Women’s History Month: The Women Whose Courage Still Protects Children Today

March invites us to honor the courage, compassion and perseverance of women throughout history. During Women’s History Month, we celebrate the trailblazers who reshaped systems, challenged injustice and reimagined what was possible for children and families.

In the world of Child Welfare, many of the women who transformed the system were not only advocates, but they were also “mothers of a movement”. Their work laid the foundation for how we protect, uplift and serve our most vulnerable children today.

 

Jane Addams

Community as Care

A pioneer of social reform, Jane Addams co-founded Hull House in Chicago in 1889. Hull House became a sanctuary for immigrant families, offering childcare, education, and support services at a time when few services and systems existed to protect children.

Addams believed that child welfare could not be separated from family well-being. Her advocacy helped shape juvenile court systems and child labor laws, emphasizing that children deserved protection, dignity, and opportunity- not punishment.

Her legacy reminds us that true child welfare begins in strong, supported and supportive communities.

 

Mary Ellen Wilson

The Child Who Sparked a Movement

Mary Ellen Wilson was not a reformer herself, but her story ignited one of the earliest child protection movements in the United States. In 1874, her severe abuse case led to public outrage and ultimately to the formation of the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children which was the first child protection agency in the world.

Women advocates played a crucial role in bringing her case to light, proving that when women raise their voices together, systems change.

 

Grace Abbott

Federal Protections for Children

Grace Abbott was a fierce advocate for immigrant and working children. As head of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, she fought to end child labor and ensure federal responsibility for children’s welfare.

Her leadership helped establish policies recognizing that protecting children is not optional, it is a national responsibility. Her work strengthened the belief that every child deserves safety, education, and opportunity regardless of background.

 

Marian Wright Edelman

 A Voice for the Voiceless

Founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman has dedicated her life to advocating for children living in poverty, in foster care, and on the margins of society.

Her leadership reframed child welfare as a moral issue one rooted in justice, equity, and love. She reminds us that policy must reflect compassion, and that children cannot lobby for themselves so adults must stand in the gap.

 

Mothers of the Modern Movement 

Beyond national figures, countless women: foster mothers, CASA volunteers, social workers, attorneys, judges, biological mothers fighting for reunification, continue to shape child welfare every day.

They show up to court hearings.

They visit children in placements.

They advocate in classrooms.

They mentor teenagers aging out of care.

They sit with families in their hardest moments and help them find their way forward.

These women may not have statues or headlines, but their impact is generational.

 

Honoring the legacy

Women’s History Month is not only about remembering the past, it is about continuing the work.

The women who transformed child welfare understood something powerful:

Children thrive when families are supported.

Families thrive when communities care.

Communities thrive when women lead.

As we honor the mothers of the movement, may we also recognize the women serving today. The ones carrying files, making home visits, advocating in courtrooms, and loving children fiercely through uncertainty.

 

Final Words

As you read this and move through your day whether it be visiting with your CASA kids, sitting in courtrooms, making phone calls, showing up again and again there may be moments when you feel unseen. Moments when the system feels heavy. Moments when you wonder if you are making even the smallest dent.

But hear this clearly:

You are.

The work you are doing is not small. It is not ordinary. It is not invisible.

It is history in the making.

History in the making for our community because every child who is heard changes the story we tell about who matters.

History in the making for families because every act of advocacy creates space for healing, restoration, and possibility.

And history in the making for a child, one child, who simply needed someone to stand in the gap and say, “You are not forgotten. Your voice matters here.”

Movements are not only built in headlines or grand speeches. They are built in quiet visits. In consistent presence. In the courage to speak when it would be easier to stay silent.

So, if today feels ordinary, remember this:

Ordinary faithfulness creates extraordinary change.

You may not always see the ripple.

You may not always hear the thank you.

But long after the case closes and the paperwork is filed, your presence will echo in that child’s story.

And that is legacy.

 

Respectfully Submitted by Maria Pena, Bilingual CASA Case Supervisor