April McWilliams serves as a foster care advocate, speaker, and educator on topics of child welfare, behavioral health, and youth engagement. Her mission is to facilitate learning opportunities on how to incorporate youth into policy development. "Not About Us Without Us"... her passion stems from personal experience of aging out of foster care having been in 4 different placements and 4 high schools. Undeterred by being a year behind and on juvenile probation, April was able to graduate high school at the age of 17 and eventually graduate with a degree in Social Work from the University of Texas at El Paso. Becoming a Mother during this time presented an additional motivation to become part of the less than 3% of youth in the nation to graduate college after aging out of foster care, an achievement that makes her especially proud.

 

April became employed with Child Protective Services at age 20 where she served as a youth specialist working with teens and a family-based caseworker for over 10 years. April also gained experience in investigations and family meetings during her tenure and in 2015, was awarded the DFPS Shining Star for consistently going above and beyond in her work with families in San Antonio.  

April's advocacy efforts has earned her a seat at the table with organizations outside of the Department such as CASA and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to inform and facilitate ongoing action plans in foster care redesign, prevention, self-advocacy, substance abuse, and strategic sharing. April loves working with young people and affirming their experiences because #OurVoicesMatter. April is passionate about getting youth voice to a legislative level to affect systematic change as she was able to do when she took part in the creation of the Texas Blueprint with the Children's Commission and spoke at the Supreme Court of Texas on transforming educational outcomes. April testified in a hearing for SB 830 to implement an independent ombudsman for children and youth in care, likewise protecting them from retaliation for voicing their concerns. April further aspires to serve as a consultant to agencies that serve youth to ensure that their voice is heard and elevated as such so that they are engaged in their own case planning.

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An El Paso, TX native and devoted Mother of 2, April is able to relate to audiences with a message of perseverance and having a vision past their circumstances.