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Kay Ekstrom Founder
Kay Ekstrom is the Founder of Christian Family Care Agency, a private, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) social services agency that provides foster care, child and family counseling, pregnancy counseling, and adoption programs focused on meeting the needs of children and families.
Prior to founding the Agency, Kay was the Executive Director of the Arizona Foundation for Children, an advocacy organization focused on the specific needs of children. In this role, she actively lobbied the Arizona State Legislature and other state agencies on a variety of children's issues. She also authored, "On Behalf of Arizona's Children," a landmark book that identifies critical areas of need in the provision of services to children.
A tireless advocate, Kay successfully lobbied for ground-breaking legislation that includes mandatory pre- and in-service training for foster parents, adoption subsidy provisions, child abuse reporting laws, ratification of the interstate compact for the placement of children, creation of foster care review boards, licensing of adoption agencies and the adoption consent law. Kay’s passion for children stems from her own experiences as a foster and adoptive parent. She first worked with the Evangelical Child and Family Agency in Chicago, where she and her husband Chuck were foster parents to children of all ages. She chaired the Agency’s Auxiliary and also served on their Board of Directors. When she moved to Phoenix in 1971, she and her husband again became foster parents, this time through the Department of Economic Security. Frustrated with the level of service provided to foster children, Kay formed the Arizona Committee of National Action for Foster Children (NAFC) and began lobbying on behalf of children’s issues. In 1974, as a NAFC consultant, she assisted with development and issue identification in California, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, Utah, Washington and in the Native American community in Arizona.
Kay is a founding member of the National Association of Christian Child and Family Agencies and served as the Association’s first chairperson. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Children’s Action Alliance and serves on the Child Welfare Committee. Kay is an advisory committee member to the Executive Director of the Child Welfare League of America and has served as co-chair of the Western Steering Committee and as a member of the National Advisory Committee on Adoption. She also was a member of the National Task Force on Foster Care. For many years, Kay chaired the Alliance of Agencies for Adoption and Foster Care. She has also participated on the City of Phoenix Human Relations Committee and the Arizona Committee on Juvenile Courts.
Kay has been repeatedly honoured for her compassionate work with children, and recently was a Jewell Award nominee and, a recipient of The Congressional Angels in Adoption Award, an honor given by Members of Congress to those who have demonstrated a commitment to improving the lives of children through adoption.
In 2004, Kay published "Of Such is the Kingdom - God's Legacy of Love", the history of Christian Family Care Agency.
Kay and her husband Chuck reside in Phoenix, Arizona. They have four daughters, three sons, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
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