Beyond Being Heard:
How Youth Voice and Lived Experience Strengthen Systems of Care
Recognizing Foster Youth Voice Month — October 2026
Betty R., Youth Lived Experience Specialist
At just 11 years old, while navigating foster care and the grief and loss of being separated from my birth family, I was fortunate to have a social worker who recognized something incredibly important: My voice mattered.
He did more than listen. He gave me space to process complicated emotions, respected my feelings, and supported my autonomy in shaping the future I envisioned for myself, including my desire to be adopted.
Looking back, I recognize that he was naturally providing the kind of adoption competent, youth-centered care we advocate for today.
But my experience was different from that of my three much older birth siblings. All three aged out of foster care without achieving permanency and have faced lifelong struggles. Our different experiences remind me why meaningful relationships, individualized support, and opportunities for permanency matter so much.
I also recognize that many dedicated social workers face overwhelming caseloads and systemic barriers that make individualized support challenging.
What I experienced firsthand as a child, research continues to reinforce today: When youth are meaningfully engaged in decisions affecting their lives, their voices can help shape better outcomes.
This October, as we recognize Foster Youth Voice Month, an initiative led by Selfless Love Foundation, we celebrate the power of youth voice and the importance of meaningful engagement.
At the National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services, we are committed to ensuring lived experience is not simply heard but meaningfully integrated into our work. We partner with lived experience advocates across our technical assistance sites to ensure youth, young adults, parents, and caregivers help shape the policies, practices, and services supporting children and families.
What Does the Research Tell Us?
The National Center’s report, National Research on the Impact of Lived Experience Across Systems, highlights research and examples demonstrating the impact of youth and family engagement across child welfare, mental health, education, and other systems.
The findings identify several important areas of impact:
- Child Welfare: Youth participation in permanency planning is associated with improved permanency and transition outcomes and stronger connections to supportive adults.
- Mental Health: Meaningful engagement supports treatment participation, continuity of care, and more responsive services.
- Education: Youth and family engagement contributes to academic success and school stability.
- Systems Change: Youth-adult partnerships inform policies, strengthen decision-making, and improve service delivery.
The message is clear: Lived experience is not simply a personal story. It is valuable expertise that can strengthen systems of care.
From Youth Voice to Youth Influence
Youth navigating foster care, kinship, guardianship, and adoption often have significant decisions made about their lives. Meaningful engagement requires more than asking for their opinions. It means providing opportunities to exercise autonomy and influence decisions about their futures.
There is a difference between giving youth a seat at the table and ensuring they have a meaningful voice in what happens at that table.
Turning Research and Lived Experience into Action
Today, I have the privilege of helping advance the very kind of adoption competent care that made such a difference in my life. My hope is that what I experienced at 11 becomes something every child and youth can expect on their journey toward permanency, whether through reunification with birth family, kinship care, guardianship, or adoption.
I envision a future where professionals, parents, and caregivers have access to adoption competent training and resources to recognize and respond to grief, loss, trauma, identity, and belonging. This support is essential before, during, and long after permanency to strengthen relationships, prevent unnecessary disruptions, and promote lifelong well-being.
Permanency is more than a legal outcome. It is about lasting relationships, belonging, and the support needed to thrive.
As we recognize Foster Youth Voice Month, I encourage professionals and system leaders to reflect: Are we simply creating opportunities for youth to be heard, or are we empowering them to influence decisions that shape their lives?
I invite you to explore the National Center’s brief, high-level report, National Research on the Impact of Lived Experience Across Systems. Its research and examples can help build momentum toward creating spaces where youth voices are not only welcomed and valued but meaningfully influence the systems that impact their lives.
Because youth voice is more than an opportunity to be heard. It is an opportunity to influence change, strengthen systems, and shape brighter futures.