Our mission

The mission of the Foster Care Advocacy Center is to provide holistic advocacy inside and outside the courtroom for children and parents involved in the child welfare system.

How the Foster Care Advocacy Center Started

The Foster Care Advocacy Center is the brainchild of founding board members Tara Grigg Green and Alex Hunt. Tara, inspired by her biological parents' commitment to her more than 100 foster siblings, pursued law and policy degrees to be better equipped to improve the foster care system. Alex, a Teach For America alum and experienced family law attorney, started working with foster children during law school and connected with Tara over their shared vision for a more just child welfare system.

Under Texas law, when a child is removed by Child Protective Services from his or her parents' home, the child and any indigent parents are entitled to court-appointed representation. One of the primary functions of the Foster Care Advocacy Center is to accept court appointments for complex cases that require traditional legal advocacy during the state child welfare proceedings and additional time and attention to ancillary issues that affect the wellbeing of the child and the outcome of the case. FCAC works on cases with issues relating to:

FCAC Board Members

Tara Grigg Green, Esq.(formerly Garlinghouse)

  Board Member

  Executive Director, 
Foster Care
 Advocacy Center

Rice University, B.A.

University of Pennsylvania
 Law School, J.D.

Harvard Kennedy School of Government, M.P.P.

Skadden Fellow 2015

Alex Hunt, Esq.

  Chair of the Board

   Counsel, Foster Care Advocacy Center

Founding Attorney, Hunt Law Firm
University of Texas at Austin, B.A., Honors
  University of Houston Law Center,
 J.D. cum laude

Teach for America Corps Member

  Child Welfare Law Specialist

Annalisa L. Cravens, Esq.

  Board Member

Tulane University, B.A., summa cum laude

Tulane University, M.A. in
 Latin American Studies

Tulane University Law School, J.D.,
summa cum laude 

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington

Latrice Ashley

  Treasurer

Oklahoma State University

B.A. in Accounting

Oil & Gas Senior Financial Analyst

Non-Profit Financial Comptroller

Myra Siddiqui, Esq.

  Secretary

University of Pennsylvania, B.A.,

summa cum laude

Harvard Law School, J.D. cum laude

Assistant U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Texas

Shani Bacy, LCSW

  Board Member

University of Houston, B.S.,

summa cum laude

University of Houston, M.S.W.

Research Analyst/Victim Specialist, Research Triangle Institute

Maria Mathis-Kruser

  Vice-Chair of the Board

Southwestern University, B.A.,

Marketing Consultant, MMM Consulting LLC

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