Meet the 2023 Family and Alumni Honorees
These awards recognize those foster care alumni, birth parents, kinship caregivers and resource parents who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts on behalf of those involved in child welfare.
Select the photo below to read more about this year’s honorees
Tecoria A. Jones
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA
Tecoria A. Jones is a devoted mother to six children and has been an active advocate, speaker and leader. Her work includes being a member and chair of the PRISMA Children’s Hospital Parent Advisory Council and a parent peer partner with the Federation of Families South Carolina. Jones was chosen to be the first parent leader on the South Carolina Child Well Being Coalition, working in her state with FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention and SC Children Trust. Her restorative work focuses on health, specifically mental well-being, racial justice, food policy and therapeutic massage. Jones works with Thriving Families, Safer Children as a lived experience national partner and advisory board member for the state lead team. She is also a member of the Birth Parent National Network, a parent leader and trainer with the National Family Support Network, and a board member of Be Strong Families.
Roger De Leon, Jr.
RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA
A dedicated father, grandfather, minister and passionate advocate for children and families, Roger De Leon, Jr. works as a parent partner with Riverside County’s Children Services Division in California. As one of the first parent partners, he helped develop their program, supporting and encouraging families in navigating these systems, often leading to reunification. He is a birth father representative on the California Child Welfare Council and a member of the Parent Partner Advisory Committee. De Leon uses his personal experience navigating the child welfare and court systems to inform his work. De Leon is a member of the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance’s Birth Parent National Network. He has collaborated with Casey Family Programs on strengthening families through the American Rescue Plan Act and the Parent Partner Learning Collaborative and provides consultation to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. De Leon helps develop and deliver state-mandated trainings throughout California.
Shawna D. Begay
NEW MEXICO
Shawna D. Begay serves families as a protective services placement worker with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department. A member of the Navajo Nation, Begay strives to ingrain the principles of the Indian Child Welfare Act into her work. She provides community resources to strengthen families and their self-efficacy. If a family’s stability cannot be immediately achieved, Begay identifies kin who can care for children and partner in family strengthening. Begay was led into the work after her own experience with her father’s alcoholism and domestic abuse. The youngest of six children, she was raised by her mother. Despite being moved in and out of her birth home due to safety concerns, she excelled at school. She received her Associate of Arts with Academic Honors and graduated with High Honors with a Bachelor of Science in social work. Begay and her husband care for her teenage nieces, who are excelling in life and school.
Gail Engel
LOVELAND, COLORADO
Gail Engel is an advocate for kinship families in Colorado, inspired by the journey of caring for a granddaughter and adopting a grandson with special needs. In 2015, Engel founded Grand Family Coalition Inc., a nonprofit designed to create a community of peer support and connection to resources for grandparents and kinship care providers. Engel joined Generations United GRAND Voice Network in 2017 and is a voice of lived experience, advocate and educator. She has supported legislation such as the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) and the Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act of 2018. Engel serves on federal, state and local councils. She has represented families on the FFPSA Implementation Team, is working with Colorado Department of Human Services to create a Child Welfare Family Advisory Council and participates in policy and rule changes. Engel co-chairs the Larimer County Alliance for Grandfamilies. She also testified to a Senate committee on the impact of COVID-19 on grandfamilies.
Sixto Martin Cancel
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Sixto Cancel is a nationally recognized leader driving systems change in child welfare. He draws on his personal story of his time in foster care in his advocacy and in leading the technology nonprofit he founded in 2017: Think of Us. At its inception, Think of Us used virtual storytelling to shed light on experiences of foster youth. It has evolved and today boasts of building the Lived Experience Networks, the nation’s largest virtual community of lived-experts in child welfare. Cancel often participates in conversations about improving outcomes for youth aging out of foster care. He has helped design conversations at the White House, various Federal Agencies and with Congress; presented about foster care issues all around the nation; and serves on the board of directors for the National Foster Care Coalition. His honors include the White House Champion of Change award, 2021 Children’s Bureau Champion, Schmidt Innovation Fellow, Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, and Forbes Top 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.
