Family and alumni honorees
These awards are a national recognition of the accomplishments of remarkable individuals, especially those with lived experience in the child welfare system, who are working to safely reduce the need for foster care and build Communities of Hope. The awards recognize those who have demonstrated outstanding work, exceptional leadership and unwavering dedication to improving child and family well-being in the United States.
Meet the 2026 Family and Alumni Honorees
Select the photo below to learn more about these foster care alumni, birth parents, kinship caregivers and resource parents who have demonstrated extraordinary efforts on behalf of children and families.
Christina Simmons Saucier
BAY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI
Christina Simmons Saucier is a systems advocate, peer support leader and mother of six whose lived experience navigating the child welfare system fuels her work to transform child welfare at the local, state and national levels. Simmons uses her experience of reunifying with her children after they were placed into foster care to shape her mission of helping other families heal and stay together.
Nationally, Simmons Saucier brings lived expertise to policy, research and advocacy efforts. She is a member of the Birth Parent National Network, the Birth and Foster Parent Partnership and the Child Welfare and Racial Equity Collaborative. In 2024, she joined Casey Family Programs’ Birth Parent Advisory Committee, where she now co-leads the Race Equity Subcommittee. She also serves on a national planning group focused on housing stability, led by the Corporation for Supportive Housing, CWLA and the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance.
Her national advocacy includes public speaking and research consultation. In 2025, she and her daughter advised RTI International on the design of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), and she presented on a Medicaid webinar hosted by Georgetown University.
Simmons Saucier has made a significant impact in her home state of Mississippi. She serves as an appointee on the Court Improvement Program, a statewide, multi-disciplinary Task Force, collaborates with the Children’s Foundation of Mississippi and integrates family voice into the Safe Babies Court initiative. She founded the state’s first Parent Partner Advocacy Program and helped launch an interdisciplinary legal representation model.
Locally, Simmons Saucier works as a certified peer support recovery specialist supporting families in youth court. She is also a certified clinical medical assistant with training in child psychology and family medicine.
Timothy Evans
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Timothy Evans is a certified peer specialist, writer and public speaker whose lived experience as a father and system survivor fuels his advocacy for healing-centered, culturally responsive support for Black families. Through national storytelling, statewide health initiatives and local mentorship, Evans is reshaping how communities support families.
Nationally, Evans uses writing and public speaking to challenge stigma and elevate lived experience. His essays in The Imprint explore foster care, trauma recovery and community restoration through a personal lens. He regularly appears on podcasts and public panels, advocating for reunification and culturally grounded approaches to family healing.
In New York State, Evans partners with the Department of Health and the Real Dads Network on a colon cancer awareness initiative funded through a Bureau of Cancer Prevention grant. The program promotes preventive screenings among Black and Brown men, addressing disparities in care through peer-led outreach rooted in trust and community.
Locally, Evans is founder and CEO of Rebuilding the Black Nuclear Family (B.R.I.D.G.E.), LLC, a Brooklyn-based program that provides trauma-informed mentorship and healing spaces for youth and families, especially those aged 13–24. Through group circles, workshops and one-on-one mentoring, B.R.I.D.G.E. equips young people to process trauma, reclaim identity and imagine new possibilities.
Evans also facilitates fatherhood and reentry programs in partnership with NYC agencies and ACS initiatives. His work supports men impacted by incarceration and child welfare involvement, offering healing-centered spaces for identity, connection and leadership.
Evans is a Certified Peer Specialist, a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor – Trainee, and has completed Father Engagement Training. On November 19, 2025, he graduated from the Howie T. Harp Advocacy Center. These credentials, along with his lived experience, shape his work.
Paul Tonnessen
WAILUKU, HAWAI’I
Paul Tonnessen is a longtime foster parent, nonprofit leader and advocate whose life’s work reflects a quiet but powerful commitment to healing, belonging and systemic change. Over the past 30 years, he and his husband, Richard Carr, have provided a loving home to more than 30 foster children in Maui County, many of whom still call them “Dad” as adults.
For Tonnessen, fostering has always been a calling. His approach centers on unconditional love, cultural connection and presence. Whether soothing a child through trauma or showing up at school events, he’s provided the kind of consistent care many of his children had never known.
