Acting from our Values: Agency
2021 has been a year of deep growth for Foster Advocates. We’ve grown from a team of 3 to a team of 5; launched our Fellowship, Community Board, and Fostering Education Initiative; and passed the Fostering Higher Education Act to provide free college for Minnesota Fosters. It’s been a big year! We've also grown our budget from $400,000 to $600,000 to support this growth. We hope you'll join with your gifts to help us close out our year powerfully together.
As part of this growth, I knew Foster Advocates had to shift--as it is no longer the organization I launched by myself in 2018. As a team, we have dedicated time to this growth process, including identifying core values that define our work and our place in the movement.
These values guide us in everything we do—including how we fundraise. As an organization led by Fosters and for Fosters, we’re proud to tell you more in this, the first in a series of 5 stories about our values at work and the key ways you can signal your support of our values with your meaningful gift.
The first value is the very foundation of our organization and who we all want to be:
Agency is explicitly our first value and woven through every aspect of our organization, from the choices Fosters have to engage across our ladder of leadership programs, to how Fosters choose to share their stories with us and with the public, to Fosters determining our legislative and research focus issues (stay tuned for our 2022 policy agenda, announced in January!).
When I entered foster care, the most critical thing I lost was my agency. I didn’t have a say about where I lived, who I lived with, and even control over my own name. I thought for too long that I needed permission to live life on my terms. It wasn’t until many years later that I recognized how important it was that I started to dictate the conditions of my life. This purpose and ownership gave me the confidence to move away when I turned 18 and it is the very same ability that makes it possible for me to lead Foster Advocates now at age 30. By grounding our organization with agency as a fundamental right, other Fosters are able to decide their direction in life. In turn, this will lead us to a more just and purposeful child welfare system. For true systems change, we must invest in Fosters’ agency.
Our goal by the end of the year is to raise an additional $15,000 to help fully fund leadership choices for Fosters. For example, gifts help us live out part of our agency value that Fosters lead child welfare systems change work—but should have the option not to do all the work. Your gift of $100 gives us the power to creatively support Fosters’ voice, leadership, and agency.
In Solidarity,
Hoang Murphy
Founder and Executive Director
