{"id":32192,"date":"2025-02-20T15:58:04","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:58:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caseyfamilyv2.wpengine.com\/first-spouses-two\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:29:58","slug":"primeros-conyuges-dos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casey.org\/es\/first-spouses-two\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00bfC\u00f3mo pueden los c\u00f3nyuges de los mandatarios promover el bienestar de los ni\u00f1os y las familias?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The spouses of governors (first spouses), while not elected officials, can play a critical role in advancing key issues in their state. Some first spouses have chosen to leverage their political access and influence to improve the well-being of children and families in their state. This can include supporting families so that children can remain with their families whenever safely possible and, when foster care placement is necessary, placing children with kin<\/a> and ensuring that their time away from their family is as brief as possible<\/a>. This brief offers examples of the work that some first spouses are doing related to child and family well-being, including two current first spouses (Abby Cox of Oklahoma and Sarah Stitt of Utah) and four former first spouses (Lauren Baker of Massachusetts, Angela Ducey of Arizona, Susan Hutchinson of Arkansas, and Susanne Shore of Nebraska).1<\/sup><\/a> For key insights from current and former first spouses about their unique role, see the companion brief: What do first spouses say about working to address child and family well-being?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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If you could get first spouses to focus on two things \u2014 community involvement and prevention \u2014 the world would be in such a better place.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Susanne Shore, Former First Lady of Nebraska<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Utah<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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Having friends who were foster parents influenced the goals of First Lady Abby Cox of Utah<\/strong> as a first spouse: \u201cA couple of friends started to foster. What I noticed was their invisibility in the community. I think people didn\u2019t know how to interact with them and didn\u2019t have the knowledge or skills to help them. As I came into this role, realizing that the state plays such a huge part in child welfare, I felt a weight of responsibility to be a voice for these families and children.\u201d She started Show Up Utah<\/a>, an initiative aiming to promote empathy, connection, and a sense of community among the people of her state. One of the initiative\u2019s key areas<\/a> is supporting children in foster care and the families caring for them. Support is provided through foster family nights out (to the theater, roller skating, and other family activities) and Care Communities<\/a>. Supported by a public private partnership with faith communities, businesses, and Utah Foster Care<\/a> (the state\u2019s foster parent recruitment and training organization), Care Communities are teams of eight to 10 individuals and families that provide tangible and emotional supports to foster families.<\/p>\n

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First Lady Cox explained: \u201cWe support foster families so that they feel seen. Family after family has reached out to us and said, \u2018We feel seen for the first time ever. We feel like somebody cares about what we\u2019re doing.\u2019 I think that\u2019s where first spouses can have an impact on families across their state \u2014 to make sure that they\u2019re seen, and genuinely working to make things better for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Recognizing that many nonprofits and agencies work in silos and compete for the same funding, First Lady Cox also is working to convene organizations and separate funding streams. \u201cI\u2019m bringing people who work in child welfare together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has made a huge difference. And I ask people in the Legislature, \u2018How can we approach these funding streams differently so that organizations are not competing and can all work together?\u2019\u201d Kevin Jackson, assistant director of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, recalled: \u201cShe brought us all together at the Governor’s Mansion. We talked about what we’re trying to accomplish and what we all bring to the table. It sets a different tone when the first lady brings us together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Child welfare leaders should reach out and ask for a meeting. Tell them what you\u2019re passionate about and why, and see if you can build a partnership.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Abby Cox, First Lady of Utah<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Oklahoma<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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First Lady Sarah Stitt of Oklahoma <\/strong>is focusing on raising awareness of and reducing stigma around mental health issues, addiction, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). She explained that her work is grounded in her own personal story: \u201cMy own family struggled with addiction, access to care, severe mental health issues, abuse, all of those things. My story is a lot of people\u2019s stories in Oklahoma.\u201d Partnering with a local nonprofit, she shared James Redford\u2019s 2016 film, Resilience: The Biology of Stress & the Science of Hope<\/em><\/a>, throughout the state, inviting community members to view and discuss the film. \u201cThat provided a great open door for people to develop a common language,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThen we began to introduce the Science of HOPE<\/a> as a guiding principle in all the things we do.\u201d In collaboration with the University of Oklahoma\u2019s Hope Research Center<\/a>, First Lady Stitt helped the Oklahoma Department of Human Services become HOPE-centered and trauma-informed through HOPE awareness training, a HOPE summit, and the creation of 52 Community HOPE Centers launched during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

