In 1994, Mr. Henderson created NAFFCCA and began his work with teens in the foster care system in which he had grown up, in the District of Columbia .

For the first few years Mr. Henderson con-centrated on advocating for teens in care and spending time with them, hosting such activities as amusement park trips and dinners in local restaurants, as well as participating in forums on teens and foster care across the country.

In 1997, NAFFCCA received its first contract from the District of Columbia Child and Family Services Agency. This contract was to provide job training and support for older teens about to age out of foster care who did not have employment that would allow them to be self-sufficient. In the years since then, our programs have expanded with additional contracts.

In 1998, NAFFCCA began an independent living program for older teens. Originally, we had 10 teens in the independent living program. Our programs and the number of the teens we serve has grown from there. Because some of the teens we were asked to take were teen mothers with children, we developed a program specifically for teen mothers.