Marie Zemler Wu

The child-welfare system was built to protect the most vulnerable children. But the vast majority of kids in foster care are suffering from poverty, not parental neglect. If we could refocus the system on providing resources—rather than its current priority of investigating and separating families—we could help kids, their families, and their communities thrive.

Marie Zemler Wu—an adoptee who has devoted her professional life to improving America’s child welfare system—wants to change this. She co-founded Foster America to transform the system from one that is punitive and paternalistic, to one that centers the well-being of all children and families. Through its flagship fellowship program and partnerships with communities and child-welfare jurisdictions nationwide, Foster America places and supports diverse leaders in key government posts who have the determination and imagination to drive transformational change. From taking the lead on the implementation of the federal Family First Prevention Services Act, to championing community-created solutions for ending abuse and neglect, Foster America is a leader in building well-being systems that enable every child to thrive.

“Children and families thrive when they have resources and strong relationships,” Wu says. “Let’s work to change the strategies of our nation’s child-welfare system to center equity, community, and prevention.”