Foster Advocates

Foster Advocates Foster Advocates is not just our name. It’s what we do. https://linktr.ee/fosteradvocates

We foster advocacy, policy change, and organizing by partnering with communities impacted by Minnesota’s child welfare system.

This person's words look beyond their own experience toward what should change for the next generation. That is an invit...
10/15/2026

This person's words look beyond their own experience toward what should change for the next generation. That is an invitation to respond with more than admiration for someone’s persistence. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 89.

What can your institution change so the next student has more support? Make time for that work at the Fostering College Connections Summit on October 28. Explore the Summit and registration: fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

A leader in the described growing up without meeting someone who felt like them. That experience raises an important q...
10/14/2026

A leader in the described growing up without meeting someone who felt like them. That experience raises an important question about connection and belonging. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 101.

How can your campus offer connection without requiring students to disclose a personal history before they are ready? Bring the question, and a colleague who can help you work on it, to the October 28 Summit. Explore the Summit and registration: fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

In the Minnesota Promise Report’s health and wellbeing discussion, a Foster leader asks us to recognize the knowledge p...
10/13/2026

In the Minnesota Promise Report’s health and wellbeing discussion, a Foster leader asks us to recognize the knowledge people hold about their own experiences. We can bring that same respect to conversations about campus support. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 35.

Ask what is working, what is not, and what the student wants to try next. Join us October 28 to keep building foster-informed institutions across Minnesota. Explore the Summit and registration: fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

“You can take me away from my culture, but you should bring me back to it or bring it to me.”Foster leader, Minnesota Pr...
10/12/2026

“You can take me away from my culture, but you should bring me back to it or bring it to me.”Foster leader, Minnesota Promise Report, p. 107.

This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor Indigenous Fosters, their leadership, and their connections to culture, community, and Tribal Nations. Those connections deserve support throughout care and into adulthood.

In Minnesota Promise, Native Fosters call for culturally competent placements, Native-led foster care programs, and access to their heritage and traditions. These are priorities for how care should be designed, not optional additions. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 97.

For child welfare agencies and community organizations, the responsibility is concrete: work with Indigenous Fosters, Tribal Nations, and Native-led organizations to make cultural connection accessible. Ask what support is wanted, fund it, and follow through.
Honoring Indigenous Fosters means respecting their voices and their choices about connection. That responsibility continues beyond today and beyond Foster Youth Voice Month.

Being heard and having choices are connected in this Foster's words. Listening should shape what happens next, not only ...
10/12/2026

Being heard and having choices are connected in this Foster's words. Listening should shape what happens next, not only how a meeting begins. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 23.

Where can students influence how your campus designs support? Bring that question to the Fostering College Connections Summit, where Foster Leader perspectives and institutional action planning are part of the day. https://www.fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

Minnesota Promise calls for help with applications, communication with schools, and campus visits, including transportat...
10/11/2026

Minnesota Promise calls for help with applications, communication with schools, and campus visits, including transportation and accompaniment. Access is about the practical steps that make an opportunity reachable. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 47.

Admissions teams, school counselors, college-access programs, and campus partners: consider this your invitation. Join the October 28 Summit and think together about the path into college, not only what happens after arrival. Explore the Summit and registration: https://www.fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

Our job is not to speak for Fosters. Our job is to build the infrastructure that lets Fosters speak, act, and lead for t...
10/10/2026

Our job is not to speak for Fosters. Our job is to build the infrastructure that lets Fosters speak, act, and lead for themselves.

One Foster described the difference it made when people saw possibility and stayed engaged. They also named the problem:...
10/09/2026

One Foster described the difference it made when people saw possibility and stayed engaged. They also named the problem: that support was not the norm. Minnesota Promise Report, p. 43.

What would it take to make meaningful support an institutional practice, rather than a lucky connection? Bring that question to the Fostering College Connections Summit on October 28. www.fosteradvocates.org/fcc-summit-2026

October is Foster Youth Voice Month, and Fosters already know what it takes to pay for college without family financial ...
10/08/2026

October is Foster Youth Voice Month, and Fosters already know what it takes to pay for college without family financial backup.

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education is rethinking how state financial aid works. Right now, it is asking current and future college students what they need. Fosters' experience should shape that redesign from the start.

You're the expert here. Here are some questions to think about before you take the survey:
• How did you find out about FIG, and was it easy to apply?
• Did your aid arrive in time to cover what you needed?
• Did FIG change any other benefits you get, like SNAP?
• Were you asked for family financial information you didn't have?
• What would make paying for college or a trade program easier?

Tell the state what has helped, what has gotten in the way, and what's missing. Your answers, your words.

Parents/guardians of high school or college students can take the survey too.

The survey closes October 23. Link in bio (linktr.ee/fosteradvocates).

Educators, caseworkers, and partners: please share this with the Fosters you work with.

Last month in Duluth, we joined the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Annual Conference to talk about something Foste...
10/07/2026

Last month in Duluth, we joined the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Annual Conference to talk about something Fosters have been naming for years: too many young people leave care and end up without a stable place to live.

Sasha, Nashauna, and Jessica led "The Foster-to-Homeless Pipeline: Data, Stories, and Advocacy for Change" with our partners at Wilder Research. They shared their stories, guided what the data means, and showed how instability in care can build into homelessness. If this outcome is predictable, it is also preventable.

That puts the responsibility on child welfare agencies, housing systems, and state leaders. Young people need to be able to get and keep housing support, both before and after they leave care.

Thank you, Shawna, for opening the conference with reflection and care the day before. And thank you to everyone who came, leaned in, and is taking this work back with them.

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2550 University Avenue W 200N
Saint Paul, MN
55114

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