“Blessed is she who stands staunchly for what she believes. For she will have peace of mind.”
– Ina Potter, from the poem “Beatitudes of a Leader”
Allison Lake and Bob Fellmeth have both had tremendous careers as advocates working for children and families. In these interviews, they share advice for child advocates and Partnership network members across the country.
Allison Lake
In 2025, Allison retired from the Westchester Children’s Association after a 25-year career advocating for children and families, first as Deputy Director and then as Executive Director of this century-old organization. Allison’s legacy includes helping to gain children’s health insurance coverage in New York, improving the lives of children in foster care, and the successful passage of New York State’s “Raise the Age” law, ensuring youth under 18 are no longer prosecuted as adults.
What is a lesson you have taken away about what it takes to be a successful advocate?
“It’s all about relationships, right? That’s what advocacy is. It’s relationships. And so how you build new relationships, how you keep relationships even when you’re not in agreement, and how you then leverage the relationship to get what you want?
“We have this county system here in New York, and at times, you feel like it is a small town. So you can be sure that things you do well, people know, but things that maybe you didn’t do too well, people certainly know about that too. You want to, and you need to remain a respected organization, even when you’re sitting across and you’re not agreeing with someone trying to push for change.
“The relationship is what’s going to sustain and what is going to get you to the compromise because that’s what advocacy is. It is a compromise. Neither side is going to walk away 100 percent of what they want, but what’s the starting point? What’s a compromise? What can we begin to work on as we try to come closer to agreement on something else?”
What advice would you give your younger self, back when you were just starting out in your career?
“Not to be too cautious.
“I feel that probably earlier in my career, I was a little too cautious. Especially in this field of advocacy, where you really are fighting for change – and as we know, change of any level is difficult – because of what I learned later in life when I’m sitting across from decision-makers or elected officials. Did they respect me enough that I could have pushed a little harder? Yes. So that’s what I would say that it really is that balance of maintaining a relationship, maintaining the respect, but also don’t be so cautious, take more chances.”
These are difficult times to be an advocate for children. How do you stay focused on outcomes?
“Narrow a little bit so you’re not overwhelmed. I would say the first thing is to really prioritize during difficult times and hone in on one or two things with some good partners so that you can have some little wins along the way. Have the conversations to really think, who could be a partner, maybe that you’re not as familiar with. We always talk about in my office those “unusual suspects” that may, for this little piece, they may be with you. And so, trying to think a little broader than usual, I think, is helpful during these times.
“Do not make an assumption that because you can’t agree on everything, there isn’t a little piece that you can start with, and once you have some, then everybody feels a little more positive, and you move on to the next piece of it.”
While Allison has formally retired from WCA, she won’t be leaving children’s advocacy. Governor Kathy Hochul has appointed her to serve on the New York State Child Poverty Reduction Advisory Council, where she continues to shape policy that will benefit generations to come.
Bob Fellmeth
Bob Fellmeth is a tenured Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law, holder of the Price Chair in Public Interest Law, and former executive director of the Center for Public Interest Law and the Children’s Advocacy Institute. Over the past forty years, Bob has taught around 1,300 law students – many of whom have gone on to become leading child advocates in their own rights.
But he did not start out as a child advocate. During his time as a student at Harvard Law, Bob met a young lawyer named Ralph Nader. As one of the original “Nader’s Raiders,” Bob worked on Nader’s Report on the Federal Trade Commission. He went on to prosecute antitrust and white collar crime cases as a public prosecutor in California, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.
Bob’s focus on child advocacy began in 1989, when he founded the Children’s Advocacy Institute. He developed a Child Rights law school course that covers issues of policy influence, court access, poverty and opportunity, education, nutrition, disability, and other rights. His textbook Child Rights and Remedies is used in law schools around the country.
Are there any particular cases that have really stuck with you or with your students?
“As an example, the most recent one is we’re trying to fight the embezzlement of Social Security funds from foster children. You have survivor benefits, and you have disability benefits that are supposed to go to children. Very often in the Social Security system, what happens is if there is a foster child, believe it or not, the state agencies take the money and they use it for other purposes. They don’t give it to the children who are supposed to be the beneficiaries legally.
“They use it for all sorts of things, often unrelated to children, but certainly unrelated to the beneficiaries.
“So we brought a case and we’re winning it right now in San Diego, and we’ve won it in other states. Our organization is statewide here in California, and also national. Our national director is Amy Harfeld, a brilliant lady, experienced attorney. She’s been very successful in getting the law changed in seven states so far because we’re doing this nationally, state by state, to end the embezzlement and make sure this money goes to the foster children who are supposed to receive it.”
What advice do you have for the next leaders of Child Advocacy Institute, future leaders of other child advocacy organizations?
“Well, you’ve got to work hard to make sure that decisions are being made politically by the state and other governmental entities based on long-term future interests. You’ve got to think about what’s going to be the impact in terms of 50 years or 100 years from now. That should be your focus.”
“The most ethical thing you can do is to make sure that diffuse future interests are taken care of. I mean, do you care about the future? That’s what you’re going to leave behind. That’s going to be your legacy. Your legacy should be everything to you. That should be the focus of everything you want to do. What am I going to leave behind? And that’s why I started CAI, and it’s doing a good job. I would say so. I would absolutely say so.”
Even as he plans for retirement, Bob’s career and impact for children and families continue to develop. His most recent project is the Child Advocacy Exchange. This joint project between the Children’s Advocacy Institute and the Partnership for America’s Children provides a comprehensive database of effective, evidence-based model legislation from states around the US who have leveraged public policy effectively to improve the lives of children and families.
“We have empirical evidence which indicates that some states are much better than others in their laws. The idea is to have your state replicate the best laws of the other states,” says Bob.
“I think it’s the most important thing I’ve ever done.”
Many thanks to Allison Lake and Bob Fellmeth for generously sharing their expertise and insights for this blog.