The proposed California state budget released in January 2024 initially eliminated funding for The Family Urgent Response System (FURS), a highly successful 24/7 helpline and response system for foster youth and families in crisis. A Better Way joined more than 1,000 organizations to educate and advocate for its preservation.

A Better Way joined dozens of other organizations on March 12 for the California Alliance of Child and Family Services (CACFS) 2024 Advocacy Day in Sacramento. We spent the day meeting with elected officials to advocate for the needs of California children, youth, and families.

With all of the transformations taking place in the arena of child & family services, partnership and dialogue with legislators has never been more important.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when we bring awareness to the importance of creating systems and programs that prioritize child & family wellbeing. In April 2024 there is a lot to reflect on and a lot to celebrate.

Fredericka Douglass Sprague Perry’s pioneering work has left an indelible mark on child welfare and social services.

May is a special month to me for other reasons. It’s Mental Health Awareness Month and National Foster Care Month – two issues that matter deeply to me. I’ve now spent well over 50% of my life working to improve services at the intersection of Foster Care and Mental Health Care.

April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Too often in our history societies attempts to prevent child maltreatment have led to unnecessary disruption of the only world those children have ever known. And research has shown that the wrong approach to prevention can itself be a cause of child suffering and trauma – often causing more harm than good.

In February and March, A Better Way celebrated Black History Month and then Women’s History Month. And today, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson added an overdue chapter to both of these stories, by becoming the first black woman confirmed to the United States Supreme Court. I hope to live long enough to celebrate the day when a person’s race and sex are unremarkable details of such an event. But today, while racism and sexism are still all-to-prevalent, I will joyously celebrate the fact that a strong, capable African American woman has overcome intensive professional and societal challenges to ascend to the highest court in the land.

My mother passed nearly ten years ago. At 53, I still love and miss her with the heart of a child. She was my north star. My mother taught me that the strengths of humanity are found not in the accomplishments of individuals but in the communities they build. She surrounded me with an ecosystem of strong women who worked for the common good. Throughout my life, women like these would be my guides, my mentors, and my heroes.

I met one such woman 16 years ago when I joined the team A Better Way.

This is a special love story that goes beyond one couple. Sheila and Andrew worked together as young adults helping homeless teenagers. Later in life they met again and fell in love. Each of them had two children from previous marriages, and they soon had another child together.

But they still felt there was room for more.

Knowing how many Bay Area kids are in foster care, they became Foster Parents through A Better Way and opened their home and their hearts. Over the years they fostered and then adopted 6 children – five of them through A Better Way.

But their love did not stop there…