Hey y’all! This is Diamond Whitley, the Youth Engagement Specialist from One Voice IMPAACT (follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @onevoiceimpaact, please). About a year ago, I was asked to join the Florida Performance Improvement Prototype (PIP) workgroup. This workgroup was designed to find the root causes to some of issues in the Florida Child Welfare System. I was surrounded by system professionals with over 20 years of experience. This caused me to be extremely insecure in my role on the workgroup. Then, my supervisor set up a meeting with a facilitator of the group. This was the moment I realized that I was an organizational asset. My experience was the reason I was here. My experience is my expertise. From there, you couldn’t shut my mouth! There was so much validation for my experiences. I honestly felt as though I was put in one of the highest regards.

After the workgroup ended, I was called upon again to talk about youth voice in the child welfare court system. I was trusted to use my experience again, only this time it was on a federal level. The main takeaway is that this is a common sentiment among system professionals. They want to hear from youth. They love to hear from youth. If we can make a system that has youth readily willing and able to share their experiences, we can make youth voice a requirement, not an option. We are the only ones who can change the way youth are perceived. We are and always will be organizational assets.