A win for her community: NM child welfare advocate wins national award

Jan. 30—When asked at age 10 what she wanted to be when she grew up, Veronica Krupnick said she wanted to work at Sonic.

"I wanted to use the rollerblades," she said. "That was my biggest dream."

Now 28, Krupnick is a career advocate, role model and mentor for children and youths involved in the child welfare system. She was recently recognized for her work by Casey Excellence for Children Awards, taking home its 2024 Alumni award.

The Casey Excellence for Children Awards are an annual, national recognition of the accomplishments of leaders who are working to safely reduce the need for foster care.

"In my world, it's kind of like winning a Grammy. That's how I feel," Krupnick said, laughing.

The awards also focus on those who have lived through the child protection system, as Krupnick has. But the impact of the award was even greater. She is the first person from a Native American, Indigenous community to win the award.

An enrolled member in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona, with Diné and Jemez Pueblo lineage, Krupnick entered the state foster care system at age 6. Over the next four years, she was placed in seven different foster homes. At 10, she was adopted by a nontribal family.

Krupnick said her adoptive parents did "the best they knew how" to keep her tribal connections alive, but she often found herself feeling disconnected from her Native identity.

"I did occasionally do visits to reservations and to powwows," she said, "but powwows are not something that are traditional for my tribe."

In addition, Krupnick also called the experience in foster care "isolating and lonely," often wondering if her biological family loved her or why she was put up for adoption in the first place.

As she grew older, Krupnick called upon her experiences in foster care, separated from her tribal traditions, and decided to use that to try to improve the system in which she grew up.

"When young people get connected to a purpose or a drive, it really opens doors for them," she said, "and I think it's really essential because a lot of young people in the foster care system lose hope very quickly."

Krupnick earned a bachelor of arts degree in public health from Fort Lewis College in 2017 and began working for Casey Family Programs in 2019.

After a year of working with the Casey Family Program, Krupnick moved to CASA First in 2018 to become its membership, advocacy and peer support program coordinator. During this time, she also worked on a contract basis with Tewa Women United as a lead community facilitator for the tribal youth program.

In these positions, Krupnick said she was able to connect with foster care kids that were in a similar positions she had been in as a child.

"I'm a huge believer in peer mentorship and peer navigation of systems," she said. "One of the biggest things I've noticed when I was working directly with people was there were questions I was able to ask that they didn't feel comfortable asking."

Questions such as how to navigate visiting homes or how to communicate with biological family members. "I think it's important for young people to have that safety net to be able to ask those hard questions," Krupnick said.

Her shared experience also provides these children with a sounding board to talk about their wide range of emotions on topics like returning home, coming to terms with being in the foster care system and feelings toward biological parents and family.

"When the question is, 'Who loves me?', and I think that's what it comes down to," she said, "that internal struggle is so deep and honestly kind of devastating."

While Krupnick acknowledged she didn't always have the answer to that and many other questions, she often reminded those she worked with that everyone's experience is unique and emphasized with them when possible not to bottle up their emotions and develop negative behavioral patterns.

In January 2023, Krupnick took a step back from direct service work with children and joined the New Mexico House of Representatives as a member of the legislative session staff. Since then, she has moved to a majority leadership analyst position — she works alongside the House majority whip and the House majority floor leader and focuses on child and family welfare.

She was also instrumental in the fight to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act last year. Krupnick testified on one of the briefs that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Outside her work in the Legislature, Krupnick makes time for some informal mentorship with youths. These interactions also offer the opportunity to hear the dreams, goals and concerns of the children and for Krupnick to take them to legislative leadership.

A few of those she has mentored have even started on their own path in advocacy, some even going on international trips, according to Krupnick. Reflecting upon her own mentors , Krupnick said she hopes to inspire and provide the same opportunities to those she's taken under her wing — and maybe even starting the career of a future Casey Family Programs' award winner.

But when asked what she hopes this award inspires in Indigenous youths, Krupnick said she hopes they see themselves in her and realize they have the power to dream big.

"We can't be what we can't see," she said. "I had purpose from my community, and I hope that when they see this, they see themselves reflected in (me) and that can positively influence the vision that they have for their futures."