Darcy’s story

Darcy Olsen thought she was stepping in to help a teenager. Then a social worker asked if she could take a newborn instead. That one “yes” opened a door she couldn’t close. 

What Darcy witnessed next reshaped her life: courts that silenced children, children placed in danger, children shuffled from home to home. She saw a legal system that treated children as second-class—unheard, unprotected, and too often left in harm’s way. She knew children needed an organization devoted to securing their constitutional rights. So, she built one.

The Center for the Rights of Abused Children has helped over 1,000,000 children through reforms it has pioneered and shaped. Landmark initiatives have stopped agencies from taking abused and orphaned children’s veterans and disability benefits, guaranteed children their own attorneys, prevented children from going missing and triggered urgent searches when they do, recognized the bonds children form with foster families, and helped many children find permanent homes instead of aging out.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has honored Darcy with its Adoption Excellence Award, and she was named an Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. The Center’s sweeping impact also earned the Norman Borlaug Humanitarian Award. Darcy is especially grateful for the support of her local community, which has recognized her as Arizona’s Leader of the Year in Public Policy and Arizona’s Best Non-Profit Leader.

Darcy got her start in public policy at the Cato Institute, where she founded its Center for Education Policy. A veteran strategist with a history of turning bold ideas into law, she spent 16 years as CEO of the Goldwater Institute. There, she wrote The Right to Try, the book that served as the blueprint for a national movement and landmark federal law. She also spearheaded the creation of the nation’s first universal K–12 education savings accounts, opening new opportunities for millions of families.

She has fostered ten children and adopted 4 — all as a single mom.

Darcy is a trusted advisor to policymakers and administrations across the country. She speaks candidly and widely about children in crisis and how to fix what’s broken, from Harvard Law School to Congress. She holds degrees from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and New York University.

She and her children share their home with Otter, the rescue dog, and Fifi, the rescue cat. Darcy loves hot yoga, although there’s a 50-50 chance you’ll find her asleep on her mat.