Since 2006, Regina has been a board member of the award winning You Gotta Believe (YGB), the older foster children adoption agency. Founded in 1996 by Executive Director Pat O’Brien, YGB successfully gets older foster children adopted into forever homes.

Every year in the United States at least 40,000 foster children age out of care at ages 18 or 21 to no one but themselves, thus exposing them to the perils of homelessness, incarceration or worse. Studies have shown that a substantial amount of America’s homeless and incarcerated populations are former foster children. Rather than merely preparing foster children to live independently and parentless at ages 18 or 21, YGB works to find these children forever homes. Last year in the City of New York alone over 50 older foster children were adopted through YGB’s efforts.

Regina’s advocacy for YGB rises from her own challenging experiences when she aged out parentless from the foster care system in Suffolk County, New York. Since joining YGB’s Board, Regina has worked to raise awareness of the perils foster children face if they age out parentless and the need to get these youth adopted into permanent homes. She uses her own experiences combined with more contemporary experiences of YGB foster youth to highlight the challenges foster children will face if not adopted.

Her passion for YGB and its mission resulted in invitations to speak at the World Forum on Children 2010 (UN affiliated); the Child Welfare League of American Annual Conference 2011 and many other organizations including local Rotary Clubs on Long Island. She continues to accept invitations to speak about YGB and its mission via the Contact page.