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Nicholas Alahverdian
Alahverdian with Vice President Mike Pence
Born	(1987-07-11) July 11, 1987 (age 37) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Occupation	Author Political scientist
Alma mater	Harvard University
Period	2002–present
Genre	Memoir Biography
Website
www.nicholasalahverdian.com

Nicholas Alahverdian is an author, political scientist, and whistleblower who exposed widespread abuse and negligence in the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families while he was an employee of the Rhode Island House of Representatives. His disclosures revealed that children in state care were shuffled from night-to-night shelters, denied an education, and were routinely placed in treatment facilities that violated state and federal law both in-state and out-of-state. Alahverdian later attended Harvard University.

Alahverdian has also worked as a lobbyist and advocate, managed political campaigns, written op-eds for The Providence Journal, and had cameo roles in Brotherhood and Underdog.

In an Associated Press article about foster care by Associated Press investigative reporter David Klepper that appeared in over 100 newspapers, Alahverdian disclosed that Rhode Island had been spending millions of dollars on sending children out of Rhode Island.

Alahverdian was hired as a Rhode Island House of Representatives page and legislative aide aged 14 at the same time he was an orphan in the custody of the Department of Children, Youth and Families. While attending Harvard full-time, Alahverdian also lobbied for DCYF reform, often supplanting extra-curricular activities with traveling to Providence to testify at hearings at the Rhode Island State House.

Early life and political beginnings

In April 2002, Alahverdian attended a special hearing of the Cranston City Council and addressed over 900 taxpayers upset over a threat of state control of the city’s financial department and budget deficits. Alahverdian noted that the first-term mayor John O'Leary was being blamed for the city deficit, and not the past mayoral administrations. In an interview published in The Providence Journal, reporter Mark Arsenault wrote: “Alahverdian said, “We have a great City Council and I oppose a state takeover.” O’Leary, he said, cares deeply for the community. He was unfazed by the crowd’s rough reception. He said, “I stand up for what I feel.” As did everyone.”

Alahverdian was offered jobs with the city and the state following his speaking up at the City Council meeting where he was publicly supported by Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island AFL–CIO President George Nee and others. After a short time lobbying for increased state aid to local schools, Alahverdian was ultimately hired by Reps. Gordon Fox, Bea Lanzi, Joanne Giannini, and David Cicilline (who later went on to become a congressman) as a page and then as a legislative aide.

Shortly after his hiring, Alahverdian became an orphan after his mother had a nervous breakdown. He was placed in shelters and group homes in what was called the DCYF “night-to-night” program.

In Rhode Island, at the time, the standard practice was to be transferred from the DCYF building during the day to a shelter where the child would spend the night. During his stays in these facilities, Alahverdian was abused and neglected by his peers and employees of the shelters. Since he was still a state employee working with members of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, he was able to inform lawmakers of the attacks.

Alahverdian resigned his position as a legislative aide in 2003 and became a lobbyist to advocate for DCYF reform and continue his whistleblowing efforts. A state representative approached Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah and offered to adopt Alahverdian. This was revealed in a September 2012 interview when a former state rep called in to The Buddy Cianci Show on Newstalk 630 WPRO and reported that he was one of the lawmakers who witnessed the abuse in the shelters and offered to adopt Alahverdian. He said he saw Alahverdian testify before multiple legislative committees and commissions on DCYF issues.

None of the legislators or inquiring members of the press were told Alahverdian was sent to Nebraska and then on to Florida, and his communication with the outside world was restricted. Both placements were closed by their respective states for significant abuse both before, during, and after Alahverdian was admitted.

Providence Journal columnist Bob Kerr wrote of Alahverdian's time in the night-to-night program as such: "He was put in night-to-night placement by the Department of Children, Youth and Families, a practice so hideously abusive and stifling that it would seem better fit to a Charles Dickens novel than to 21st century Rhode Island." Kerr also wrote that " has always suspected that he was sent out of state because he was so outspoken about the horrors of night-to-night placement. He had been a page and an aide at the Rhode Island State House before his exile, and he was not reluctant to point out the hard lessons learned from his DCYF experience."

Work as a Lobbyist

Along with Pawtucket Police Captain and State Rep. and current East Providence Mayor Roberto DaSilva and other legislators, Alahverdian had a press conference in March 2011 to reveal an unprecedented bipartisan legislative plan to spark reform at DCYF. Rep. DaSilva’s bill would have kept Rhode Island children in Rhode Island group homes as opposed to sending them far from home.

National political truth researchers PolitiFact cited Alahverdian's battle with the DCYF and wrote an article claiming DaSilva's declaration that the DCYF was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars was "mostly true" -- because the state had actually been spending millions on-of-state placements. DaSilva said he was moved by Alahverdian's story. The article went on to say

Alahverdian says he endured years of abuse and neglect in two out-of-state residential facilities where he was sent by DCYF. He has formed his own nonprofit organization to advocate for children in DCYF care. He has also filed state and federal lawsuits stemming from his alleged mistreatment.

