Advocacy
"In order to develop, a child needs an enduring irrational involvement of one or more adults in care and joint activity with the child."
"What does irrational involvement mean? Someone has to be crazy about that kid."
Urie Brofenbrenner
Advocacy is important at PATH. Foster parents, employees and board members all view advocacy as part of their job. As a result, there is discussion about advocacy at all levels of the agency's operation.
PATH advocacy is not strident or demanding. Rather, the expectation is that PATH people use their skills, knowledge and experience to promote good services for the kids and families served.
Individual Child Centered Advocacy
Our most important advocacy centers on individual needs of children and families. PATH foster parents and social workers are expected to advocate for the best possible care for the kids in their homes. For foster parents, this means that they need to understand services available in schools and actively participate in education planning. It may also mean that they sometimes need to be the child's spokesperson with doctors and therapists to assure proper diagnosis and treatment. For example, many of the kids we serve have not had all of their shots, or have incomplete school records. The foster parent and social worker work together to make certain good assessments are done, the right care is obtained, and records are gathered and maintained.
Local System Advocacy
The PATH social worker often becomes the advocate for the child and family with the larger child welfare system. This involves working to obtain authorization for payments, such as medical assistance, or accompanying foster kids and foster parents to court. One of the social worker's greatest contributions is helping foster parents and kids understand and navigate the child welfare and legal systems.
Not all foster parents or social workers can be actively involved in community events. Yet, PATH does encourage and support their involvement. For example, most PATH offices will have representatives on boards of local mental health collaboratives or foster parents on county advisory boards. This type of participation is important to assure that the voice of foster care is heard in planning and program development in local areas. PATH foster parents are also supported in their involvement in organizations like the National Foster Parent Association, or state client advocacy groups.
State and National Advocacy
As a private non-profit organization, PATH does not participate in the political election process, and we are not directly involved with partisan activities. We do take a very active role, though, in attempting to understand and influence policies that impact children and families.
PATH Alliance takes the lead in national advocacy for affiliate members. This means tracking Federal legislation and rule making, and helping PATH Affiliates understand how Federal legislation impacts local programs. PATH also tries to actively influence the child welfare field by involvement in standard setting and policy development for services.
PATH is a member of the Child Welfare League of America and the Foster Family-based Treatment Association. Both of these organizations are involved in lobbying efforts in Congress. PATH affiliates are also members of state child welfare associations that speak on behalf of foster parents and foster children.
