Your Champion is a youth movement native to Oregon, created by individuals impacted by parental incarceration with a mission to use our voices to generate innovative solutions. We were key participants in Senate Bill 241, the Bill of Rights for Children of Incarcerated Parents (BORCIP), which was passed unanimously by the legislature, making Oregon the first state to recognize the rights of our vulnerable population.
When our moms were incarcerated we were given the opportunity to participate in a family program whose guiding principles were ensuring the rights articulated in the BORCIP were actualized, and WE BELIEVE ALL CHILDREN should have similar opportunities. Our concept is to develop a support network among impacted youth, and from that network establish a Youth Advisory Council where we pledge to participate, inform, promote and inspire.
We are asking to be invited to have a seat at the table and start a conversation with individuals and systems willing to listen. Our commitment is to generate understandings through the eyes of those with lived experience and to provide trauma informed recommendations. Our intention is to take our healing and empowerment to the next level, eliminate stigmas and change the narrative about personal impacts of our parent(s) incarceration. We consider this process an opportunity to give back and pay it forward at the same time!
What People Say
The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Walt Disney
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
J. K. Rowling
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
Dr. Seuss