Parent Advocacy Organization List
If you are looking for support or want to get involved with a parent advocacy organization in your community, see below for a list of organizations nationwide. All of these organizations have been involved in developing parent-led child welfare reform in some way.
If you’re a parent and you would like to write about your experiences advocating for child welfare reform, or if your organization should be listed here and is not, please contact Rise Editor Nora McCarthy at nora@risemagazine.org or at (718) 260-8818.
California
Parent Engagement Program (PEP)
In collaboration with A Better Way, Alameda County’s Department of Children & Family Services Parent Engagement Program is dedicated to improving outcomes for families as they navigate the Alameda County Child Welfare system. Parent Advocates, who have successfully navigated this system as clients, advocate for and inspire parents through direct case management, peer-run support groups and Child Welfare system orientation classes. Parent Advocates also work to improve outcomes by training county employees and community providers and actively participating on a variety of Alameda County workgroups and committees. Services are provided in Spanish and English.
A Better Way
Parent Engagement Program
1558 B Street, Suite 100
Hayward, CA 94541
510-247-1500
Colorado
Men Against Violence and Abuse (MAVA)
Men who have perpetrated domestic violence formed MAVA to educate other men about the impact of abuse on their families and about services available to batterers.
Florida
Florida Legal Resource Center
PO Box 1381
Port Salerno, Florida
772-293-9632
Illinois
Family Defense Center, Chicago, IL
www.familydefensecenter.net
The Family Defense Center's mission is to advocate justice for families in the child welfare system. It provides high level systemic advocacy and grass-roots activities for families treated unfairly by state child protection agencies.
725 S Wells St
Chicago, IL 60607-4521
312-356-3201
No Recourse
Illinois parents try to stop family separations by taking the child welfare system to court.
Iowa
Moms Off Meth
www.momsoffmeth.com
Moms Off Meth runs support groups across Iowa to provide a safe place for women who have either lost their children or are in danger of losing them due to problems with drugs or alcohol. This is a group where parents can share feelings, get referrals to other helping agencies, and have open discussions with other women who are experiencing the same problem now or who have in the past.
Kansas
Citizens for Change
www.citizens-for-change.org
Citizens for Change works to reform the system that causes far more harm than good to children and families. Our goal is to educate and inform families, giving the families the ability to take control of their cases and hopefully have their children returned to their home and/or biological family as quickly as possible.
840 N. Gow
Wichita, KS 67203
316-945-0858
Sunflower Community Action
www.sunfloweract.org
Sunflower Community Action is organizing concerned citizens to bring about a change in the Kansas child welfare system from an agent of family separation to a mechanism for family protection. We are empowering families impacted by the child welfare system by engaging them in actions that allow them to share their real life experiences and explain the damaging impact of the current system.
1528 N. Broadway
Wichita KS 67214
316-264-9972 x11
Kentucky
Women in Transition
www.witky.com, www.myspace.com/witky
Women In Transition (WIT) is a grassroots organization run by and for poor people. Formed in 1998, WIT’s Claiming our Rights, Reclaiming our Children project (CORROC) fights injustices facing mothers affected by the child welfare system by educating and supporting parents and organizing candlelight vigils to highlight injustices.
219 West Ormsby Avenue
Louisville, KY 40203
502-636-0160
Massachusetts
Parents Helping Parents, Watertown, MA
www.parentshelpingparents.org
Parents Helping Parents is a non-profit institution focused on preventing child abuse before it ever occurs by offering free parenting help and support.
Parental Stress Line: 1-800-632-8188
108 Water Street,
Watertown, MA 02472
617-926-5008
‘You Can Do This’
Creating a booklet to help Massachusetts parents in crisis.
Michigan
Detroit Center for Family Advocacy
www.law.umich.edu/centersandprograms/ccl/cfa/Pages/default.aspx
3031 W. Grand Blvd Suite 440
Detroit, MI 48202
313-875-4233
lawdetroitcfa@umich.edu
Nebraska
Alphabet Soup Kids (A.S.K.)
www.alphabetsoupkids.org
8911 Decatur St.
Omaha, NE 68114
Contact Mary Thunker: 402-905-2664
Family Advocacy Movement
http://familyadvocacymovement.com
Family Advocacy Movement is a coalition for service reform and accountability created to support Nebraska parents who have been adversely affected by law enforcement, HHS, the courts, and/or mental/behavioral heath care.