Alahverdian was also responsible for other legislation. This included a resolution introduced by State Rep. Arthur Handy (creating an emergency oversight commission on DCYF) and a bill introduced by Rep. Michael Marcello that would guarantee the constitutional rights of children and adolescents in DCYF care

Alahverdian told NBC News that he was "subjected to torture, beatings, and assault". He also explained that he was refused to contact anyone at all, including the courts, his social worker, or his lawyer until his 18th birthday. "These facilities are dangerous. My question to Rhode Island, 'Why are we paying for them?". Among other causes, he promoted the passage of social justice legislation. Alahverdian fused abuse data and budget analyses with his own experience in DCYF custody to inform the Rhode Island legislature of what taxpayers were funding.

DaSilva’s bill banned the use of treatment facilities outside the state of Rhode Island unless the Family Court made a finding that the services could not be offered in Rhode Island.

As recent as the 2000s, Rhode Island was removing children from their families at twice the national average.

Alahverdian took action against Governor Lincoln Chafee’s appointment to the position of Child Advocate, Regina Gibb, for being a former DCYF employee. Alahverdian testified before a Senate committee that if she felt strongly about child abuse and protecting children, she would have started doing so at DCYF.

Alahverdian persuaded the House Judiciary Committee to consider the abuse and negligence that occurred under Judge Jeremiah's reign. The bill, if passed, would have given the emeritus Family Court Chief a special “emeritus judge license plate." Alahverdian, quoted in The Providence Journal, stated it was “against the best interests of the state.”

Rep. DaSilva introduced the bill to bar out-of-state placements once again in 2012.

In April 2012 Bob Kerr, longtime columnist of The Providence Journal, claimed that “regardless of what happens in federal court or at the State House, Alahverdian has left his mark. Night-to-night placement has been ended forever. And Manatee Palms, the Florida facility where Alahverdian experienced so much abuse, is no longer used by DCYF. Alahverdian, I have to believe, had something to do with those changes.”

Lawsuit

Alahverdian sued the DCYF, former Rhode Island governor Donald Carcieri, the states of Nebraska, and Florida, the group homes, and others because of the part they played in allowing the documented, serious abuse in the Rhode Island, Nebraska, and Florida treatment centers to go on without investigation. When Alahverdian attempted to enter a state courthouse to obtain documents for his federal lawsuit, he was prevented from accessing the court clerk's office and allegedly assaulted by a courthouse deputy which was witnessed by several people, as reported by CBS affiliate WPRI-12. The witness, according to WPRI 12, stated that "“I saw the officer’s elbow and forearm pull back and then quickly thrust forward causing him (Alahverdian) to cry out."

The Boston Globe reported that U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell called the first hearing with the parties in the case in June 2011.

CBS News affiliate WPRI and The Providence Journal reported that Alahverdian was supported by two State Representatives, Doreen Costa and Michael Chippendale, when the State of Rhode Island sent Alahverdian a bill $207,000.00 for medical care he received while in DCYF foster care. The Executive Office for Health and Human Services sent Alahverdian through his attorney a letter claiming Alahverdian owed the state money if a settlement agreement with the state defendants was reached.

Rep. Costa and Rep. Chippendale held a press conference to express their infuriation with the DCYF and support for Alahverdian. Rep. Costa went on to say that the state should be ashamed for “sending a foster kid a bill.” Costa and Chippendale also announced legislative initiatives to prevent what happened to Alahverdian from happening to other foster care alumni in the future.

In October 2012, Alahverdian gave an in-depth interview to the Rhode Island PBS Viewpoint program where he was joined by musician, journalist, and advocate Rudy Cheeks of The Providence Phoenix. Cheeks compared Alahverdian's living under the DCYF foster care system to living in the Soviet Union because Alahverdian was unable to speak out, obtain a formal education, or contact the state legislators for whom he once worked while he was sent to Nebraska and Florida.

Aftermath

In May 2011, State Rep. Rene Menard introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives honoring Alahverdian for "fighting for the rights and privileges of children and adolescents in state care", being "an outspoken advocate for abandoned, abused, and neglected children", and doing his utmost for the "protection of rights for youth in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

In August 2013, the federal case was settled. Settlement details with the private corporations that own the facilities were not disclosed.

Alahverdian has discussed the Trust set up by the federal court in an interview with WPRO (AM)’s Steve Klamkin. CBS News affiliate WPRI 12 reported that The Nicholas Edward Alahverdian Trust was approved by Judge John J. McConnell and that an abuse hotline, academic scholarship, and drop-in center will be established in his name. WPRI also reported that Alahverdian settled with the state in exchange for the state waiving a $206,918 lien against him for medical care he received while in state care.

