphics and key messaging to help elevate the understanding about available resources that can help families and kin as well as the general public.
1. Send your policymakers copy and graphics using the below options or create your own.
2. Share with your Member of Congress (MOC) online and tag them to educate and inform about current issues impacting the mental health of children and families. Find your member here.
3. Share on your social platforms and tag any known local child welfare directors and governors.
Social Media Messaging
Now more than ever it’s essential for organizations, and agencies to create a continuous opportunity for the voices of young people and families involved in/with the child welfare (and prevention) system to be centered, uplifted, and engaged during systemic changes.
Family Voices United has developed a Constituent Engagement Assessment Tool Kit which features a self-assessment on readiness to engage constituents and best practices from FosterClub, Children's Trust Fund Alliance, and Casey Family Programs, and Generations United. Take the test at https://familyvoicesunited.org/voices/family-voices-united-constituent-voice-assessment-toolkit
The passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act provides states, tribes and territories the option to use federal child welfare funds for prevention activities, including mental health services. These services can be provided to children at imminent risk of placement into #fostercare, pregnant or parenting youth in foster care, and parents and/or relative caregivers of children at imminent risk.
Learn more at https://familyvoicesunited.org/topics/mental-health
The #FamilyFirstAct allows states to reimagine child welfare systems including understanding and implementing trauma-informed preventive and treatment services. Learn more: https://familyvoicesunited.org/voices/family-voices-mental-and-behavioral-health-supports
"...The more support relative caregivers receive, the more likely relatives will step up to care for their family members. This will help to lower the number of foster homes needed and decrease the number of children in foster care..."
#FamilyFirst