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To ensure that the work she has done continues after her spouse\u2019s term as governor ends, she created the Sarah Stitt Hope Foundation, which runs Hope Rising Oklahoma<\/a>. Inspired by evidence<\/a> that children who have experienced trauma are more likely to thrive when they have high hope, that adults working in child welfare have greater well-being when they have hope, and that hope can be taught, First Lady Stitt conducted Community HOPE summits throughout the state, educating communities about the science of hope and equipping people with tools to support resiliency. This has led to deeper partnerships, as First Lady Stitt explained: \u201cAfter we had been doing the summits for a while, we began partnerships with nonprofits and community organizations to create more sustainable and HOPE-centered programming to address some of the root causes of adversity. If we went into a community that was struggling with high school dropout rates, we would partner with that community to do a very specific deep dive into dropout rates through the Science of Hope. We found that to be very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The university\u2019s Hope Research Center, which tracks indicators of community hope and resiliency over time, has found measurable improvements in participating communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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My goal is empowering mothers, caregivers, and families to connect them to resources and give them the tools and knowledge so they don\u2019t enter into that situation where their children are being taken away. We can come around them as a community and help intervene in a way that\u2019s not saying, \u2018You don\u2019t know how to be a parent,\u2019 but \u2018Let me help you. Let me come alongside you. Let me show you what\u2019s worked for me or for others.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Sarah Stitt, First Lady of Oklahoma<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Nebraska<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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As a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), former<\/strong> First Lady Susanne Shore of Nebraska<\/strong> observed the trauma children and families endure when separated by the child welfare system. When she became a first spouse, she decided to focus on educating people about the child welfare system and the importance of upstream prevention, supporting and strengthening families so that they never would need to engage with the child welfare system in the first place. \u201cOne challenge is getting people to understand what child welfare is,\u201d former First Lady Shore explained. \u201cIt\u2019s not just child welfare. It\u2019s family support, community support, and prevention versus ripping kids out of their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In partnership with Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, public and private agencies, and community collaboratives throughout the state, former First Lady Shore and former Gov. Pete Ricketts launched Bring Up Nebraska<\/a> in 2017. This collaborative approach aims to increase formal and informal supports for children and families, and to safely reduce the number of children entering foster care and other systems (such as juvenile justice and behavioral health) through local community collaboratives<\/a>. Built on the Strengthening Families protective factors framework<\/a>, Bring Up Nebraska is community-driven, engages traditional and non-traditional partners, and utilizes both public and private dollars.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Massachusetts<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Former First Lady Lauren Baker of Massachusetts<\/strong> served on the board of directors for Wonderfund<\/a>, a nonprofit that provides resources and opportunities to children engaged with the state\u2019s Department of Children and Families (DCF). Wonderfund provides children entering foster care with duffel bags of clothing, toiletries, and gift cards. All 29 DCF offices across the state have a closet stocked with the duffel bags, and many caseworkers carry them in their car, so they are prepared at any time to distribute them. Caseworkers are encouraged to request enrichment supplies and activities at any time.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnrichment is anything a child engaged with DCF wants or needs,\u201d Former First Lady Baker explained. \u201cWhen a social worker meets with a child, they can say, \u2018What does this child want or need? What does he want to do for fun?\u2019 It allows the social worker to have some good news to talk to the child and families about. It\u2019s not all about court cases and doctor\u2019s appointments and lawyers. It\u2019s everything from baseball gloves to gymnastics lessons to renting a tuba, SAT prep, driver\u2019s ed. If they request it, we will bend over backwards to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wonderfund also focuses on providing summer camp opportunities for children engaged with the child protection agency. The nonprofit works with camps to hold slots for children who may enroll at the last minute. Former First Lady Baker\u2019s background in business was key in re-imagining the organization (originally called DCF Kids Fund) so that it could scale up to offer more resources to more children.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Arkansas<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

