Introducing: Fostering Care Panel Conversation Series

Alejandra G, Alex O, Christina K, Veronica Krupnick, Tamisha M

Introduction to the Panel Series

Navigating Lived Experience and Advocacy

Ángela Quijada-Banks, Brittney Lee, Ke’Onda Johnson

Panelists will share their personal experience with the realities, challenges, and complexities that come with balancing personal lived experiences in the child welfare system and advocating within that very same system as an adult. Panelists will speak on the importance of community, social capital, the impact of the image of advocacy, and navigating and overcoming imposter syndrome.

The Foster Care to Prison Pipeline

Alex Oleson, Victor Sims, Tamisha Macklin

Panelists share about the importance of cultural awareness, cultural recognition, and trauma-informed care. These advocates help to define what trauma-informed care truly looks like from the perspective of alumni of care. This panel also speaks on the criminalization of trauma-related behaviors, the experience of being a dually system-involved youth, and the labels and stigmas associated with being in care.

Long-term Well-Being & Healing for Current and Former Youth in Care

Ángela Quijada-Banks, Alejandra Gomez, James Harris

Panelists share their personal reflections based on their own individual healing journeys, speaking on resources and supports that helped them find healing. Their reflections speak on how each panelist moved from survival to healing, alternative healing methods, and how representation and cultural awareness impacted their healing path.

Alejandra Gomez (she/her/they/them)
California,
First Nations Ojibwe-Cree

Panels: Perspective from Indigenous Youth on Child Welfare, & Long-term Healing and Well-Being for Current and Former Youth in Care

Alejandra Gomez is an Indigenous/Chicana woman who advocates to uplift the voices, experiences, and wisdom of young black, indigenous, and people of color who have been impacted by homelessness and the foster care system. Using her experience and expertise, she educated California’s legislative officials and their staff, policymakers, youth service providers, community leaders and members, and youth to collectively address youth homelessness during the pandemic statewide. Serving with the National Foster Youth Institute, Native Youth Academy and California Coalition for Youth empowered her to develop her Indigenous leadership skills as a change agent to build the better world she hopes to see in her lifetime.

Alex Oleson (he/him/his)
Virginia

Panel: The Foster Care to Prison Pipeline

Alex Oleson is an advocate with lived experience who has been involved in numerous policy and advocacy efforts including: interning for Senator Roy Blunt in Washington, D.C., interning with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, interning with the Foster Youth Intern Policy program, and serving as a member of the 2020-2021 Youth Engagement Team for the Department of Health and Human Services under Assistant Secretary Lynn Johnson. As a member of the St. Louis University community, Alex was involved in the Micah Program, where he volunteered over 150 hours as an after-school tutor and mentor for elementary and middle school students. He was also a Division I high jumper who holds the school record, was a conference champion, served as an elected member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee and as a student athlete representative on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Sub-Committee. Alex was also selected as a Orr Fellow, a business fellowship centered on Career, Commitment, Community, and Continued Learning. This year, Alex and his fiancé welcomed their son, Abriel.

Brittney Lee (they/them/she/her)
Washington

Panels: Navigating Lived Experience and Advocacy, & Centering and Prioritizing Youth Voice

Brittney experienced 17 foster homes in the span of 17 years of her childhood. Brittney’s current aspiration is to utilize her growth and knowledge gained from resilience, community involvement and employment opportunities with youth who have experienced foster care. She consistently involves herself in community conversations on child welfare and engages in opportunities where she can increase her understanding on how to best leverage her experience and meet her goals. One of those major goals is to become more educated on the subject of racial disproportionality in the child welfare system. Brittney hopes to work from the inside to come up with simple solutions to counteract racial inequality and institutionalized, structural racism that affects all youth in foster care today. Having grown up living with other children in the system from various backgrounds and at all kinds of emotional, mental and spiritual levels, Brittney has unconditional compassion in her heart to give back to the youth in the communities similar to those in which she grew up in as well as on a national and global level. She wishes to be a role model and source of support to youth experiencing foster care; to help them navigate all of the ups and downs; to be the someone that Brittney needed when she was younger.