1006 N. 74th Street
Omaha, NE 68114
402-689-9613
New Jersey
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN), Newark, NJ
www.spannj.org
The mission of the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network is to empower and support families and inform and involve professionals and others interested in the healthy development and education of children and youth.
Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
35 Halsey St., Fourth Floor,
Newark, NJ 07102
973-642-8100
1-800-654-SPAN
Families’ Counsel
New Jersey parents to advise the commish.
New York
Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP), New York, NY
www.cwop.org
The Child Welfare Organizing Project (CWOP) is a parent / professional partnership dedicated to public child welfare reform in New York City through increased, meaningful parent involvement in service and policy planning.
80 E. 110th Street, #1E
New York, NY 10029
212-348-3000
It Takes a Neighborhood
I’m working to break the cycle of foster care for my community.
Parents Helping Parents
At the Child Welfare Organizing Project, we give each other the knowledge to fight.
Concerned Citizens for Family Preservation was started to address the need in poorer communities for grassroots organizational support of women and families who have involuntarily entered the child welfare and family court systems.
Concerned Citizens for Family Preservation
105 Stuyvesant Place, 2nd Floor
Staten Island, New York 10301
718-447-6788
Voices of Women Organizing Project (VOW), New York, NY
www.vowbwrc.org
The Voices of Women Organizing Project, known as VOW, is the lead initiative of the Battered Women's Resource Center, a nonprofit that works to empower survivors of domestic violence. VOW supports survivors of domestic violence as they lead efforts to end violence, shape policies and improve services for battered women.
PO Box 20181
Greeley Square Station
New York, NY 10001
212 696-1481
Women Raise Their Voices
Survivors advocate for child welfare system changes.
The Women in Prison Project at the Correctional Association of New York coordinates the Coalition for Women Prisoners, a statewide alliance of more than 1,000 individuals from over 100 organizations. Its Incarcerated Mothers Committee advocates for policies that protect parental rights and allow mothers in prison and their children to maintain bonds during incarceration.
Raising My Voice for Parents Inside
Advocating to change a law’s impact on prisoners.
Parent Advisory Workgroup (PAWG), New York, NY
The Office of Advocacy at New York City’s child welfare agency, Children’s Services (ACS) runs the Parent Advisory Workgroup, a coalition of parent advocates from across the city, to inform Children’s Services about parents’ needs and perspectives.
Parents' and Children's Rights Unit Helpline: 212-676-9421
At the Table
Policymakers and parents come together for system change.
Foster Care Agency-Based Parent Advocates, New York, NY
Many private foster care agencies in New York City, as well as Children’s Services (ACS), the city child welfare agency, hire parents who have been through the system themselves to work as advocates for other parents. Parent Advocates at the agencies support and guide parents in reunifying with their children and help agency staff understand parents’ perspectives.
Fighting for Families
Giving parents the information they need to succeed.
‘I Am Your Voice’
Working from inside the system to support parents.
‘What Can I Do?’
Parent advocates at foster care agencies are there to help you.
An Ally Inside
Helping parents find the strength to love themselves.
Parent Advocates a Legal Service Providers, New York, NY
In New York City, three organizations that provide legal representation to parents with child welfare cases employ parent advocates and social workers to work in a team with lawyers. These organizations are Center for Family Representation, Bronx Defenders and Brooklyn Family Defense Project.
Lesson Learned
The second time ACS came knocking, I found someone who stood up for me.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma Family Rights Coalition
www.okfrc.org
The Oklahoma Family Rights Coalition is a not-for-profit family advocacy and community assistance organization dedicated to providing support to those involved with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) child welfare system. OKFRC is committed to bringing about reform of OKDHS through both the legislative process and our advocacy work directly with families and community members. All our work is accomplished by volunteers.
3800 North Central Blvd #A
Bethany, OK 73008
405 253 5507
Pennsylvania
DHS–Give Us Back Our Children!
philly@crossroadswomen.net
DHS–Give Us Back Our Children! is a self-help multi-racial support and action group of mothers, other family members and supporters that grew out of a weekly picket started by one mother outside DHS. The groups fights individual cases, builds public awareness, educates the media, works to change unjust policies and practices, and challenges sexism, racism and prejudices against mothers at every branch of the system.
PO BOX 11759
Philadelphia PA 19101
215-848-1120
