page_title: Nicholas Alahverdian
hierarchical_section_title: Nicholas Alahverdian
caption_attribution_description: English: Nicholas Alahverdian sits for a portrait in March 2017
context_page_description: Nicholas Alahverdian was an author, political scientist, whistleblower, and child welfare advocate who worked as an employee of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and simultaneously exposed widespread abuse and negligence in the state child welfare system, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families. His disclosures and eyewitness accounts revealed that Rhode Island children in state care were shuffled from night-to-night shelters, denied an education, and routinely placed in treatment facilities that violated state and federal laws both in Rhode Island and out-of-state. At the age of 15, after his legislative advocacy and news coverage of the abuse he suffered, Alahverdian was sent to facilities in Nebraska and then to Florida where he was tortured and raped. The Florida and Nebraska homes were subsequently shut down after Alahverdian, as an adult and a lobbyist, exposed the abuse and called for reform once again. Alahverdian later attended Harvard University. Alahverdian had also managed political campaigns, written op-eds for The Providence Journal, and had cameo roles in Brotherhood and Underdog.
context_section_description: Nicholas Alahverdian (July 11, 1987 – February 29, 2020) was an author, political scientist, whistleblower, and child welfare advocate who worked as an employee of the Rhode Island House of Representatives and simultaneously exposed widespread abuse and negligence in the state child welfare system, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth & Families. His disclosures and eyewitness accounts revealed that Rhode Island children in state care were shuffled from night-to-night shelters, denied an education, and routinely placed in treatment facilities that violated state and federal laws both in Rhode Island and out-of-state. At the age of 15, after his legislative advocacy and news coverage of the abuse he suffered, Alahverdian was sent to facilities in Nebraska and then to Florida where he was tortured and raped. The Florida and Nebraska homes were subsequently shut down after Alahverdian, as an adult and a lobbyist, exposed the abuse and called for reform once again. Alahverdian later attended Harvard University. Alahverdian had also managed political campaigns, written op-eds for The Providence Journal, and had cameo roles in Brotherhood and Underdog. In early 2020, NBC 10 News, WPRI News, ABC 6 News, and WPRO News revealed that Alahverdian was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The Associated Press and other news agencies confirmed that Alahverdian died on February 29, 2020, of the illness which had spread to his kidneys and lungs.
caption: Alahverdian in March 2017