Moved by the personal stories of friends who experienced child abuse, former<\/strong> First Lady Susan Hutchinson of Arkansas<\/strong> discovered the work of children\u2019s advocacy centers after being invited on a tour. The centers support children and families by conducting child-friendly medical evaluations and interviews, and providing follow-up child and family therapy in calm, cheerful settings. Former First Lady Hutchinson focused on supporting these critical centers, serving as a board member for Children\u2019s Advocacy Centers of Arkansas<\/a>. She also educated people about the importance of the centers through talks at venues like churches and Rotary clubs. Former First Lady Hutchinson aimed to help people understand how difficult it is for a child to come forward to disclose abuse and recover emotionally without a resource like a children\u2019s advocacy center. \u201cWe\u2019re breaking the cycle,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople need the opportunity to be healthy inside and out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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First spouses have to consider their own state. They\u2019re all very different. See where your heart is, what you\u2019re interested in. See where your state is on different issues.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

— Susan Hutchinson, Former First Lady of Arkansas<\/cite><\/figcaption>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Arizona<\/h2>\n \n \n \n

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Former First Lady Angela Ducey of Arizona<\/strong> gained firsthand experience of the child welfare system through prior work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). That experience informed her work as co-chair of the Governor\u2019s Council on Child Safety and Family Empowerment<\/a>, run through the Governor\u2019s Office of Youth, Faith and Family. This state-based council aims to prevent and mitigate adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), strengthen families to safely prevent children from entering foster care, support foster families, and promote permanency.<\/p>\n

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Council members include the director of the Arizona Department of Child Safety, state legislators, representatives from nonprofit agencies, and community stakeholders. \u201cThe idea was to get the movers and shakers from all these different partners to join together on this council and to strengthen each other in their roles,\u201d former First Lady Ducey said. The council has two workgroups to address community needs and systemic challenges through the identification of best practices and evidence-based solutions. These include outreach (focusing on engagement of faith-based communities) and prevention (identifying and addressing issues that lead to children\u2019s placement into foster care).<\/p>\n

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\u201cSome people look at child well-being and foster care as problems that won\u2019t be solved \u2014 it\u2019s too overwhelming. That\u2019s not the case. Through the National Governor\u2019s Association, many first spouses are very committed to trauma-informed approaches, ACEs, and doing work for child advocacy centers. I am encouraged because there is a lot of desire to see outcomes improved.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Casey Family Programs consults with individuals and teams across the country to compile research, experiences, and insights about approaches that can safely reduce the need for foster care and ensure the well-being of children and families. We share this information broadly to help child welfare leaders and their partners tackle similar issues in their own communities. For questions about this resource, or if you have other child welfare information needs, please email kmresources@casey.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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1 This brief, originally published April 6, 2022, is based on interviews with Susanne Shore, former First Lady of Nebraska, Feb. 11, 2021; Angela Ducey, former First Lady of Arizona, and Maria Fuentes, former director of the Governor\u2019s Office of Youth, Faith and Family in Arizona, Feb. 26, 2021; Lauren Baker, former First Lady of Massachusetts, March 22, 2021; Susan Hutchinson, former First Lady of Arkansas, March 29, 2021. It has been updated to reflect these first spouses no longer are serving in those roles, and includes new information based on interviews with current First Lady Sarah Stitt of Oklahoma, Jan. 16, 2025; Tonya Myrup, director of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, and Kevin Jackson, assistant director of the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Jan. 21, 2025; and current First Lady Abby Cox of Utah and current chair of the National Governors Association Spouses\u2019 Leadership committee, Jan. 22, 2025. Other first spouses also are working on issues related to child and family well-being but were not interviewed for this brief.<\/p>\n

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