Jenna Bulis

Writer, Advocate, Disruptor

Jenna Bulis is a writer and activist whose work explores systems of control, language as power, and the cycles of institutional abuse. Her storytelling is rooted in lived experience, survivor testimony, and hard-won truths. Jenna co-founded the ICAPA Network, helped pass landmark legislation to prevent institutional child abuse, and played a central role in launching the #BreakingCodeSilence movement. Jenna writes at the intersection of trauma, power, and resistance, always aiming to provoke thought, protect truth, and push for structural change.

Jenna Bulis

Jenna is a systems thinker, survivor, and strategist. A proud mother and lifelong advocate, she brings clarity, courage, and precision to every space she enters. After surviving Spring Creek Lodge, part of the WWASP network, Jenna committed herself to ending institutional child abuse by exposing the systems that protect it. Her work blends grassroots organizing with policy reform, awareness, and survivor-centered documentation. She is the co-founder of the ICAPA Network and an original organizer behind the #BreakingCodeSilence movement, helping pass landmark legislation and shift public understanding of the troubled teen industry. Jenna lives in Lake Stevens, Washington, where she finds grounding in nature, writes to protect memory, and studies the frameworks that hold power accountable.

My Story

I created these sites and blogs because the truth kept getting buried in noise, denial, and revision. I am a survivor of institutional child abuse. Over the years, I connected with others who lived through the same harm. Together, we exposed abusive systems, built grassroots movements, and worked to pass laws that protect children. But with progress came resistance. Survivors were discredited. False narratives spread faster than facts.

As I witnessed history being rewritten, I realized we needed a place where the truth could live without interference. These platforms exist to document what happened and to preserve the facts when others try to erase them.

This site exists to protect the truth, but it also serves as a warning about what happens when social movements are built without safeguards. I entered advocacy with a clear focus: protect children from institutional abuse, give survivors a voice, and fight for lasting systemic change. I came because I knew what it felt like to be silenced and erased. I believed that by organizing, documenting, and staying rooted in truth, we could build something powerful and lasting. For a time, we did.

But over time, the mission was quietly redirected. As media attention and funding opportunities increased, so did personal agendas. People I had once trusted began to shift focus from collective action to individual recognition. Contributions were minimized or erased. Survivors who had helped build the foundation were pushed out of view. Decisions were no longer made through collaboration but controlled by a small group prioritizing narrative over truth. The language of justice was used to shield self-interest. What began as a grassroots movement grounded in shared purpose became a platform for control, exclusion, and carefully curated image.

This was not a personal betrayal. It was a systemic one. What happened inside our movement is not unique. It is a pattern that plays out in countless social justice spaces. Movements start from shared pain and purpose, but without structure, accountability, and humility, they get co-opted. The original mission gets buried under bureaucracy, ego, and image management.

That is why I created this site. To hold the record when others tried to erase it. To show how quickly truth can be distorted when power is left unchecked. To document what happens when people prioritize optics over outcomes. These platforms are not just about one moment or one group. They are a case study in what happens when good work is overtaken by internal corruption.

To break this cycle, we have to name it. We have to stop pretending these fractures are isolated or personal. They are structural. They are predictable. And if we do not learn from them, they will keep happening. This work is still necessary. The systems that harm children are still in place. At-risk youth still need advocates. But those advocates need the full truth. Not the sanitized version. Not the brand. They need to understand how movements collapse so they can build better ones. That is what this site offers. Not just a record of what went wrong, but a tool to prevent it from happening again.

Thank You for Listening,

Jenna Bulis

My Story

I created these sites and blogs because the truth kept getting buried in noise, denial, and revision. I am a survivor of institutional child abuse. Over the years, I connected with others who lived through the same harm. Together, we exposed abusive systems, built grassroots movements, and worked to pass laws that protect children. But with progress came resistance. Survivors were discredited. False narratives spread faster than facts.

As I witnessed history being rewritten, I realized we needed a place where the truth could live without interference. These platforms exist to document what happened and to preserve the facts when others try to erase them.

