Developing or reviewing policies or programs through the lens of lived experience can help improve child welfare practice by recognizing trauma, providing more family-centered services, or increasing the likelihood of successful transition to adulthood.

Successfully engaging foster care alumni requires more than asking youth to share their personal experiences with an audience. This episode, “Foster Care Alumni – Making Lived Experience Matter, Part 1,” shares perspectives, personal stories, and guidance from members and former members of Foster Care Alumni of America to help agencies understand the value of alumni of all ages, provide information on how to look for and find the right alumni partners, and discuss the impact sharing has on alumni, especially alumni who work as child welfare professionals.