We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amanda Sheffield a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, thanks for joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

Some stories don’t start with fairytales. They start in courtrooms, in eviction notices, in classrooms where a child is acting out—silently screaming for help in a system that has already failed them. My journey didn’t begin with a business plan or a polished mission statement. It began in the trenches, fighting for people society had already written off.

For over a decade, I worked as a criminal defense investigator and mitigation specialist, meeting individuals who were one decision, one opportunity, or one support system away from a different life. Over and over, I saw the same painful pattern—kids who had survived severe childhood trauma, who had been neglected, dismissed, or pushed aside. Kids who never got the help they needed. And the worst part? By the time I met them, the system was already ready to lock them away.

That realization shook me. I was fighting for second chances when what these kids needed were first chances. So, I stopped waiting for them to fall through the cracks. I started Advancing Past the Aces—a nonprofit dedicated to intercepting families before trauma becomes a life sentence.

Amanda, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

When you spend years investigating the depths of the justice system, you start to notice patterns—painful, systemic patterns that repeat themselves over and over again.

For more than a decade, I worked as a Criminal Defense Investigator and Mitigation Specialist, fighting to uncover the full stories behind the cases I handled. I wasn’t just digging into police reports—I was peeling back layers of trauma, abandonment, and systemic failure. The people I encountered weren’t just defendants; they were products of a system that had failed them long before they ever stood before a judge.

The real crime? No one ever intervened when they were children.

From the Courtroom to the Frontlines of Change
I earned my Investigation License in Texas and later expanded my work to Florida, taking on roles as a Lead Investigator and Mitigation Specialist. Over 12 years, I built a career around fighting for second chances—piecing together the broken stories of those trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

I used every tool at my disposal, including the A.C.E. (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Score Calculator, to uncover the childhood trauma that shaped the people I defended. Every case told the same story: intervention came too late.

It wasn’t enough to defend people once they were already in the system. If I wanted to make a real impact, I had to get to them before the system did.

That’s why I founded Advancing Past the Aces.

The Fight No One Wants to Fund

People love to donate to food banks and shelters. They love the feel-good moments of giving backpacks to kids or delivering holiday meals. But when it comes to funding the work—the actual boots-on-the-ground, relentless, dig-deep-and-figure-it-out work—suddenly, the money dries up.

What we do at Advancing Past the Aces isn’t easy to put on a flyer. We don’t just hand families a list of resources and wish them luck. We walk with them. We pick up the phone. We drive across town. We make sure that therapist appointment gets scheduled, that landlord returns the call, that school administrators know they can’t ignore this child’s needs. Case management isn’t a feel-good buzzword—it’s the lifeline that keeps families from drowning in bureaucratic red tape. And yet, it’s one of the hardest things to fund.

We’ve had to fight for every dollar, every partnership, every bit of trust from families who have every reason to doubt us. Because for too long, the systems designed to help them have only let them down.

The Kids Who Prove It’s Worth It

If you want to know why we do this, let me tell you about a child who had never been in a therapy session before we stepped in. His school had labeled him a “problem.” No one asked why he was acting out. No one considered the trauma he carried. They were ready to throw him away, push him toward a path we’ve seen too many times.
But we fought for him. We connected his family with the right services, advocated for him in school meetings, and ensured he got the therapy he so desperately needed. Today, he’s thriving in school, proving every single person who doubted him wrong.

Then there’s the mother who was on the verge of homelessness, terrified that her children would be taken from her. No agency had the bandwidth to help her navigate the maze of housing applications and legal aid. But we did. We walked her through every step, made the calls, cut through the red tape, and found her a stable home. Now, she’s on her way to a brighter future with her kids by her side.

This is the work. This is why we don’t quit.

What Makes Us Different

There are a lot of organizations out there offering help. But help without follow-through is just false hope.

We refuse to be another dead-end referral line. At Advancing Past the Aces:

We don’t just refer families—we guide them.

