Youth in the Hamilton County foster care program don’t always have a voice. They often don’t get to choose where they live and how long they live there. They often don’t get to decide if they’ll have a place to call “home.” And they often don’t have a choice as to what happens to them once they age out of the system.

With the start of the Hamilton County Youth Advisory Board, that could all change.

The board was created to give youth in the agency's foster care system a voice. Youth are encouraged to share experiences with the agency - what is working or could improve. It's envisioned that they could discuss issues with local leaders and state legislators and help make changes they deem necessary.

The Hamilton County Youth Advisory Board is patterned after the Overcoming Hurdles in Ohio Youth Advisory Board (OHIO YAB). All youth in HCJFS custody between the ages of 14 and 23 are welcome to attend the meetings.

“This board is a great opportunity for our youth to educate us (social workers, government, foster parents, adoptive parents and guardian ad litems) on what they need, what is working well within the system and what needs to change within the system,” said Monica Middleton, an independent living worker in Permanency, who co-facilitates the county advisory board with Jessica Parks, a supervisor in Ongoing 1. “It gives them a sense of empowerment, an opportunity to be part of change, have a voice and build on leadership skills.” 

About 25 youth attended the first Hamilton County advisory board meeting earlier this summer. A second meeting took place in October.

“Our goals are to build a strong youth board to advocate for foster youth, increase awareness through participating in events such as foster care trainings and recruitment events and to participate at state and federal-level events to make changes in legislation in the Child Welfare system,” Middleton said.  

“Another goal is to get the YAB run by the youth without myself or Monica,” Parks added. “It is really to give them an opportunity to ‘own’ decisions surrounding their time in foster care.” 

Middleton said the Ohio Youth Advisory Board played a key role in the changes made to Medicaid eligibility for foster youth emancipated from care. The age of eligibility went from three months following emancipation to age 23.  

“The group used their voice to promote this change in legislation and I think that is awesome,” Middleton said. “I would like to see our board have more involvement with recruitment events for foster parents and trainings. Also, I would like the board to have the opportunity to participate in discussions and events with our administration, Hamilton County Commissioners, Dependency Court, Pro-Kids and the GALs’ office.” 

In August, Middleton and Parks transported 13 foster care youth to a rally in Columbus. The group joined hundreds of other foster children as part of “Success is a Choice,” a rally at the Statehouse that was part of a state-wide Foster Care Awareness Campaign. Youth from across the state spoke out about their firsthand experiences in the foster care system and the challenges they encounter on a daily basis. Organizers plan to make this an annual event. Hamilton County youth will also participate in the Ohio YAB meeting in October; it will be the first time Hamilton County youth have participated on the board at a state level. 

“I am hopeful that within HCJFS we will make changes from their wealth of knowledge through their experiences,” Middleton said. “I hope our youth will find that we do care and we want them to give us the knowledge and awareness to make the changes needed to improve their quality of life and outcome when foster youth emancipate from our care. I hope that our foster youth feel that they had a voice of change and made a difference for other foster youth.” 

If employees have questions about the Hamilton County Youth Advisory Board, contact Monica Middleton at 237 Taft at 946-7593 or Jessica Parks at the A&D at 946-2095.