THE NITTY GRITTY
April does not tell the story of her many years in out-of-home care without including the stories of her siblings, for they are part of how she defines herself, and they are why she became an advocate.

When April was three, she and her older brother were placed in foster care because their mother suffered from schizophrenia and refused to take medication, rendering her unable to care for her children. April and her brother never did return to their mother: they lived in four relative homes and eight non-relative homes throughout their childhood and teen years. The two siblings were placed separately once…ONCE. They promptly ran away from the homes in which they were placed so they could be together again. Those in charge got the message, and they were never separated again.

April’s younger brother, who has a different father, had a different fate and was separated from his siblings: he was placed with his father who took him to Puerto Rico where he lives today. But April has solved the problem of distance rather easily: she and her older brother, who is 25, buy their younger brother, who is 16 now, an airline ticket to stay with them each summer.

In 1993 April’s mother gave birth to a second daughter. April says her mother was able to care for her sister—keeping up with medication and treatment—for three months or so until a caseworker learned of the situation. The caseworker was familiar with a recent case wherein a mentally ill woman killed her daughter; the caseworker decided that it was also a possibility in this case so she removed April’s baby sister from her home and placed her in non-relative care. April’s mother fought for her daughter for several years but didn’t win. April’s younger sister, who is now 9, was adopted this year by a non-relative.

April fought tirelessly to have visitation with her little sister. "I ended up taking on all the adults—the courts, the caseworkers, and I got one on one with the foster parents," April says. April now visits her little sister on weekends and even had her for a week at her college. "To me, I think that’s an accomplishment to be able to maintain the bond," she says.

ACHIEVEMENTS
April has much to be proud of in her work for herself, for her family, and for current and former youth in out-of-home-care in Illinois and around the nation.

Advocating for her family and doing everything she possibly could to keep a bond with her siblings led April to advocating for other youth in care. "The older I got, I just thought, if this is happening to my family, it must be happening to a lot of other families," she says.

April began by working for the Teen Scholar Program, which hires wards of the court to work for attorneys in the office of the public guardian. April worked for Patrick Murphy, the public guardian ad litem for Cook County, as a coordinator for the Scholar program. One of projects she developed in this position was a list of 16 recommendations for youth in care, which she proposed to Jess McDonald, the Illinois Director of the Department of Children and Family Services. The list of recommendations included such suggestions as: siblings should be able to visit each other; grandparents and other relatives should be searched for on the father’s side, not just the mother’s side, and efforts should be made to erase the label of "DCFS ward" pervasive throughout the school system—on report cards, student schedules, etc. No one had ever done something like this before in Illinois.

McDonald was impressed, so impressed—especially after learning that April was also helping to form the Statewide Youth Advisory Board for Illinois—that he asked her to fill a position he was creating just for her, Youth Advisory Liaison for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. April eagerly accepted. In this position April represents all the youth advisory boards in the state and is a liaison between the boards and Jess McDonald. April became president of the Youth Advisory Board too.

This year the Child Welfare League of America took note of all of April’s hard work and awarded her the Kids to Kids National Service Award from the Child Welfare League of America.

CURRENT WORK
April is currently a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. April’s major is psychology, and she is graduating in December.

April was just chosen to be a participant in the National Leadership Symposium on Siblings in Out-of-Home Care sponsored by Casey Family Programs. April is now researching creating a Bill of Rights for Siblings in Care.

April is also an active member of the National Youth Advisory Council and is still president of the Statewide Youth Advisory Board for Illinois.

PLANS FOR FUTURE
April plans to attend law school and get a dual degree in social work and law.

INSPIRATION
April’s inspiration has been her siblings and her mother.

ADVICE TO YOUTH TRANSITIONING INTO ADULTHOOD
"Don’t let your past dictate your future…someone once told me that."

FAVORITE BOOKS
Their Eyes Were Watching God. By Zora Neale Hurston