Dave Taub is a role model, father, and advocate for parents' rights. He moves an entire room at speaking events with his personal and inspiring stories of beating the odds, the challenge of being a single dad, and the importance of being a great parent. Dave knows firsthand what it's like to have the state remove your child from your home. He knows because it happened to him.
 
In 2005, Child Protective Services removed his 3-year-old son, Colt, from his home and placed him in foster care. Dave, a single dad, had been abusing drugs for 27 years and was no longer able to care for him. Though traumatic for both father and son, it was the wake-up call Dave needed.

Dave immediately went into a drug treatment program, started attending parenting classes, and worked closely with his caseworker on what he needed to do to get his son back. And he did just that. At 6 months of sobriety and 11 months of being apart, Dave proved that he was ready to take on the challenge of parenting his young son again.

"Our biggest tool in creating change is to educate the parents on how the child welfare system functions," Dave says. "You see the light bulb come on."

During the process of navigating the child welfare system and identifying the resources he needed to get his life back on track, Dave realized there was an astounding lack of resources for fathers. Thus sparked Dave's interest in connecting parents, particularly dads, with the right resources needed not only to get your children back, but to be a better parent. Dave took up residence at Oxford House, a clean and sober living environment for men. At this time in Washington, there were housing facilities available for men, women, and women and their children. There was nothing available for men and their children.

"It became my passion to create living environments for dads and their kids because I wanted my son back," Dave said. "It was up to me – and only me – to raise him." Dave got involved with an outreach worker in Clark County and together, over 5 months, founded the first men's and children's house in the state. Today, there are 6 more houses like this within Oxford House's network.  

At this point, Dave realized he was fully committed not only to working with parents who were going through what he went through, but also advocating for systems change on a broader scale. He joined the Clark County DCFS Advisory Committee, a group consisting of key stakeholders in all areas of child welfare, including a representative from the Children's Administration, a lawyer, a social worker, a Court Appointed Special Advocate. Dave's role was to provide the parent's perspective. There were parts of the system that weren't working, and it was time for change.

Through the state's Parent Partner Program, Dave works closely with parents who have either lost their children or are in danger of losing them to Child Protective Services. Parent Partners are individuals who have gone through the system and have either reunited with their children or had their rights terminated. Because he has been in their shoes, people come to understand that they, too, can have a positive experience in working with the child welfare system and get their child back.

Most of the parents Dave works with have encountered a major personal trauma, whether they have lost their parental rights, experienced drug abuse, mental illness, or some degree of poverty. They are angry, in denial, and feel like all hope is lost. Dave and other veteran parents turn this anger into hope and work to direct parents to the right resources needed to become better parents and ultimately welcome their children back into their home. 

"Our biggest tool in creating change is to educate the parents on how the child welfare system functions," Dave says. "You see the light bulb come on. They understand what they need to do to get healthy and get their kids back. There's a belief in community that Child Protective Services is out to take your kids and not give them back, when in reality that's the last thing they want. CPS wants families to reunify when reunification is possible."
 
Currently, Dave serves as a member of the Washington State Parent Advocacy Committee, a statewide committee staffed by Catalyst for Kids that, brings together veteran parents and staff to advocate for the strengthening of the state child welfare system. He is actively involved with fathers groups in Clark County, leads a parenting class in Clark County, and volunteers with Children's Home Society of Washington's annual giving tree program in Vancouver, WA. He is also the Washington State Vice Chair for Oxford House. In his spare time, Dave and Colt (who is now 7) enjoy going to the zoo and playing football together.

"The day CPS took my kids was the worst day of my life, but I now look back at it as being the best thing that ever happened," says Dave. "I had to become a better parent. Being with my son is all that matters to me now." 

To get involved with Parent Advocacy Committees in your community. Contact Catalyst for Kids at (206) 695-3245 or 1-800-456-3339.