Advocating for safe children, stable families, and supportive communities
37 West Broad Street, Suite 1100
Columbus, OH 43215 — 614-224-5802

Presenter Bios

Back to Main Registration

Alyse Almadani

Alyse Almadani is an innovative clinician and leader in the field of child welfare and trauma informed care for families. With over 10 years of experience providing direct services to families and program development, Alyse has focused on increasing access to high quality, trauma informed services that center on holistic, wraparound care for families, and specialized in treatment modalities that value an empowerment orientation and strengths-based approach. In her current role as Program Manager of 30 Days to Family Ohio with Kinnect, she uplifts service delivery that prioritizes access for relative and kin caregivers.

Monica Ascar, MSW, LISW-S

Monica Ascar, MSW, LISW-S currently serves as the MSW Field Coordinator, MSW Coordinator, Lakewood Campus, and the UPP Campus Coordinator at the University of Akron School of Social Work and Family Sciences. Her social work practice has included extensive work within the health care and child welfare settings. As a senior medical social worker at Dayton Children’s, her work included completing psychosocial assessments, crisis intervention, mental health assessments, emergency department services, and child abuse assessments and prevention. She also worked in chronic illness serving children and families involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Center at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital. As a child welfare caseworker at Montgomery County Children Services, she worked with children and families within on-going services. Prior to joining the University of Akron, Ascar worked at Cuyahoga County Division of Health and Human Services where she coordinated the University Partnership Program (UPP) and the Graduate Field Program.

Bobbi Beale

Bobbi Beale, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist and a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Innovative Practices, part of the Begun Center at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Beale has over 25 years of practice and expertise in trauma, resilience, system of care and behavioral health treatments for children, youth and families, specializing in Intensive Home Based Treatment and Adventure Therapy. She spends most of her time training, consulting and providing technical assistance across Ohio to support behavioral health providers of youth and family services.

Xan Boone, MSW

Xan Boone, MSW, has been a child welfare social worker since January 1989. She has direct experience in assessment and ongoing casework as well as family team conferencing, supervision, training and coaching. She has been a full time academic at the University of Cincinnati School of Social Work since August of 2007 and has been the campus coordinator of the University Partnership Program since 2014. In November 2020 she was named the OUCCAS Assistant Director of Training Delivery in addition to her other academic duties.

Lorie Bricker

Lorie Bricker is a Child Welfare professional who has spent more than 15 years serving families in the capacity of caseworker, advocate, mentor and coach. Currently, she is working as a 30 Days to Family® Coach for Kinnect, where her belief in family and advocacy skills are helping children in foster care remain connected to their kin. Lorie has her BA from The Ohio State University. She is a certified victim advocate, an Ohio crisis response worker and she is Dare to Lead® trained.

Veronica Burroughs, LISW-S

Veronica Burroughs, LISW-S is Project Manager for the Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator Program at ODJFS. Prior to this work she was with the Supreme Court of Ohio, managing the federal Court Improvement Program grants to assist juvenile courts in handling cases related to child welfare. She has worked in multiple roles at private child serving agencies, worked with children and adults with mental health and substance use disorders. She is an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College and has done training for a variety of audiences. Veronica has a Bachelor of Science from the DePaul University and obtained her Master’s in Social Work from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration.

Lisa Carlin, Stacia Burlingame, Shelly Aggarwal, and Tina Green

Lisa Carlin, Stacia Burlingame, Shelly Aggarwal, and Tina Green have a combined child welfare work experience of over 70 years. They have a long history of working with teens who are close to aging out as social programming specialists. Having trained local foster parents, at national conferences and numerous youth camps, they have a combined strength in youth engagement and rapport.

LaShaun Carter

LaShaun Carter is an experienced Operations Administrator with a demonstrated history of working in the Health, Human Services, and Education fields. Skilled in youth development, adult education, volunteer management, public speaking, Curriculum Development, and strategic planning. Strong community and social services facilitator skilled in diversity and inclusion management with a special emphasis on equity and social justice. LaShaun is responsible for the Evaluation, IT Infrastructure, and Organizational Health (Safety Culture) Departments in Franklin County.

Marsha Coleman, MSW, LISW-S

Marsha Coleman, MSW, LISW-S is the Clinical Director at Richland County Children Services with 37 years of experience in child welfare. She is experienced in teaching parenting classes, child welfare classes, strategic planning and community planning. She has conducted quality improvement seminars through PCSAO conferences, COA conferences and taught social work classes through a local university. She currently provides in house training to new caseworkers in genogram development and family systems.

