Jelani Freeman is currently a full-time student at Howard University School of Law. Previously, Jelani served as the Special Assistant to the General Counsel in the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, where he supported the legal functions of the Department and served as the architect of many of the Department's positive youth development programs. His interest in such programs grew out of personal experience. He was placed in the foster care system at age 9 and has spent time in multiple foster homes, shelters, group homes, and juvenile facilities before aging out of the system at age 18. Jelani has also worked as the "Youth Engaged in Service" Ambassador in the Executive Office of Mayor Anthony Williams in D.C. and before that spent a year in the office of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, where he worked on various legislative issues. Jelani serves on an advisory group for the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and has given several motivational speeches across the country. He is a contributor to the book, Adoption Means Love: Triumph of the Heart, and has also contributed to the Pew Commission Children in Foster Care report, "Foster Care: Voices from the Inside." He also sits on the Board of Trustees for Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) and the Barker Foundation where he has provided consultation to Barker's new program, Project Wait No Longer, which finds adoptive homes for foster youth. Jelani resides in Alexandria, VA and has a BA in Political Science and History from the University at Buffalo and an M.A. in History from American University.