Advocacy Isn’t Optional

A few years ago I got an email that raised my blood pressure. It stated tersely that the rules which governed our flagship program would be changing and not in a good way. It was done. The time for discussion had passed. I was instantly aware that there were decisions being made that had profound effects for the children we serve, and those decisions were being made in rooms we were not yet invited into. I was aware that—to see every child in our community thriving at home—We need to be in those rooms. To ensure kids' and parents' voices are heard, we needed to be there. To challenge the status quo, to insist on policies that are both efficient and compassionate, we needed to be there. In other words, advocacy became a priority for us right alongside The Landing, foster family support, parent/child visitation, and the other programming that Skookum is known for.

I believe that our government is exactly as good as we the people demand it to be.

When we look away, when we grow weary of bill numbers, amendments and the other mundanities of self-government, waste creeps in and public services are gradually optimized for the comfort of the public servants rather than the people they're intended to support. Resisting these tendencies is a never-ending project, much like laundry in a house full of playful children; and it is a project we could not attempt without the support of a generous community.

But fortunately, many Skookum supporters understand the perpetual, incremental nature of policy work, so I set out to find the rooms where such choices are made. I found the Washington Association for Children & Families (WACF), a group of agencies much like Skookum Kids who are each doing great work in their own communities. At WACF I found allies and friends, and for almost a decade we've worked together to ensure our state laws are written in light of family's needs and our state's budget reflects our commitment to children & families.

This year, the legislative session was especially difficult. Sagging revenue and economic uncertainty meant budget writers needed to address a big deficit. From the start, this was not a year for big innovative changes. We were playing defense this year. Two very important programs were on some of the earliest list of cuts—Family Preservation Services (FPS), one of the evidence based programs used as an alternative to traditional removal/placement foster care and Independent Living (IL) which helps youth transition smoothly from foster care into adulthood rather than "aging out" into homelessness or worse. In both cases, WACF advocacy led to both FPS & IL being fully funded in the final budget passed by the legislature, a huge success.

A session this successful—when kids & families programming is untouched by deep budget cuts—would have been hard to imagine a decade ago, and future success is contingent on support from community members just like you. Would you invest in smart policy, informed both by experts and parents in equal measure? Your gift ensures we can keep showing up in these rooms with our friends and allies, speaking inconvenient truth, and demanding the best from our government.

Thank you in advance,

Ray Deck III,

Founder/CEO Skookum Kids

P.S. Give today to show up with us and demand the best from our government.