Tracy Cordaro

Tracy Cordaro has over 6 years of experience in the child welfare field. As a YCPRT Coach, Tracy works with counties throughout the state of Ohio to improve the performance of YCPRT’s and also begin implementation within additional counties. Through Tracy’s child welfare work she has developed the ability to advocate for a child’s best interest and the need for permanency. Tracy has earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Cleveland State University (OH).

Tijana Coso

Tijana Coso offers virtual and live experimental Key-Note Speaking and seminars throughout the country for staff development, continuing education, foster parent trainings and leadership retreats. Her EFT expertise is also utilized to assist with trauma informed care, secondary trauma, unconscious bias, those battling addiction and self-regulation (SEL). Her corporate work addresses unconscious bias as it relates to successful work teams, attitude and managing people. Tijana is only one of a few EFT teachers who nationally train EFT for continuing education courses for mental health workers, foster parents, nurses, teachers, and other “caring” professionals.

Todd Curtis

Todd Curtis is a multi-certified law enforcement professional of 28 years, and experienced law enforcement and domestic violence trainer, presenting over 1000 hours of training to in-service law enforcement professionals, academy cadets, college students, firefighter / medics, prosecutors, judges and advocates. He has received advanced training, certification and education in specialized fields of investigation, domestic violence, strangulation assaults, crime scene, stress management, and critical incident. He is a court-certified expert in domestic violence and strangulation.

Vicki Deisner

Vicki Deisner is an attorney, the Government Affairs Representative in Ohio for Animal Welfare Institute, the executive director of Ohio Animal Advocates, and was responsible for the passage of H.B. 33. She has trained on the link between animal and human violence and H.B. 33 since 2019 to counselors, social workers, law and humane enforcement, prosecutors, attorneys and veterinarians. She has presented on this topic at AOCC, OCAPS, PCSAO, NASW, and COHHIO annual meetings, as well as to local domestic violence taskforces, legal aid societies, APS and CPS collaborative meetings. My goal is to assure everyone impacted by this new law has an understanding of their responsibilities under H.B. 33, and has the information and tools to make reporting as easy as possible

Micaela Deming, Esq.

Micaela Deming, Esq. has been working with sexual and domestic violence survivors for over 15 years. She has been trained in crisis response in two states and worked as a volunteer and staff advocate in both English and Spanish for sexual violence and domestic violence agencies. Micaela graduated a Moritz Merit Scholar from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and continued serving survivors all over the state of Ohio as a practicing attorney, mostly in the family courts, in cases involving domestic or sexual violence, particularly when child maltreatment is also a concern. She is the Policy Director and Staff Attorney for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. She is a member of the Supreme Court of Ohio Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence and has presented locally and nationally on topics related to sexual assault and abuse, domestic violence, and child maltreatment. Micaela also serves as a Guardian ad Litem and is a certified foster parent.

Rick Dencer

Rick Dencer is a Kinnect to Family Program Coach. He provides guidance and support to counties in the Northeast Region of Ohio implementing the program. Rick has provided Intensive FSE Training as well as 30 Days to Family® Model Training to many child welfare practitioners over the past 3 years. From child and adolescent community mental health to child support and child welfare, Rick has spent the past 14 years serving families from the perspective that all children deserve to remain connected to their culture, their community, and their kin.

Heather Distin

Heather Distin joined the Center for Innovative Practices as the Project Director of the Children’s Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. Heather has over 17 years of experience in various community based and inpatient behavioral health settings serving families, children, adolescents, and transitional age youth, and has a special interest in and expertise working with youth who have complex needs that cross multiple systems. In her work with multi-system youth, Heather has been a change leader, promoting inter-agency collaboration and best practices across the various child-serving systems. Heather most recently served as a county board behavioral health administrator monitoring the fitness of the children’s behavioral health continuum of care, ensuring access to high quality care while also leveraging resources to promote system sustainability., and spearheaded several county-wide, multi-discipline system of care initiatives and county-wide quality assurance efforts specific to intensive home-based programs, youth crisis services, transitional age youth services and juvenile justice involved youth with behavioral health needs. Heather holds a master’s degree from John Carroll University and is an independently licensed clinical counselor.

Quinn Dybdahl

Quinn Dybdahl is the Staff Attorney at the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Quinn has dedicated her career to serving vulnerable youth. She graduated law school from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law with a Certificate in Children Studies. While in school, she reprefented youth in delinquency and immigration matters through the Justice for Children Legal Clinic and held leadership positions in the Public Interest Law Foundation and Advocates for Children. Quinn has gained insight into adoption and foster care issues through legal internships with Franklin County Children Services, Franklin County Probate Court, and the probate practice of a local law firm.

