De La Cruz: Caring for our future — addressing the growing number of Hispanic children in foster care

Metro Creative Connection

Meet Luis De La Cruz

Arizona native Luis De La Cruz became a ward of the state at 16, but the challenges and experiences that eventually led him to enter foster care began as early as he can remember. He graduated at the top of his class at Mesa High School, gaining admittance to Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University, where he graduated with two business degrees in four years. He also holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan. He returned home with his wife and newborn son in 2022, and was named president and CEO of the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation. His mission is to grow the 40-year-old foundation and deepen the impact of programs across the state. The foundation serves approximately 50% ― 4,500 kids ― of the state’s total foster care population. A key leader on child welfare issues, De La Cruz is one of the few Hispanic CEOs in Arizona leading a nonprofit of the size and scope of AFFCF. To learn more, visit www.affcf.org/.

As we come together to celebrate and bring focus to the Hispanic community in Arizona as part of Hispanic Heritage Month, I want to converge on an important topic — children.

Today, the largest number of children in Arizona foster care are Hispanic. Specifically, one in three children in the system are Hispanic. That’s approximately 3,100 children.

Children are not meant to be raised by systems or government, and this natural limitation presents a need for a unique set of solutions. For that reason, many of these children and young adults who experience foster care will require an untraditional set of community relationships and support to ensure their foster care experience does not define who they become or what they achieve.

As I reflect on my own time in foster care, and even those moments and circumstances that eventually led me to be a child of “the system,” I can’t help but to try and crystalize what unique set of forces, events and actors played a role in changing the trajectory of my life.

First, it was the people in my schools. In the absence of a supportive and safe family environment, this group of people was the most consistent and closest in my day-to-day activities.

From teachers to counselors but also the students themselves, this group of people was one of the most important actors in my foster care experience. School was my refuge —school-provided meals were often my only source of food, my teachers the only source of guidance and advocacy, and my friends (and their families), the closest human connection in times of celebration or need.

Second, it was my foster parents. Two strangers who were close to retirement age and who did not have parenting a teenager in their “life plans” put their goals on hold to help support mine. They were fierce advocates and supporters of my education and took care of my “basic needs” significantly beyond what the state provided. They also made sure the child welfare agency was being held accountable to its obligations and promises.

Finally, it was community organizations and programs. They responded to the immediate needs of my situation through thoughtful and accessible support and services, from a scholarship to a tutoring lesson to legal services and emergency food support. Community organizations and programs fill gaps and needs in ways that other systems cannot.

As I reflect on what was critical in shaping the trajectory of my own life, I also acknowledge that not everyone has the same fortune and access. For example, our educational systems are not fully equipped to support or work with at-risk and vulnerable children, so the number of children falling through the cracks are undefined and likely too many.

Additionally, only one in four children in foster care have access to a foster family. And finally, there is a shortage of community organizations with the resources to reach, deploy and design solutions for every child in foster care — especially in communities outside of Maricopa County.

 That’s why I am committed to leveraging the richness of my heritage, diversity of experiences and the leadership platform I am afforded to be a change agent in our community.

Not only will I work on ensuring that the 3,100 Hispanic children in Arizona’s foster care system have access to the deep and untraditional relationships required to make their dreams a reality, but also to make sure that the nearly 9,200 children in the system can change the trajectory of their lives, too.

Editor’s note: Luis De La Cruz is president and CEO of the Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that empowers children and youth in foster care. He lives in Buckeye. Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.