Betsy Fordyce

Betsy Fordyce is an adjunct professor for the Child Advocacy Practicum. She has spent her career advocating for and with children, youth, and families in the child welfare, juvenile justice, education, and homelessness arenas. Through her consulting company, Upstream Shifts, she works to strengthen the capacity of nonprofit organizations, government agencies, community coalitions, and individual practitioners to address system challenges and better meet the needs of young people. 

Betsy has worn numerous advocacy hats over the years, most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Children’s Law Center. She has previously served as an adult ally for a youth-led organizing initiative for youth in foster care, provided direct legal representation as a guardian ad litem in Colorado dependency & neglect and delinquency cases, engaged in teaching and training, and advocated in legislative and policy spaces. She initially began her legal career as a law clerk for Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey of the Colorado Supreme Court. 

Betsy received her law degree from Villanova University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame. She discovered her passion for child/youth advocacy during law school as a Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Summer Fellow.