Dr. Rachel Mitchum Elahee

Dr. Rachel Mitchum Elahee is a leadership expert who challenges audiences to choose the habits, actions and mindset necessary to achieve greater life satisfaction, professional productivity and ultimately, peace of mind. Dr. Rachel is a licensed psychologist, certified executive coach, and author of the book, Choose You! Reignite Your Passion For Life, Dr. Rachel earned her PhD from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. She has received numerous awards as a psychologist and accolades as a speaker. Dr. Rachel’s presentations, speaking engagements, and workshops have inspired a wide range of audiences and her down-to-earth humor compels audiences to laugh while they learn. People love her practical strategies they can apply personally and professionally. In addition to her public speaking, Dr. Rachel has been featured on Good Day Atlanta, CBS radio, NPR Boston and in publications such as the U.S. News & World Report and MadameNoire.com. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Rachel resides in Atlanta, GA with her husband and their four amazing children. Dr. Rachel is a member of Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and a number of professional organizations.

Amanda Erickson

Amanda Erickson (she/her) is the Director of Education and Outreach at Kaleidoscope Youth Center. Since 2017 she has focused on advocating for LGBTQIA+ youth across Ohio through professional development and education for youth-serving professionals including teachers, social workers, and more. Amanda has a Bachelor of Science in Education from Bowling Green State University and spent two years post-college as a Peace Corps Volunteer educating teachers in Vanuatu, in the South Pacific. Since returning to the US, she has worked in education and programming in the local nonprofit sector.

Dot Erickson-Anderson

Dot Erickson-Anderson has served with the Ohio Family Care Association since its beginning. She helped to create 3 private agencies in Ohio and was a primary caregiver (adoption, foster, kinship, bio) for 35 years in Virginia, Washington DC and Ohio’s public, private child welfare and juvenile justice foster care systems. Her specialty areas: Teen Parents, Disrupted Adoptees, Deaf Youth, Unruly/Delinquent Youth, Family Reunification, Permanency Planning and Working with Primary Families.

John D. Everett

John D. Everett is an attorney in the City of Kettering, having worked as a prosecutor for 20 years. He is a trainer for Ohio Child Welfare Training Program, a frequent speaker for Ohio CASA and has developed training programs for the Ohio Supreme Court and various local agencies. He is on the editorial board of the ABA Children’s Rights publication and a member of several juvenile justice committees. Mr. Everett earned a B.A. in history from Kenyon College and a J.D. from University of Dayton School of Law. He is married and has 2 children.

John D. Fisher

John D. Fisher has been the eirector of the Licking County Department of Job and Family Services which administers Children Services, Public Assistance, Adult Protective Services, Supportive Services, and Workforce Development Services, including OhioMeansJobs Licking County, since 2001. Prior to his current position, John was the Deputy Director for Licking County Job and Family Services, and prior to that was Employee Relations Manager for Holophane. John is currently a member of the Grow Licking County Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association. Other current and past board commitments include Our Futures, Newark Digital Academy Board of Education, United Way of Licking County, Camp O’Bannon Board of Directors and the Food Pantry Network of Licking County. Education John earned his Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Dayton and a B.A. in Political Science from Muskingum University.

Tiffany Florence

Tiffany Florence is currently a trainer at Kinnect, an Ohio-based nonprofit that partners with PCSAs to implement evidence-informed practices to help more children find permanency. She brings more than 15 years of experience providing guidance, training, leadership and expertise in the arena of employee and stake holder development. She is able to provide virtual and on-site training, guidance and specific strategies to improve employee and stake holders experience by impacting outcomes, culture and child engagement. Tiffany earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2009, a BS in Business Communication from The Ohio State University in 2002, and a Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University in 2018.

Michael Fox

Michael Fox is a Research Associate and Trainer for the Center for Innovative Practices (CIP) at the Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, part of the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. Michael provides program consultation, technical assistance and clinical trainings to providers in Ohio and around the country regarding adolescent development, co-occurring and multiple-occurring disorders, home-based treatment and best practice delivery for youth and families. He started in the adult addictions field when substance use and mental health treatments were deeply siloed – and has been moving intentionally toward integrated and systemic approaches ever since.

Lucy Gobble

Lucy Gobble is the Intersystem Program Administrator for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Office of Families and Children. As the Intersystem Manager, she is the child welfare point of contact for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in Ohio. Lucy has over 20 years of experience in the field of child welfare. Her prior experiences include children services casework and supervision, a SACWIS business analyst, and policy developer in Title IV-E foster care maintenance and adoption assistance.

Jennifer C. Goldson, Esq.