We don’t just hand out resources—we make sure they actually get used.

We don’t let kids slip through the cracks—we stand in the gap and fight for them.

Every family gets up to 20 hours of personalized case management. That means we don’t stop until they get the help they need.

We specialize in:

Mental health services – Making sure kids and parents have access to the therapy they need.
Educational support – Advocating for children in schools, ensuring they aren’t left behind.
Housing assistance – Helping families find stability so kids can focus on learning, not survival.
Legal and advocacy services – Navigating court systems, special education needs, and more.
Community programs – Connecting families with support systems that last beyond our time with them.

The Truth No One Wants to Admit

Most of the kids we help? They were never the problem. They were survivors of a broken system that expected them to fail.

The single mothers trying to do right by their children? They aren’t “lazy” or “unmotivated.” They’re exhausted from fighting battles no one should have to fight alone.

And the reality is, without intervention, the cycle continues. But with the right support? The story changes.

How You Can Help

🚨 If you’re a family struggling to find resources—we are here for you.

🚨 If you work with children and families in crisis—let’s collaborate.

🚨 If you want to support our mission—we need you.

💡 You can donate, volunteer, or become a community partner. Every action makes an impact.

This isn’t just about helping kids survive—it’s about helping them thrive.

Are you ready to be part of the change? Let’s make it happen.

📩 Connect with us today.

Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?

Absolutely. But if I could go back, I’d start even earlier.

I wouldn’t wait until I saw the devastating effects of childhood trauma in the criminal justice system—I’d intervene before these kids ever set foot in a courtroom.

The truth is, the work I do now—preventing cycles of trauma, ensuring families have access to resources, and advocating for children who have been ignored by the system—feels like the work I was always meant to do.

Would I still become a Criminal Defense Investigator and Mitigation Specialist? Absolutely. That experience gave me the insight, tools, and fire to create Advancing Past the Aces. But if I could go back, I’d tell my younger self:

“You’re not just here to investigate the past—you’re here to change the future.”

And that’s exactly what I’m doing now.

I have dedicated over 4,125 hours to this cause, but it’s the depth and impact of my work—not just the hours—that earned me the U.S. Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and four Special U.S. Congressional Recognition Awards.

These honors are more than just titles; they are proof of the significance of my contributions to breaking cycles of adversity and inspiring others to take action. But the true reward? Seeing lives change. Watching a child access therapy for the first time. Helping a family secure stable housing. Connecting a parent with the right resources to build a better future for their child.

That’s what keeps me moving forward. That’s why I wouldn’t change a thing—except starting sooner.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The Lesson I Had to Unlearn: Hope is Not a Strategy
For years, I believed that if I worked hard enough, if I cared enough, if I hoped enough, things would change. That people would step up. That systems would work the way they were supposed to. That families, if given the right resources, would automatically be able to rise above their circumstances.

I learned the hard way—hope is not a strategy.

I remember one of the first families I worked with. A single mother, drowning in trauma, desperately trying to hold onto her kids while navigating a system designed to break her. I gave her everything—resources, referrals, step-by-step plans, hope.

But it wasn’t enough.

Because when someone has been failed over and over again, when they’ve been conditioned to believe that no one is truly coming to help, hope feels like a lie.

She didn’t make the calls. She missed the meetings. The eviction notice came. And one night, I got the call—her kids were gone. Taken into the system.

I sat with that loss for a long time. And it forced me to unlearn one of the biggest misconceptions I had: Hope, by itself, does not change lives. Systems do. Accountability does. Persistent, hands-on, relentless action does.

That’s why I built Advancing Past the Aces the way I did. We don’t just hand families a list of resources—we walk with them step by step. We don’t assume they’ll follow through—we make sure they do. We don’t just hope for a better future—we create it, fight for it, and refuse to let it slip away.

Because hope alone won’t save a child from the system—but action will.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ACEHELP.ORG
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-sheffield-128313348/