Hollywood Celebrities Launch National Campaign to Improve Foster Care
From the Winter 2004 issue of Voice, the quarterly publication of Casey Family Services. To view the entire issue, go to caseyfamilyservices.org.

Actress and former foster child Victoria Rowell has spent her entire adult life advocating for foster children -- lobbying Congress for increased health care and financial support for transitioning foster youth; developing internship programs at entertainment giants Sony Pictures and CBS Television; and providing arts scholar-ships to foster teens through her own organization -- Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan Foundation.

While horror stories of abused foster children are often featured in the news, Rowell says she knows the other side of the story. "Foster care saved my life," the star of CBS television's The Young and the Restless remarks in a recent issue of Glamour magazine. "Rather than assassinate the system, I prefer to improve it."

Rowell, who also serves as national spokesperson for Casey Family Services, recently co-hosted, along with the Department of Children and Families of Los Angeles, the first Foster Youth Entertainment Summit. The event, held in Los Angeles, attracted well-known entertainers like Bruce Willis, the White House-appointed spokesperson for children in foster care, and model Tyra Banks, along with industry leaders who participated in work-shops on such topics as screenwriting, music production, directing and broadcast technology for foster youth ages 16 and older.

Rowell then joined forces with Willis and other celebrities and organizations to kick off the National Campaign to Improve Foster Care.

"This partnership is committed to improving the outcomes for abused and neglected children throughout the United States," says Rowell, who met Willis at the Angels in Adoption event in Washington, D.C., where both were honored for their child advocacy work.

"We are launching [this campaign] as a way of bringing attention to the problems that are currently paralyzing the foster care system," she says.

Rowell and Willis hosted a holiday party in December for more than 300 Los Angeles foster youth at the Hollywood Avalon Entertainment Complex to kick off the foster care reform campaign. Casey Family Services, The Packard Foundation, The Dave Thomas Foundation and Target sponsored the event.

"We wanted to start by focusing on the foster care system most desperately in need of repair -- Los Angeles," says Rowell. "In addition to the festivities, we announced pledges of support for improvements in mental health services, medical assistance, and other services that will help all 50,000 foster children in Los Angeles County."

In March, the partnership will hold a child welfare summit, where entertainment industry leaders and child welfare professionals will discuss ways in which each partner can assist in helping to improve the foster care system.

The partners also plan on developing an online information clearinghouse for children's services in Los Angeles County.

"There is no one central place for people to go to learn about the services they need, from health care to early childhood education programs," said Rowell.

A public service announcement campaign, featuring celebrity partners, will direct viewers to the clearinghouse website.