Andrew Bridge (lawyer)
| Andrew Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Born | Los Angeles, USA |
| Known for | Author of Hope's Boy, Lawyer, Campaigner for Children in Care |
Andrew Bridge is an American lawyer and campaigner for children in foster care, in juvenile justice systems, and with mental disabilities. He became the executive director of the California-based Alliance for Children's Rights in 1997.[1][2] Bridge spent 11 years in the foster care system as a child in Los Angeles County, and achieved a scholarship to Wesleyan University, became a Fulbright Scholar, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Resident, Stueben Schultz Gesellschaft Scholar, and graduate from Harvard Law School.[3] Under Bridge's leadership, the Alliance lead the establishment of National Adoption Day in the United States. Later Bridge joined the Broad Foundation, which under his tenure established the framework for Los Angeles County's federal foster care financial waiver, allowing federal funding to support children in their own families rather than requiring children's removal into state care in order to receive assistance.
Following the Alliance for Children's Rights and his work at the Broad Foundation, Bridge went on to serve as Senior Innovation Innovative Adviser to the State of Illinois and its child welfare system. His memoir Hope's Boy was named a New York Times Bestseller, Publishers Weekly Bestseller, Los Angeles Times Discoveries Book, People Magazine Critic's Choice, and Washington Post Book of the Year. In addition, he chaired the 1999-2000 Los Angeles County Blue Ribbon Task Force on the safety of children in the nation's largest child welfare system, which recommended a fundamental overhaul of the treatment, placement, and care of children. He is a founding Director of The New Village Charter School for Girls, a charter school for pregnant and parenting teens and California's first charter school solely for girls. He is currently Director of The Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation, dedicated to the advancement of the arts and betterment of women, children, and people in need. He is a cancer survivor.
External links
References
- ↑ O'Hara, Mary (16 July 2008). "Andrew Bridge survived the US care system to become a campaigner and best-selling author". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
Raised in care, Andrew Bridge overcame a chaotic childhood to become a lawyer, campaigner for looked-after children, and now best-selling author.
- ↑ Salter Reynolds, Susan (28 February 2008). "A life against the odds - Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
In his work as a lawyer for children's rights -- at the Alliance for Children's Rights, then as managing director of child welfare reform at the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles and more recently on behalf of children in Alabama, Bridge says he meets relatively few "monsters." What is far more common is the absence of compassion.
- ↑ Bridge, Andrew. "Hope's Boy, a memoir by Andrew Bridge". Retrieved 16 February 2014.