Bridges to the future
April 18 symposium for youth in foster care
By Zion Banks, Editor
Meagan Washington-Sims, a doctoral student at Governors State University (GovState), has been preparing for this moment since she was 11 years old.
As host for an upcoming symposium targeting youth in foster care and unhoused students, Meagan will bring real-life experience with foster and kinship care and deep-seated compassion to her role in “Bridging Futures” on April 18.
“My lens is very unique, and I don’t take that lightly,’’ said Meagan, who was fostered and later adopted by her great-grandmother. Along with love and support, Meagan’s great-grandmother instilled in her a passion for education. Meagan is still fulfilling the call.
“One of the lessons that I have learned is that life outside of the classroom is the hardest challenge to pursuing post-secondary education for most students, but especially students who’ve experienced foster care. That’s why I am an advocate for extending support as well as grace.”
Advocating for youth is what drove Meagan to help develop ACE (Youth in Transition—Achieving Completion with Excellence) in 2022 to help GovState students who had been in alternative, foster, kinship, adoption, or residential care by providing them with resources and advocates.
Youth in Care - College Advocate Program (YCAP) is a partner of the ACE program, as well as part of the collaborative sponsoring the April symposium, the first ever being held at Governors State. The daylong event will bring together educators, social workers, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience to examine systemic barriers, highlight effective support programs, advocate for policy reform, and foster collaboration, Meagan said.
Participants will get a chance to attend workshops, panel discussions throughout the day, as well as visit vendor tables.
The keynote speaker, Dr. Justin “Jay” Miller, is a Dean and Dorothy A. Miller Research Professor in Social Work Education University of Kentucky. Dr. Millier also has lived experience with foster care and he’s eager to share his story, said Meagan.
“I don’t want to spoil it, but Dr. Miller has a very powerful testimony that everyone should hear.”
Meagan has her own powerful testimony.
Following her mother’s struggle with substance abuse, Meagan found herself in kinship care with her great grandmother, then later her grandmother stepped in when Meagan was 15.
Supported by Aunt Martha’s – an agency that provides child welfare services – the Sims family made a successful transition.
To this day, Meagan is grateful for the love she was shown by Aunt Martha’s case workers and years later returned the favor by going to work there as a program manager.
“I love those kids,” Meagan told a Daily Southtown reporter in January 2025. “Even though they experienced an extensive amount of trauma, they were so resilient … They gave me a nickname, ‘Mama Meagan,’ ” she fondly recalled.
Now a child welfare specialist for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, Meagan is preparing to graduate with a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Leadership from GovState in May.
But first she will host the April symposium, a moment she says will represent the culmination of her experiences and the reason she’s proud of ACE.
“There was no program like this available for me during my academic journey but I’m grateful and honored to be a part of positively changing the narrative of the outcomes for youth in foster and kinship care… In fact, everyone knows somebody who can benefit from the information that will be shared."
To learn more or to register for Bridging Futures Symposium, click here.