Jennifer C. Goldson, Esq. is the Senior Staff Attorney and Clinic Supervisor at the Family and Youth Law Center (FYLaw) at Capital University Law School. In her role at FYLaw, she supervises the operations of FYLaw’s Family and Youth Advocacy Clinic, which assists with legal issues confronting youth ages 16-24 who have been involved with the child welfare or juvenile justice system. Ms. Goldson teaches the Family and Youth Advocacy Clinic class, and she is the coordinator for the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law. Prior to coming to Capital, Professor Goldson was an attorney in Columbus for 25 years practicing primarily family and juvenile law. She worked as the staff attorney for former Franklin County Domestic Relations and Juvenile Judge Dana Suzanne Preisse at the start of her career, serves on the Family Law Committee of the Columbus Bar Association as the cochair of the judicial subcommittee, and helped to establish a Pro Bono Legal Clinic with Jewish Family Services.

Denise Goodman

Denise Goodman has been a child welfare professional for over 45 years. She began her career working with emotionally disturbed teens in a residential treatment facility and has held varied positions in child welfare and as an independent consultant, Denise conducts workshops and provides consultation throughout the United States and Canada on topics related to foster care, adoption and kinship care. Denise earned MSSA from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and her PhD in social work from The Ohio State University. She has received recognition for her training from the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program including the Linda Pope Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Training, OCWTP Award of Excellence, the Northeast Ohio Regional Training Program Trainer of the Year and the North Central Regional Training Program Trainer of the Year. In addition, Denise was inducted into the Ohio State University-College of Social Work’s Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Alumni in 2012 and was the North American Council on Adoptable Children’s (NACAC) Child Advocate of the Year for 2015. She currently serves as the President of the Board for NACAC.

Julli Griesheimer

Julli Griesheimer began her educational journey in a criminal justice program with the goal of eventually becoming a probation officer, with the hope of helping individuals to better navigate their supervision expectations and reduce the high rate of recidivism. While in her last semester of graduate school at the University of Cincinnati she landed a job at a community behavioral health organization working with felons struggling with substance use and mental health disorders. It was at that time she discovered her passion to help people was more aligned with social work field. In 2019, she completed a Social Work Master’s Degree program at The Ohio State University and has since used her criminal justice education coupled with her education and experience in social work and chemical dependency treatment to fuel her passion to change the trajectory of the lives in her community. She has prided herself on developing and participating in integrated and innovative team-based approaches to addressing both community and individual service needs.

Melinda Haggerty

Melinda Haggerty has spent her career advocating for vulnerable children. Melinda is currently the Senior Vice President, General Counsel at the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, where she oversees the Foundation’s legal affairs and provides child welfare legal expertise in developing the Foundation’s trainings and materials for legal audiences. Prior to joining the Foundation, Melinda was the Director of Children’s Initiatives at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. In her role, Melinda oversaw all policy and legislation related to the areas of human trafficking, child welfare, and juvenile justice. Melinda gets her passion for children honestly. Her experience as a former foster youth, combined with her legal training, gives Melinda unique insight into the systems that impact vulnerable youth. Melinda was honored to be named the Ohio Adoption Planning Group’s 2012 Adoption Advocate of the Year. Melinda received her undergraduate degree from the Ohio State University and earned her juris doctorate from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.

Adriennie Hatten

In addition to being a mother of 22 years to 1 amazing son Jovan who attends Northwood University in Midland Michigan, Dr. Adriennie Hatten has been an ‘Auntie Mom’ of 3 for the last 9.5 years as the result of the untimely passing of her dearest younger sister. Even with a 9th and 10th grader on deck, Dr. Hatten serves on the Region 3 Ohio Advisory Committee. Her strength in developing and implementing strategic initiatives that integrate policy, practice, and research to create positive societal outcomes is an asset to her work across various sectors as well as on the Advisory Committee. Dr. Adriennie Y. Hatten is a native of Northeastern Ohio and a proud graduate of Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, her Masters in Nonprofit Organizations from Case Western Reserve University and her Doctorate Degree in Urban Education from Cleveland State University. She is a consultant who focuses on Organizational Development, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and she is also an Educator who started her career in social services. She currently resides in Summit County, Ohio with her family.

