“We are not a lost cause, but a found future!” -the Young Adults (2019) 

In August of 2019, the Arizona Department of Child Safety (ADCS) hosted its annual Young Adult Retreat at a resort and conference center.  Roughly 300 young people in foster care, age 16 through 21, enjoyed recreation and shared learnings over a three day period.  On the final day, they were teamed up into workgroups and tasked with identifying problems and solutions to life in foster care and the prospect of transitioning to independence.  After hours of brainstorming and white-boarding, each group appointed a spokesperson to deliver their findings to the ADCS executive team.

During their presentations, passionate yet productive discourse ensued about life in group homes or attempts at independent living without the means to thrive.  They shared stories about struggling to get an education, pointing out how repetitious moves and school changes provoked intense trauma.  They highlighted the fact that keeping up on school assignments without a computer or internet access thwarted knowledge acquisition and academic performance.  They spoke of a general lack of mobility and the need to make money for themselves and their families, but emphasized that no one teaches them driving and trade skills to fulfill those needs.  Some raised the challenges of caring for their own children while still in foster care themselves.  Lastly, they talked about the critical need to return to better environments than the ones they came from, signifying how quickly growth rescinds when back in risky neighborhoods in the presence of poor examples of how to live.

Despite these impassioned pleas, they were hopeful and positive.  They refused to be cast as victims, destined to repeat the cycle of their upbringings.  They strongly called out the labels, citing that aging out of foster care doesn’t naturally equate to addiction, crime, homelessness, or hopelessness.  They were committed to succeeding, despite their histories and the challenges of growing up in foster care.  They closed with this most profound and powerful message:  “We are not a lost cause, but a found future!”

I was the Director of Arizona's Department of Child Safety during that powerful day.  I listened intently to each presentation and couldn’t stop thinking about how gifted these kids were and how sad it was that someone, somewhere, missed out on parenting them.  It was also the same day that my resignation, after five years of leadership, became public.  Upon concluding their presentations, these young people addressed my departure and gave me a sendoff that ranks as one of the best moments of my professional life.  They gifted me a signed group photograph, with written expressions of gratitude and well wishes.  This photograph has sat on my desk and laid heavy on my heart for the last four years.  It's now time to meaningfully react and, with your help, correct the issues raised that day.  To that group of wonderful and courageous young people, thank you for inspiring me, and thank you for being the foundation of A Found Future!