My name is Tiffany, and I was a teenage runaway. When I needed services to secure my safety and placement, I had access. Every positive outcome I have experienced is founded on this fundamental truth – sanctuary saves lives and prevents continued or worsening adverse experiences.
I was fortunate to have the care of a public-school teacher; Andrea C. Viggiano, was my Journalism teacher at Toms River High School South. She petitioned for custody when I ran away and 3 days before Christmas, I was able to go home with my Viggiano family.
The shelter made such an impression that I returned to college in 2010 with the goal of working there. I completed my A.A. at Ocean County College, magna cum laude, in 2013. Shortly thereafter, I began employment as a part-time residential counselor while continuing my degree at Stockon University. In 2014, I was promoted to full-time residential counselor, but in 2015 I had to step aside due to health issues. I returned to Stockton University and completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2019, magna cum laude. My major focus was Psychology with a minor specialization in Childhood Studies. My CAPSTONE final project, “Treatment effects for maltreated children and adolescents,” used 2015 data from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). I created and tested my own hypothesis using a two-way mixed ANOVA.
I continued to learn my life’s passion in 2022 at Montclair State University’s Child Advocacy and Policy M.A. program. I complete the two year program this June. As a member of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology and Alpha Epsilon Lambda, the Honor Society for Graduate Students, I take pride in my honesty and integrity. I plan to bring a new level of transparency to CLCL Foundation and fight to ensure that I am not the last youth given all these opportunities. Restoring emergency access and expanding prevention services is essential, but I hope more professionals, experts, lived experience parents or young people join me.
Only together will we ever have enough wisdom to get this right. There is consistent evidence illustrating what is effective – it is time we implemented solutions instead of making more problems to band aid later. Every child, young person, family, and individual has the capacity for change and self-growth. They have every right to access resources to help them do it. Let’s build those resources!!