HHH is Honored to Host
Terry Harrak.
Terry Harrak has more than a decade of child welfare advocacy, curriculum
development, training, and facilitation experience. She currently works on the
Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) and the Just Beginning Program (JB) at the
Youth Law Center. Prior to her work at Youth Law Center, she served as Project
Manager for Child Welfare League of America and Director of Youth Engagement
for Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative. She has testified before Congress
and elsewhere on issues pertaining to child welfare. Mrs. Harrak is the author
of Guidelines for Development of Foster Care Handbooks: What Foster Youth
Have to Say and co-creator of Strategic Sharing: a curriculum for youth public
speaking. Mrs. Harrak created The National Foster Youth Advisory Board in 2000.
The group was instrumental in the movement to increase foster youth participation
in policy and advocacy. In addition to her professional experience, Terry brings her
personal experience with the foster care and juvenile justice systems to her work.
Mrs. Harrak’s personal testimony was instrumental in the passing of the Foster
Care Independence Act and John H. Chafee Independent Living Program. She
was invited to speak at The White House alongside First Lady Hillary Clinton at
the 2000 White House Summit on Foster Care.