For the past five years I have been fortunate enough to be involved with a group called YLAT- Youth Leadership Advisory Team. YLAT has done a lot of work to improve the lives of youth in care by collaborating with the Maine state DHS system and many other programs that are willing to partner with youth in care. We have created a handbook for youth in care, which was reviewed as one of the best in the nation! We have lobbied for legislation. We have attended numerous conferences, both local and national, and presented many workshops to foster parents, guardian ad litems, caseworkers, and administrators.

And finally, we have become invested in changing, or creating, public policy in a way that will address and fulfill the needs of youth in care. There are two particular policy issues I have had the opportunity to work on. First, I lobbied for a bill addressing youth in care and college tuition. Then I was a part of the creation of a DHS policy addressing sibling issues for youth in care. Both of these endeavors were ultimately successful. I am here to tell you why.

In 1999 when we testified for the tuition waiver bill only 2 other states had adopted this type of legislation. Today there 16 states that have adopted some kind of tuition waive. Nine youth from YLAT, including myself, testified in favor of the Maine tuition waiver. The recurring themes revolved around the financial burden youth in care face when attending college. We explained to the Maine Legislature's Education and Cultural Affairs Committee that most of us had grown up in foster homes or group homes and had never had to carry any type of major financial responsibility, therefore we did not have the financial resources to pay for college tuition. Whereas most youth our age have parents to turn to for that kind of support, we, as youth in care, must turn to the state. As one youth so aptly put it: "Unlike other kids my age, I do not have a biological family that I can look to for financial support. You, in fact, are my family, in that you provide the financial assistance that allows me to have a decent, safe environment in which to live and adequate medical and dental care. Who else then, should I turn to [in order] to obtain assistance with my educational funding?" We reasoned that by passing the tuition waiver bill to law, the government would provide its charges the opportunity to become productive citizens of society, and that as our guardian, the state held that responsibility. This bill would provide opportunities to youth that could open the future for them. The bill passed the committee unanimously and later passed the House and Senate by a landslide.

The second policy issue I had the opportunity to work on actually came about in part due to me. As a youth in care I had not had many difficulties staying in touch with my sister. Recently, however, I found out that my sister was going to be adopted. I had some concerns about this, as I was afraid I would be shut out of her life. These concerns did not dissipate when I discovered her would-be adoptive parents lived in New York! I had a long conversation with my boss at YLAT. She encouraged me to become involved in some way to improve this type of situation. As we both had worked with youth in care for quite some while, we had heard many youth express similar worries and occurrences. Many others had experienced worse! Our annual Youth Summit was fast approaching and we decided to bring up the discussion about siblings in care and see what the other members of YLAT had to say. It turned out that we had plenty to say. We described our experiences and expressed our concerns to the Commissioner, Kevin Concannon, and the Director of the Bureau of Child and Family Services (BCFS), Karen Westburg, who graciously cleared their schedules for an afternoon to attend our Summit. We told them how many siblings in care are separated immediately and do not usually reunite. Many youth in care have difficulty even visiting their siblings. We felt that siblings should have the right to stay in contact. We expressed our deep love of our siblings and explained to our guests that siblings are a hugely important aspect of a person's life.

In a follow up meeting with the BCFS Director, she told us that in all the policies DHS had, there was only ONE sentence containing the word sibling in the entire manual. She encouraged us to draft out some key concerns we felt should be addressed in a sibling policy. So we did. We addressed the issue of separation and how important it is to try to keep siblings together if possible and safe. We also stressed that if siblings are separated, there should be a continued effort to reunite them. We addressed visitation rights, and adoption considerations. Today, that policy has been passed and is effective as of July 25, 2002. Of course, the policy did not turn out exactly the way we drafted it, but it still contains and addresses our key concerns. It is certainly better that one sentence!

I feel these policies, and the fact that youth in care were involved in their creation, are immense steps in the right direction. I congratulate and thank the Maine Department of Human Services for having the insight and consideration to include the voice of youth in care in the policies which affect their lives. Including the input of young people is not only important, but beneficial as well. By embracing the knowledge young people have to share, programs and policies can be created or improved to be more effective and productive for young people; young people who will one day be the leaders of our country. There are many famous people who were former foster children, including Eddie Murphy, Malcolm X, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Clearly youth in care can accomplish great things…sometimes they just need a little help.