Best Practices for Increasing Meaningful Youth Participation in Collaborative Team Planning
This brief offers tips to increase meaningful youth participation in collaborative team planning meetings. Access Document Here
This brief offers tips to increase meaningful youth participation in collaborative team planning meetings. Access Document Here
This tip sheet helps meeting facilitators and team members address common issues that occur during team meetings in order to promote meaningful youth participation. English
This tip sheet offers suggestions and strategies to help young people become more involved in their team planning meetings. English Version Spanish Version
This technical assistance brief intended to serve as an introductory guide for communities seeking an overview of the Miami CWBC(TM) model and a roadmap of
This technical assistance brief intended to serve as an introductory guide for communities seeking an overview of the Miami CWBC(TM) model and a roadmap of
The GAO raises continuing concerns about the adequacy of mental health services for children – especially those in foster care. Click to read full report
The ABA Center on Children and the Law published this public policy brief to assist advocates and judges who work with children and youth who are prescribed psychotropic medication
The purpose of this memo is to provide basic information
on CBHAs so that all players in the child welfare system will know what a CBHA is, what it covers, how to obtain one and how to use it. Prepared by the Children’s Legal Services Grantees of the Florida Bar Foundation. CBHA Packet
FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach/Miami)
Alexia Nechayev, from Miami, Florida, is a dedicated advocate for youth with lived experience in foster care and with homelessness. After being placed in foster care as a teenager, Alexia experienced firsthand the stigma surrounding the system, as well as the challenges of navigating a system that didn’t provide support for her to advocate for herself. This experience motivated her to create change, ensuring that other youth in care have the tools and resources she lacked.
She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University, and upon graduation worked as a Hope Navigator with the Department of Children and Families which allowed her to assist clients through individualized care plans, further deepening her commitment to improving the lives of marginalized youth. Alexia is now applying to law schools with the goal of advancing her advocacy work through a legal career. As the Events and Meetings Chair for Florida Youth SHINE (FYS), she creates opportunities for foster and homeless youth to collaborate and push for meaningful change. She is also an active member of the Policy and Initiative Team for Florida Youth SHINE, where she helps create and shape policies that directly impact youth in foster care. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping to develop the Foster Care Bill of Rights, a law that she feels would have made a difference during her own time in care.
In addition to her work with FYS, Alexia serves on the Board of Directors for the parent organization of FYS, Florida’s Children First. In this role, she contributes to strategic decision-making while advocating for the rights and welfare of children statewide.
Every year, she travels to the state capitol to advocate for bills she and her peers have helped shape, including key pieces of legislation that benefit foster and homeless youth. However her advocacy extends beyond her state, as she represents Florida Youth SHINE at national conferences such as the National Leaders 4 Change Conference.
Through her internship with the National Foster Youth Institute, Alexia continues to refine her advocacy skills, preparing for a future where she can contribute meaningfully to both policymaking and the legal system. Guided by the belief that “the blue sky is always there,” she remains committed to ensuring that every youth in foster care has the power and support to advocate for themselves.