Champion of Change
This May, Foster Care Alumni of America’s own board member, Lupe Ortiz-Tovar, was honored as one of 12 “Champions of Change” at the White House. She shook hands with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, listened to speeches by actress Cleo King and met with Seattle Seahawks player Jimmy Graham. But Ortiz-Tovar’s favorite memory? Basking in the glow of her proud adoptive dads, sitting in the audience.
After graduating with a degree in psychology from Arizona State University, Ortiz- Tovar jumped into child welfare and youth engagement with an emphasis on foster care, volunteering with FCAA, and working with child welfare professionals and advisory boards. Today, Ortiz-Tovar works for JBS International Inc., engaging young foster alumni as consultants at the national level. Ortiz-Tovar started working for FCAA in 2006, joining the FCAA board, and has worked with chapters in Arizona, Oklahoma and in the Midwest.
The 32-year-old Ortiz-Tovar lives in Oklahoma with her terrier-breed Sparky, who had been abandoned before he “chose her,” as she says. Here we catch up with Ortiz-Tovar and find out what it means to feel chosen.
FCAA: How did you meet JooYeun Chang, who nominated you?
I met her in 2007 when we were advocating for the “Kids are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now” campaign. She worked for the Casey Family Programs, and was involved in helping me testify to the House Ways and Means Committee and part of that campaign on Capitol Hill where we even delivered birthday cakes to members of congress.
Through the years, we kept in contact and she was recently appointed commissioner of the Children’s Bureau of the Department of Health and Human Services. She is a powerhouse of a woman for the Children’s Bureau.
FCAA: Which of your accomplishments make you most proud?
The opportunity to improve youth and alumni engagement at the state and federal level, and the efforts to improve systems of care on every level. To have the conversations that are less likely without youth and alumni at the table.
FCAA: It sounds like Chang mentored you, have you mentored others?
Oh yes. Throughout the years, the interns from foster care,, some have stuck around, and I’ve said, I care about you, keep in touch with me. They do need our support.
For example, one young man wanted someone to come to his college family weekend. I did that for him. I went and ate in his cafeteria and saw his dorm. I was really proud of the work he was doing on campus. To this day, he and I are in touch, and he just entered a law school program.
FCAA: What was it like for you after foster care?
I aged out of foster care after spending the majority of my life in foster care, without a formal family. You carry that lack of family with you, even in your subconscious. It wasn’t until I met more young people and heard their stories that I started to cultivate mentors and people I looked up to. I started to appreciate that we have so much power in those we surround ourselves with and in growing our own family.
FCAA: One of your mentors adopted you this year, is that right?
Yes, one of my mentors, he and his husband adopted me this year, after their marriage was recognized in Oklahoma. My bio sister said it best, that “We’ve always had people leave our lives, we’ve never had people ask to stay.”
On Father’s Day, they asked if I’d like to be adopted, and I said I didn’t need that. They said, “We do.”
At the event, I saw them in the audience, laughing and crying. I wanted to make them proud, and knowing they were proud was a very different experience – having someone give me a hug when I came off stage, having someone take a photo to save every moment. It was an awesome feeling, to feel you’re family.
FCAA: Any last words?
You never know what life will bless you with. I hope, if anything, I can be an example. If you’re open to it, life will surprise you.
Written by Lora Shinn, Freelance writer & editor
Get Connected to FCAA:
Our website: http://fostercarealumni.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FCAANational
Make a difference for foster care alumni—donate now!