Beyond caregiving, Tonnessen has led efforts to uplift youth impacted by abuse and neglect. Since 2012, he has served as Executive Director of Friends of the Children’s Justice Center of Maui, expanding trauma-informed services and launching Journey to New Beginnings, a Molokaʻi-based program for high-risk youth. He is also a core leader in the Hoʻoikaika Partnership, focused on child abuse prevention through cross-sector collaboration.
Tonnessen’s leadership extends statewide. He developed Hawaiʻi’s first mandated reporter training film, advises state and local youth justice councils and supports the Nā Kama a Hāloa, a community-based network that works to weave Native Hawaiian wisdom and perspective into the Hawai‘i foster care system. He also mentors youth leaders through HI H.O.P.E.S. and speaks regularly at statewide convenings.
Alisa Thornton-Banks
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA
Alisa Thornton-Banks is a kinship caregiver, an advocate for kinship care and mental health issues, and a peer support leader. Her decades of lived and professional experience have strengthened families and transformed systems across the country. A caregiver for her daughter and granddaughter, Thornton-Banks champions family preservation, trauma-informed care and culturally responsive practice.
At the national level, Thornton-Banks is a member of GRAND Voices with Generations United, sharing lived expertise to influence kinship care policy. In 2017, she delivered a powerful keynote address at a Congressional briefing on homelessness.
A native of Washington, D.C., who now resides in Virginia, Thornton-Banks was recently named executive director of Tavares Taylor Charities, dedicated to uplifting children, families, veterans and underserved communities. She is also a member of Virginia Department of Social Services’ (VDSS) Child Welfare Advisory Committee, which advises VDSS’ Division of Family Services on a variety of child welfare issues and is instrumental in the development and implementation of VDSS’ 5-year Child and Family Services Plan. She also has served as chair of the VDSS Parent Advisory Council.
A former peer recovery specialist/family support partner with National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Thornton-Banks works to train caregivers navigating mental health and disability systems. She also strongly advocated for the first Crisis Receiving Center in Prince William County alongside VOICE and NAMI Prince William. Additionally, she serves as a board member of Formed Families Forward, a family-led nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting foster, kinship and adoptive families of children and youth with disabilities and other special needs. She was appointed to the Prince William County Community Services Board in 2025.
Among her many awards and recognitions, Thornton-Banks received the Governor’s Volunteerism and Community Service Award from Gov. Youngkin in 2024 and the NAMI Virginia Hope Award in 2023.
April M. Curtis
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
April M. Curtis is a nationally respected advocate, strategist and healing-centered leader who has dedicated her life to improving outcomes for children, youth and families impacted by foster care, violence and systemic inequity. An alumna of Illinois’ child welfare system, she draws on her lived expertise to shape policy, cultivate leadership and create healing spaces that foster belonging, purpose and community.
Curtis serves as deputy director of programs at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, where she leads efforts to embed healing-centered and developmentally responsive practices across facilities and programs statewide. Her leadership focuses on ensuring that justice-involved youth have equitable access to education, wellness supports and pathways to thriving lives beyond confinement.
At the national level, Curtis is the board chair and co-founder of Foster Care Alumni of America, where she developed the Healing Leadership Institutes and Foster Healing Leadership Academy Fellowship — initiatives that center the well-being and leadership of foster care alumni through trauma-informed, culturally rooted and community-based approaches. She has testified before Congress, co-chairs the National Foster Youth and Alumni Policy Council, and advises foundations and government partners on equity, engagement and healing-centered policy design.
Since 1999, she has championed major reforms — from the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act to the Family First Prevention Services Act — advancing healing-centered, equitable and community-driven approaches that empower youth and families nationwide to lead, heal and thrive. In Illinois, Curtis has championed significant reforms in child welfare and youth justice, including the 2012 sibling law, the Youth Bill of Rights and numerous initiatives supporting reunification and permanency.
A proud Puerto Rican and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumna, Curtis holds a bachelor’s in psychology and a Master of Social Work. Her life’s work embodies her belief that healing is not a destination; it is a practice that builds stronger families, leaders and communities.
