Youth Advocacy Center

What do others say about YAC?

"The Youth Advocacy Center is a wonderful program that creates positive outcomes in young people's lives."
~Commissioner
John Mattingly
NYC Administration of Children's Services


"Getting Beyond the System has been a great experience for me. I feel that all the youth in the system should attend this workshop. I learned a lot of useful information that I can apply to my everyday life."
~Ashley,
GBS Graduate, Fall 2004


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About UsMission

Mission Statement

Youth Advocacy Center’s mission is to teach young adults in and at risk of foster care to advocate for themselves and take control of their lives. Teens in and at risk of foster care have the desire, talents and potential to be participating citizens - to hold jobs, to play a role in their community, to live in safe neighborhoods and to raise their children to be educated and healthy.

Youth Advocacy Center's Philosophy

Foster care youth and at risk adolescents are a large community of disenfranchised citizens who have dreams and ambitions but lack the access and resources to plan for their futures.

Each year, 25,000 young people age out of foster care systems to be on their own. These young people are at a high risk of failure. Teens leave the child welfare system unprepared to reach their potential. Instead, they join the dismal statistics of those without high school degrees, those in prison, those forced onto welfare.

Betsy Krebs and Paul Pitcoff, lawyers for children in family court, founded Youth Advocacy Center (YAC) in 1992 because of a deep belief in the aspirations and potential of teenagers in foster care. YAC developed a philosophy and program of self-advocacy, which empowers individual teens
to take on significant responsibility for planning for their futures.

Contact YAC to learn more about YAC's success in helping teens in foster care prepare for successful adulthood.