Sarah LaTourette: A Powerful Voice for Ohio’s Children and Families
Spotlight Of The Month
Sarah LaTourette has built a career around one central purpose: making sure that children, young people and families have a stronger voice in the systems designed to serve them.
From the Ohio Statehouse to the Governor’s Office and now the Ohio Children’s Alliance, LaTourette has worked across government, legislation, policy and child-serving organizations to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families.
Her career demonstrates an important lesson in child protection: advocacy is not limited to responding when a child is already in danger. It also means changing the systems, policies and practices that determine whether children receive the support they need in the first place.
From Public Service to Child Advocacy
LaTourette previously served as an Ohio State Representative for the 76th House District from 2015 to 2019, representing communities that included most of Geauga and northern Portage Counties.
During her time in the Ohio General Assembly, she became particularly involved in issues affecting children and young people whose needs cross multiple public systems.
One of her notable accomplishments was her leadership in creating and co-chairing the Joint Committee on Multi-System Youth.
The committee focused attention on young people whose needs could not be adequately addressed by a single system. These children and young people may interact with multiple services, including child welfare, behavioural health, education and other public agencies.
LaTourette’s involvement demonstrated an understanding that vulnerable children often need coordinated support rather than disconnected services. (Ohio Children’s Alliance)
Championing Young People With Complex Needs
Some children face circumstances that make navigating public services particularly difficult.
A young person may need educational support while also receiving behavioural-health services or being involved with the child-welfare system. When agencies operate independently, families can find themselves having to navigate complicated systems while trying to obtain help for their children.
LaTourette’s work on multi-system youth brought attention to this challenge.
Her advocacy reflects a child-centred approach in which systems are expected to work together around the needs of the child—not simply operate within their individual organisational boundaries.
This principle remains highly relevant to modern child safeguarding.
Serving in the Governor’s Administration
After her time in the legislature, LaTourette became Ohio Family and Children First Director in Governor Mike DeWine’s administration.
In that position, she oversaw county Family and Children First collaborations and statewide initiatives involving multi-system youth.
According to the Ohio Children’s Alliance, she also led successful family-focused policy initiatives during her time in the Governor’s administration. (Ohio Children’s Alliance)
Her move from the legislature into the executive branch gave her another opportunity to influence how policies and programmes affecting children and families were implemented.
This combination of legislative and administrative experience has become an important part of her professional contribution to Ohio’s child and family system.
Becoming Chief Advocacy Officer
In March 2021, the Ohio Children’s Alliance announced that LaTourette would become its first Chief Advocacy Officer.
In this role, she oversees advocacy and member services for the statewide child advocacy organisation.
The organisation describes itself as Ohio’s first statewide child advocacy organisation, established in 1973 to advocate for children and improve the quality of services available to them.
Today, LaTourette remains listed as the organisation’s Chief Advocacy Officer.
Her role places her at the intersection of policy, government relations, child welfare and family services.
Turning Advocacy Into Policy
Advocacy can sometimes be misunderstood as simply speaking on behalf of vulnerable people.
LaTourette’s career illustrates a broader definition.
Effective advocacy can involve:
- identifying gaps in services;
- bringing policymakers and service providers together;
- influencing legislation;
- advocating for appropriate funding;
- strengthening systems of care;
- ensuring families have access to services;
- using evidence to inform policy; and
- ensuring the experiences of children, families and service providers are represented in decision-making.
The Ohio Children’s Alliance describes its advocacy work as influencing policies, investments and decisions affecting children, families and communities throughout Ohio. It works with policymakers, state agencies, community organisations and other stakeholders to strengthen systems of care.
LaTourette’s position within that organisation gives her an important platform for this work.
Advocacy for Children Beyond the Headlines
Child protection often receives public attention when a serious abuse case occurs.
But much of the work required to protect children happens long before a crisis becomes a headline.
It involves strengthening families.
It involves improving access to behavioural-health services.
It involves ensuring children in foster care have stable placements.
It involves supporting young people transitioning into adulthood.
It involves helping professionals who work directly with children develop better practices.
These are areas that the Ohio Children’s Alliance identifies among its priorities, including behavioural health and well-being, foster and kinship placement stability, and youth transitions to adulthood.
LaTourette’s advocacy role connects directly to this wider systems-based approach.
A Voice for Multi-System Youth
One of the strongest themes throughout LaTourette’s career is her attention to multi-system youth.
These are young people whose needs may span several areas of government and social services.
Rather than expecting a child or family to navigate each system independently, a coordinated approach seeks to bring services together.
This is particularly important for children experiencing complex circumstances.
A fragmented system can leave families repeating their stories, dealing with multiple agencies and struggling to understand where to turn.
A coordinated system can instead provide a more connected pathway of support.
LaTourette’s previous leadership in the Joint Committee on Multi-System Youth and her subsequent work with Ohio Family and Children First demonstrate her sustained involvement in this area.
Recognition for Her Work
LaTourette’s contributions to children and families have received several forms of recognition.
The Ohio Children’s Alliance reports that she has received:
The Public Children Services Association of Ohio’s Gayle Channing Tenenbaum Legislator of the Year Award
The Ohio Alliance of Boys and Girls Clubs Legislative Champion Award
The Ohio Children’s Trust Fund Everyday Ohio Hero Award
These recognitions reflect the impact of her work in public policy and child- and family-focused advocacy.
Why Sarah LaTourette’s Work Matters
LaTourette’s career is significant because it demonstrates that child protection requires more than one profession or institution.
Social workers are essential.
Teachers are essential.
Parents and caregivers are essential.
Health professionals are essential.
Law enforcement and the justice system have important roles.
But policy also matters.
The decisions made in government and the policies adopted by public agencies can determine whether children receive timely support, whether families can access services and whether vulnerable young people fall through gaps between systems.
LaTourette has worked in several of these spaces.
She has served as a legislator.
She has worked within the Governor’s administration.
She has led statewide advocacy.
And she has continued working to bring attention to the needs of children and families.
A Career Built on Collaboration
The philosophy behind LaTourette’s work aligns closely with the broader direction of the Ohio Children’s Alliance.
The organisation emphasises collaboration among community organisations, policymakers, families and young people, recognising that complex challenges require collective solutions. (Ohio Children’s Alliance)
This is especially important in child protection.
No single organisation can meet every need of a vulnerable child.
Protective systems become stronger when organisations communicate, share knowledge and work toward a common objective.
For LaTourette, advocacy has therefore been more than a professional responsibility. It has been a way of connecting people, policy and resources around the needs of children.
An Advocate for a Stronger Future
Sarah LaTourette’s story is ultimately a story about using public service as a tool for child and family advocacy.
From her legislative work to her leadership on multi-system youth, from her role in the Governor’s administration to her current position with the Ohio Children’s Alliance, she has consistently worked in spaces where decisions affecting children and families are made.
Her career offers an important message for child-protection advocates everywhere:
Protecting children means giving them a voice in the systems that serve them—and giving families the support they need to keep children safe and help them thrive.
Sarah LaTourette’s contribution to Ohio is a reminder that lasting change does not happen only when we respond to harm.
It also happens when committed advocates work to change policies, strengthen systems, connect services and make the wellbeing of children a priority in decision-making.
Summary
Sarah LaTourette represents a powerful model of child-centred advocacy through public service and policy leadership.
Her work demonstrates that safeguarding is not simply about reacting to abuse or neglect. It is also about building systems that recognise children’s needs, listen to families, address vulnerabilities early and ensure that young people—especially those with complex needs—do not become lost between institutions.
When systems work together, children have a better chance to thrive.
