Meet the Founder

About Darcy

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. These children needed an advocate for their rights* an organization to work on their behalf. When Darcy couldn’t find one. She built it.

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.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident — that all are created equal. That has to include children. But in courtroom after courtroom, I’ve watched our laws give predators more rights than the children they prey on. America promises better.” – Darcy Olsen

The story so far…

What began with one “yes” to fostering a baby from the NICU became a lifelong mission — she has fostered 10 children and adopted four, all as a single mother.
Up close, she witnessed failure upon failure: children standing alone in courtrooms, years lost in foster care, and some who did not survive. That heartbreak compelled her to found the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, to establish the protections these children had been denied.
She has helped more than 1,000,000 children nationwide through major legal reforms and pro bono advocacy.
Author of The Right to Try, which became the blueprint for a national movement and landmark federal law.
A trusted expert and nationally recognized speaker, she speaks candidly about abuse, foster care, and rewriting the rules of child protection for the 21st century — from Harvard Law School to Congress.
Featured on PBS Stories from the Stage and PBS News Weekend, C-SPAN’s After Words, and NPR, with published commentary in USA Today.
Honored with the Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, named an Angel in Adoption by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, and recognized with the Norman Borlaug Humanitarian Award.

“Adoption is the best decision I didn’t make” – Darcy Olsen

Award-Winning Leadership

Darcy’s resolve doesn’t waver when the work gets hard, and the work is almost always hard. She built the Center from her kitchen table, convinced that abused and neglected children deserved better treatment, better laws, better odds. More than a million children later, she leads with a deep belief that America can do right by its children — and the know-how to help make it happen.