Bring your team together to watch this brief video. Reflect individually, explore Capacity Building Center for States resources, and then use the discussion guide to facilitate a conversation. Work together to plan steps you can take to advance racial equity in practice.

The Center offers services and supports to state and territorial public child welfare agencies and their partners to help keep children, youth, and families safe and thriving. You can learn more about the Center's services and find information to connect with your state Liaison on the Center's website.

"Reflecting on Racial Equity and the Child and Family Services Review" is narrated by Lanitta Berry. Lanitta is a Young Adult Consultant at the Center for States. As a pregnant and parenting teen growing up in the North Carolina foster care system, Lanitta always had a passion for her peers and for changing the system. During her advocacy career, she worked at all three levels of government while also being able to volunteer each year to give back to her community. These experiences allowed her to make connections that directly shaped the system.

Locally, Lanitta was a youth leader in Mecklenburg County, NC, and would advocate for things that her peers wanted and needed. She participated in statewide and national policy transformation when she was on the Board of Directors at SaySo (Strong Able Youth Speaking Out) from 2015 to 2018. Her commitment to the work was rooted in her belief in uplifting issues whenever influential government leaders listened.

At the beginning of 2018, Lanitta started her official role as a child/mother welfare consultant working alongside agencies and nonprofit organizations. In May of 2022, Lanitta Berry graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with her bachelor's degree in business administration and finance. Today she continues to advocate, advise, and lead in building a better world for her community.

Visit the Racial Equity Reflection Videos series page to learn more.