Mothers Acting Up (MAU)

Mothers Acting Up (MAU) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring and mobilizing mothers to advocate on behalf of the world's children. Four mothers—Joellen Raderstorf, Beth Osnes, Juliana Forbes, and Erica Shafroth—founded MAU in 2002 after becoming increasingly disturbed by how government choices were impacting the lives and future of children worldwide. Realizing the grim statistics about children's well-being around the world, including the fact that nearly one out of [Page 851]every two children lives in poverty, they felt children need more voices speaking out on their behalf.

They believed that mothers, the primary caretakers of children, were potentially a powerful lobby for children, but often didn't see themselves as political, or see it as their role to speak out for children. MAU was created to ...