Board of Believers (Advisory Board)
Pat O'Brien
Founder and Former Executive Director
Adoptive Parent
Pat shares, “Our child welfare system is predicated upon Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being. Well there is no Safety or Well-Being without Permanency for those youth discharged from the foster care system without the foundation of at least one lifetime parent who creates the safety net of family around a youth long after their years in foster care are over. The foundation of family that includes at least one unconditionally committed permanent parent who claims the youth as his or her own is where all the answers for every individual youth in foster care springboard from. We must never stop looking for that person or those persons who will make this parental commitment for any aging out youth we know up until, and perhaps even past, every young persons last day in foster care. Young Adults and teens need the same time every other youth in America has. Families with lifetime parents provide them with the time they need to both success in life and to have opportunities at failure until they can succeed in life. That is every child’s birthright and especially those emerging adults who come into our child welfare system because they needed to be protected as children.”