About Us
Every child in the care of someone other than a birth parent deserves to feel safe and secure. These children belong in a stable environment with one or more adults who can provide a loving home and unconditional commitment.
Achieving this kind of permanency is the driving force behind Speak Out Team (SOT). This program helps to identify, prepare and support youth and young adults who have lived the foster care, kinship care or adoption experience. It also educates adults in shaping system changes and creating permanency for the next generation.
For over a decade, SOT has encouraged communication and opened doors for young people to increase awareness and promote positive changes to the child welfare system.
Our Team
Heading up SOT are 150 participants, ages 12 to 35, who have been in foster care, in kinship care, in residential treatment and/or adopted. Starting with seven members in 1995, the team has steadily grown by at least 10% per year.
Our Program
When experts speak, audiences listen. SOT members may be youthful, but they have first-hand experiences to share in helping to shape the perceptions, policies and practices of the child welfare system across Boston, the state and the nation. Speaking engagements with prominent groups such as the American Bar Association and the Department of Social Services Foster Parent Retention Committee have allowed SOT members to do just that.
In addition to community education and outreach, SOT offers its members chances to build positive peer interactions, group affiliation, leadership and peer mentor support networks. The program also makes available SOT model and development training to professionals.
Our Origins
SOT is a nationally recognized program of Children’s Services of Roxbury/Massachusetts Families for Kids (MFFK). Established in 1972, Children’s Services of Roxbury has served and maintained deep roots in Boston's neighborhoods while developing and expanding its programs to serve communities across the state. Its mission is to provide quality services to children and their families.