On February 12, 2015, the legislation prohibiting out of state placements was reintroduced in the Rhode Island Senate at the initiative of Alahverdian.

In April 2017, Alahverdian was a guest columnist in The Providence Journal, America's oldest continuously published daily newspaper, where he called for an auditing of unnecessary expenditures, an increase in frontline staff, and investing in state-of-the-art case management software.

Also in April 2017, Alahverdian was invited to testify before the House of Representatives Finance Committee on DCYF finances, management practices, and staffing deficits.

In October 2018 during the 2018 Rhode Island gubernatorial election, Alahverdian called for incumbent Governor Gina Raimondo to withdraw from the race. Raimondo, according to Alahverdian and substantiated by multiple news reports concerning child fatalities and near-fatalities, was responsible for a 1,450% increase in deaths or near-deaths of children in state custody. Alahverdian stated: "In 2008, DCYF investigated reports of the death of a child in their care. In 2003, we saw the tragic death of T.J. Wright. Within a five year timespan, we had two investigations of DCYF-related deaths,” said Alahverdian. In the Chafee administration from 2011 to 2015, there were no child deaths. Yet under Gina Raimondo, we as a state have to take a seat and say to ourselves ‘within 4 years there have been over 30 deaths or near-deaths.'"

Also in October 2018, Alahverdian called for the Rhode Island General Assembly to pass legislation that has been pending for nearly a decade. The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, ordered DCYF to improve in 33 of 36 areas assessed. The federal report noted that DCYF services were "inadequate, not developed when needed, or lacked consistent monitoring." Alahverdian stated "For three decades, we have seen reports nearly identical to this one: child deaths, an increase in caseloads, low staff morale, severe child abuse marked as “information” cases — cases that will not be investigated and that are only solely meant for taking reports and not conducting an investigation — and comprehensive pandemonium within the DCYF." Harvard Kennedy School professor and former Obama Admininstration official Jeffrey Liebman agreed with Alahverdian and claimed that the DCYF is "the most messed-up agency ever." Alahverdian remarked that his comprehensive DCYF reform legislation, supported by Reps. Raymond Hull (politician), Roberto DaSilva, Arthur Handy, Michael Marcello, Anastasia P. Williams and many others would provide the solutions to the problems that ACF claimed DCYF needed to solve.

The Orphan Chronicles

In October 2019, Nicholas Alahverdian announced that he is working on several volumes of memoirs called The Orphan Chronicles that will cover his life in DCYF care, simultaneously working for the state government, legislative advocacy, life and times at Harvard University, and how he has persevered from foster care to the Ivy League. The first volume, Dreading and Hoping All, was released in late October 2019. This volume covers his experiences in Rhode Island, including the beginning of his political career as a legislative aide and a page, as well as being sent to the Florida placement.

Bibliography

Non-fiction

• Thomas Wolfe: The Southerner, The Existentialist (2018)
• Solemn Affairs: Representations of Humility, Brevity and Dignity in the Gettysburg Address (2018)
• Ignoble Inferno (2018)
• Dreading and Hoping All(Volume I of The Orphan Chronicles) (2019)

References

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32. Lord, Peter. "Rep. DaSilva says R.I. pays hundreds of thousands of dollars for out-of-state care for children in state custody". Politifact. Poynter Institute. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
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55. WPRI, News. "Nicholas Alahverdian defended by lawmakers after he receives a $200,000 lien for "medical expenses"". wpri.com. WPRI. Retrieved 15 November 2019. {{cite web}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
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67. Alahverdian, Nicholas (7 April 2017). "Nicholas Alahverdian: DCYF workers need help to protect children". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
68. Alahverdian, Nicholas. "Testimony before House Finance Committee". youtube.com. Nicholas Alahverdian. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
69. ^ Brantly, Emily (18 October 2018). "Nicholas Alahverdian calls for Gina Raimondo to drop out of Governor's race due to 1,450% increase in foster child fatalities". Quebec News Tribune. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
70. ^ Alahverdian, Nicholas. "DCYF expert calls for immediate House and Senate review of long-delayed DCYF legislation that would satisfy federal concerns". digitaljournal.com. Digital Journal. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
71. San Miguel, Michelle (5 October 2018). "DCYF needs improvements says ACF". NBC News. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
72. Alahverdian, Nicholas (7 April 2017). "DCYF workers need help to protect children". The Providence Journal. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
73. Alahverdian, Nicholas. "Dreading and Hoping All". Medium. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
74. Alahverdian, Nicholas. "Dreading and Hoping All". Amazon.com. The Nicholas Alahverdian Press. Retrieved 14 November 2019.

External links

• nicholasalahverdian.com – Official website

• Harvard University people
• People from Cambridge, Massachusetts
• People from Providence, Rhode Island
• 1987 births
• Harvard University alumni
• Living people