This site exists to protect the truth, but it also serves as a warning about what happens when social movements are built without safeguards. I entered advocacy with a clear focus: protect children from institutional abuse, give survivors a voice, and fight for lasting systemic change. I came because I knew what it felt like to be silenced and erased. I believed that by organizing, documenting, and staying rooted in truth, we could build something powerful and lasting. For a time, we did.

But over time, the mission was quietly redirected. As media attention and funding opportunities increased, so did personal agendas. People I had once trusted began to shift focus from collective action to individual recognition. Contributions were minimized or erased. Survivors who had helped build the foundation were pushed out of view. Decisions were no longer made through collaboration but controlled by a small group prioritizing narrative over truth. The language of justice was used to shield self-interest. What began as a grassroots movement grounded in shared purpose became a platform for control, exclusion, and carefully curated image.

This was not a personal betrayal. It was a systemic one. What happened inside our movement is not unique. It is a pattern that plays out in countless social justice spaces. Movements start from shared pain and purpose, but without structure, accountability, and humility, they get co-opted. The original mission gets buried under bureaucracy, ego, and image management.

That is why I created this site. To hold the record when others tried to erase it. To show how quickly truth can be distorted when power is left unchecked. To document what happens when people prioritize optics over outcomes. These platforms are not just about one moment or one group. They are a case study in what happens when good work is overtaken by internal corruption.

To break this cycle, we have to name it. We have to stop pretending these fractures are isolated or personal. They are structural. They are predictable. And if we do not learn from them, they will keep happening. This work is still necessary. The systems that harm children are still in place. At-risk youth still need advocates. But those advocates need the full truth. Not the sanitized version. Not the brand. They need to understand how movements collapse so they can build better ones. That is what this site offers. Not just a record of what went wrong, but a tool to prevent it from happening again.

Thank You for Listening,

Jenna Bulis

Additional Writings

Suburbia's Dirty Little Secret

A digital platform focused on exposing the systemic roots of institutional child abuse. The centerpiece is a blog featuring a deconstruction of investigative research, academic studies, and survivor-informed analysis that unpack how these systems operate and fail. Subscribe to get future blog notifications!

ICAPA Network Petition

This petition calls for the passage of the Institutional Child Abuse Prevention Act, a federal policy proposal designed to protect youth in residential care. The petition is a tool to mobilize public support and legislative action, rooted in a commitment to end systemic abuse and build safer, community-based alternatives for youth. Sign today!

Jenna Bulis BCS Author
Breaking Corrupt Systems

Breaking Corrupt Systems traces the untold story behind a national movement that exposed hidden abuse and sparked a wave of reform. At its heart is a reckoning with truth: how it’s buried, who protects it, and what it costs to speak it aloud. This is a story about power, survival, betrayal, and the fight to protect what matters most. Coming soon!

BCS 1.0

BCS 1.0

Breaking Code Silence began as a grassroots act of rebellion—survivors breaking the silence of abusive programs. It was raw, authentic, and built only on truth, solidarity, and the power of shared voices.

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Pink Slip

Pink Slip

Are we really just “crazy” or were we targeted? In this blog, I explore what happens when advocacy goes wrong, and how control issues and unqualified opinions can cause real, lasting harm. This story serves as a cautionary tale and a reminder to protect yourself and your family above all else.

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The Split

The Split

The split in Breaking Code Silence wasn’t some epic blowup, it was a slow burn of power grabs, shiny branding over real impact, and trust circling the drain. What started as survivor-led grassroots work got traded in for image management, leaving the rest of us side-eyeing where this ship was headed.

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The Pattern

The Pattern

To anyone who has been targeted, discredited, or isolated while trying to tell the truth, I see you. You are not alone. And your voice still matters. To anyone still standing in this work, keep going. Keep telling your story. Keep pushing for change. The road is hard, but it is worth it. And to the movement itself: Remember who you are. Remember why we began.

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BCS 2.0

BCS 2.0

What do you get when you launch a successful social movement? A mutiny,
a hostile takeover, a scurvy usurper
👀 “I’m the Captain now”… and then
you walk the plank.

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The Protection Order

The Protection Order

What do you do when you are being stalked, harassed and defamed? Turns out you can’t do anything if it’s all “technically” legal. In this blog we explore holding abusers accountable, and how the law fails to protect when ambiguity about privacy vs free speech is on the stand.

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