Kristen Weber

Kristen Weber, J.D., is Senior Director of Child Welfare at the National Center for Youth Law where she leads NCYL’s efforts to transform child welfare systems so that children and youth are safer and can heal and thrive in their families and communities. Weber began her career by providing direct legal services to children and youth in foster care at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco. She also worked on federal class action litigation cases both as a Skadden Fellow at NCYL and on court monitoring teams at the Center for the Study of Social Policy. The predominant focus of her career has been on addressing racial and social inequities in the child welfare system. Previous to coming to NCYL, Weber designed and led a multi-year, multi-jurisdiction qualitative review project, known as the Institutional Analysis, to analyze laws, policies, and practices that contribute to poor outcomes for populations involved with child welfare systems. She has conducted reviews and written accompanying papers about child welfare system contributors to racial disproportionality and disparities in achieving permanency experienced by Black and Latine children, youth, and families; systems’ responses to survivors of intimate partner violence and their children; and system contributors to the lack of safety and affirmation experienced by LGBTQ+ youth and families. She has provided technical assistance to communities and child welfare systems working to be anti-racist and supported innovations as part of federal quality improvement centers. Weber helped launch the upend movement and continues to collaborate with youth, parents, advocates, policymakers, and researchers to push the child welfare field to reimagine care and support for families and build supports that ensure racial and social justice. Weber is a graduate of Berkeley School of Law and Yale University.