Chrstina Kultsakis (she/her/hers)
Washington, Yakama Nation

Panel: Perspective from Indigenous Youth on Child Welfare

“Niix lkwi natityt, my name is Muul-muul and I am enrolled Yakama.”

Christina Kaltsukis’s Indian name is ‘Muul Muul,’ which means bubbling spring water. She is enrolled Yakama Nation from Washington State. Christina is a freshman attending the University of Idaho studying business and American Indian Studies. She is passionate about cultural preservation, climate justice, and combating the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons epidemic.

Ke’Onda Johnson (she/her/hers)
Florida

Panel: Navigating Lived Experience and Advocacy

Ke’Onda spent 19 years in Florida’s foster care system – including time in extended care. During that time, she experienced over 20 different placements in group homes. Currently, Ke’Onda is studying political science and working at United Way in an AmeriCorps Vista position where she supports financial literacy for young people and adults. She has advocated within Florida Youth Shine for several years – serving as Events and Meetings Chair, speaking to state legislators and working to pass several pieces of legislation – including one focused on normalcy. Ke’Onda serves as a NYTD reviewer, and engaged her peers in the Congressional Shadow Program with NFYI in
2017 as a Pod Leader after attending in 2015. Ke’Onda also served for several years as a member of the National Foster Youth and Alumni Policy Council.

Myla Garcia (she/her/hers)
Pennsylvania

Panel: Centering and Prioritizing Youth Voice

Myla Garcia grew up as the daughter of Filipino immigrants in California. She entered the foster
care system at age 13 and aged out at 21. She is a first generation college graduate and studied political science and minored in English at California State University, Fullerton. After college, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa. In May, Myla will graduate from Penn State Dickinson Law with a Juris Doctor degree. Pending the July bar exam, she will be starting as a public defense attorney with the Marion County Public Defender’s Office in Indiana. She is passionate about children’s advocacy and immigration law reform. In law school, she was an Equal Justice Works Rural Summer Legal Fellow and worked in education equity for California Rural Legal Assistance and as an Equity and Inclusion Fellow with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles where she worked with victims of domestic violence. Myla has also worked as a Certified Legal Intern and represented foster youth in their court proceedings at her law school’s children’s advocacy clinic. This past year, Myla has also been a member of the National Foster Youth and Alumni Policy Council. She aspires to use her law degree and work towards legal reform and service for youth in the child welfare system and for communities of color.

Tamisha Macklin (she/her/hers)
Colorado

Panel: The Foster Care to Prison Pipeline

Tamisha is dedicated to her life’s mission to help young people who are systems involved and improve those systems to become more effective for the next generation. After spending over 12 years navigating the foster care and Juvenile Justice system Tamisha understands from her personal experience just how much needs to be done to support youth who move through all of our different systems, particularly those who cross over into multiple systems. Her dedication to her education never wavered even as she faced significant challenges. Tamisha always perseveres. Tamisha has valiantly represented foster youth in Colorado and at the National Foster Youth Policy Council, she bravely speaks up and her words inspire change. She has accomplished her goal of graduating with her Bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University in Cross Systems Youth Services, a specialized degree she created. Tamisha has been able to utilize her “lived experience” on a State and National level to help other youth still in care. She is actively working to develop programing for the Empowering Youth Expressions Program
at Elevating Connections INC. Elevating Connections is an organization that reunites siblings separated in foster care and provides support to youth transitioning out of care. Since exiting the system Tamisha is finding success and has a desire to give back to help improve services for children, youth and families.

Victor Sims (he/him/his)
Florida

Panel: The Foster Care to Prison Pipeline

Victor Sims grew up in Florida’s foster care system without the stability of a permanent home and supportive family for 11 years prior to being adopted. He is currently a management consultant at Public Knowledge and founded his own nonprofit where he serves as Board President called Guiding Hope. In addition to serving on the National Foster Youth and Alumni Policy Council, he has met with legislators in support of the Family First Prevention Services Act. In June 2019, he was recognized by the American Bar Association as a Reunification Hero. Victor shares his experiences to ensure that children have a chance for reunification and beyond. He was recognized as a 2020 Casey Excellence for Children Award as an Alumni in care. In 2021, Victor was recognized from the Treehouse Foundation as part of their Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America Champion.