What We Learned From Our Innocents Lost Town Hall On The Child Welfare System
For more than a year, the Miami Herald dug through Department of Children & Families records and police reports to find out how and why nearly 500
We believe that all children have the right to food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, property and personal privacy.
Florida’s laws, policies and practices respect, prioritize and protect children and youth impacted by the child welfare, juvenile justice, and disability systems.
For more than a year, the Miami Herald dug through Department of Children & Families records and police reports to find out how and why nearly 500
In the wake of a bloody year for Florida youngsters, lawmakers have pledged to repair the state’s frayed safety net for abused and neglected children.
A town hall meeting sparked by the Miami Herald’s Innocents Lost series sparked both discussion and hope for the future. BY MICHAEL VASQUEZ MRVASQUEZ@MIAMIHERALD.COM Through
Gov. Rick Scott visited a Department of Children & Families service center in Opa-locka on Tuesday to tout additional funding and staffing for the troubled
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER, AUDRA D.S. BURCH AND MARY ELLEN KLAS Gov. Rick Scott visited a Department of Children & Families service center in Opa-locka
By SASCHA CORDNER Members of Florida Youth Shine, Christian Aguilar (left) and Georgina Rodriguez (right) gave lawmakers an update last week on a new law aimed
BY MIAMI HERALD STAFF This coming Thursday, April 17th, the Miami Herald and WLRN will host a town hall meeting to discuss Innocents Lost, the investigative
By: Julie Montanaro, wctv.tv More than 97% of children in foster care in Florida don’t have a
By Jan Pudlow, Senior Editor The Florida Bar News With the crucial support of Statewide Guardian ad Litem Director Alan Abramowitz, bills in both the
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – A Florida Senate panel on Wednesday approved a sweeping child-welfare reform bill amid calls from foster parents to help more children and
By Stan Jastrzebski Florida’s Department of Children and Families is a step closer to adding an official who’d be tasked with reducing the number
OUR OPINION: After 477 child deaths, lawmakers, DCF must say: Enough! HERALDED@MIAMIHERALD.COM What a difference a day makes. Especially when on that day a newspaper
BY ANA VECIANA-SUAREZ AVECIANA-SUAREZ@MIAMIHERALD.COM Little Emanuel Murray was wearing nothing but a blue onesie when he died on the shoulder of Interstate 275. Richard McTear
Published: Friday, March 21, 2014 at 5:30 a.m. Keeping families together is a worthy goal. Research argues, convincingly, that children in the child-welfare system who
By ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES March 20, 2014 8:27 p.m. ET One 3-year-old boy died after his caregivers allegedly straitjacketed him in a blanket and put him
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.