Brandi Mason

At the age of 5 years old, Brandi was placed in Foster care due to her parens having their own obsticles. She was placed in over 21 placements over the course of her life, including foster homes, group homes and treatment centers. During her time in the childwelfare system both of her parent's past away as a result of sucide when she was 8 and then again at 15. Despite these obstacles Brandi is very determined to make a difference in the foster care system and in the lives of other youth. She was intrumental in assisting in the development of the Montrose County Youth Leadership Team in which she organized youth meetings and participated on youth panels. She eventually became Chair of the Montrose County Youth Leadership Team. Brandi also joined the state Colorado Youth Leadership Team in 2009 where she is a very active member. She was invited to participate as a youth representative on the Oversight Committee which monitors/regulates how programming services are delivered to youth state wide. Brandi emancipated from foster care in April 2009. She relocated to the Denver area where she is a full time student at Metropolitan State College of Denver where she is pursuing a career in Social Work. Between full time work and full time college Brandi remains active in advocating for changes in the foster care system . She was selected as a Youth Leader for the 2010 Chafee Teen Conference and selected to attend the National Independent Living Conference in Washington D.C. She also has been currently selected as an Intern for the State Youth Leadership Team. Recently, Brandi participated on a Youth Panel to educate potential Caseworkers at the University of Denver and is committed to helping improve the system in everyway she can.