David Haverfield

David Haverfield currently serves as the president of the PCSAO Board of Trustees. He has been director of Tuscarawas County Job and Family Services since 2015. Previously, he spent 15 years as the agency’s legal counsel and attorney supervisor after several years in private practice. David serves a trainer and coach throughout Ohio as part of the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program. He has also worked with individual county agencies on issues related to court testimony and legal issues in child welfare. He was recognized with the Dan Schneider Leadership in Child Welfare Training award by OCWTP in 2017 and as the Public Children Services Attorney of the Year in 2008. David holds degrees from Bowling Green State University and the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Wren Hawkins

Wren Hawkins’ first born has struggled through mental wellness issues. When finally diagnosed, anxiety, depression and PTSD were the culprits. Knowing that she had struggled with the same issues, and had fought her way back alone, she knew she had to advocate for her child. She was fortunate enough to be a stay-at-home parent, so Wren spent her time looking for resources that were available in her community to help them. She set up countless meetings with school board members, teachers, guidance counselors, community center leaders and mental health board members. She navigated insurance, co-pays, prescriptions and multiple medical bills. Wren also went to meetings, joined coalitions and took every class she could find. She moved into the new position as Lead Family Coordinator for the Mental Health & Recovery Board of Union County, Ohio in January 2020. Her role is to provide the family Voice & Choice in behavioral health advocacy in our county. Through “The Mosaic Project” (4-year SAMHSA Youth Systems of Care Grant), she works collaboratively with youth partners, county school districts, and behavioral health providers to serve the families and youth of Union County. As a parent with lived experience raising a child with mental wellness issues, she is able to bring her own experiences to the table and make decisions for parents and families in Union County who have had similar life experiences.

Maureen Heffernan

Maureen Heffernan is an independent child welfare consultant and trainer. She has worked across the United States assisting child welfare jurisdictions to achieve better and more equitable outcomes for vulnerable children, youth, and their families. Her focus areas include youth permanency, family search and engagement, kinship care, foster care, and the recruitment, development and support of foster and adoptive families. She has extensive work experience in public and private child welfare settings, is a trainer in the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program and an Adjunct Instructor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Linda Helm, MSW, PhD, LISW-S

Linda Helm, MSW, PhD, LISW-S has served as Senior Lecturer and the UPP Campus Coordinator at The Ohio State University in the College of Social Work since 2004. Her social work practice has included extensive work within the mental health and child welfare settings. Her research and teaching experience are in child abuse and neglect, trauma, and social work supervision. She worked on the Citizen Review Panel Redesign for Ohio and has been a national CRP board member since 2016.

Kelly Hickle-Lentz

Kelly Hickle-Lentz has 24 years of experience in Public Administration with 22 years in direct supervision of a variety of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. She is a professional trainer with the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program, in the areas of Supervision, Time Management and Generational topics. Kelly provides this training in a variety of venues and has been studying and training generational influence on agencies for several years.

Marla Himmeger, LSW

Marla Himmeger, LSW, currently works with PCSAO as the Program Manager for Ohio START. Ms. Himmeger worked in the field of child welfare for 20 years at the district and state levels after working at the county as caseworker and supervisor. She served as Program Administrator for the ODMH Early Childhood Mental Health Program and has worked with childhood trauma programming and is an affiliate member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Kelsey Hopkins

Kelsey Hopkins is a Policy Associate with Groundwork Ohio. She serves as the Assistant Project Coordinator on the Ohio Infant-Toddler Court Team Expansion Project. Prior to joining Groundwork, Kelsey served as an after-school program coordinator for various organizations, as well as a program assistant for the I Am My Brother’s Keeper program operated by Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity. Most recently, Kelsey served as the Legislative Aide to Ohio State Representative Erica C. Crawley, supporting legislative efforts and constituents. Kelsey obtained her B.A. in Sociology from Bethel College in Mishawaka, IN in 2015 and went on to obtain dual master’s degrees in Social Work and Public Administration from The Ohio State University in 2018.

Ebonie Jackson

Ebonie Jackson is the CFO & Director of Administrative Services at Lucas County Children Services (LCCS). In this role she serves as the chief financial officer and advises the Executive Director, The Board of Directors and the LCCS Leadership Team while supervising the Fiscal, IT, Training & Development, Clerical, and the Buildings & Operations organizations of LCCS. Before taking on this role, Ebonie was the CFO of Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority. Ebonie has also served as the Controller at Backyard Products, a private equity managed manufacturer and marketer of wood-based sheds and playsets. Ebonie started her career as a Senior Associate in KPMG’s Washington DC Practice, where she led financial statement and compliance audits across several industries. Ebonie moved to Toledo, Ohio to become an employee of Owens Corning. While at Owens Corning she held many roles including FP&A Financial Leader (supporting corporate functions), Global Financial Standards Implementation Leader, Plant Controller, and Senior Internal Auditor. Ebonie loves board service and is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the AICPA & CIMA, the Ohio CPA Foundation, the Toledo Zoo, and the Toledo LISC Advisory Board.

Jennifer Jacobs

Jennifer Jacobs is the chief executive officer and a co-founder of Connect Our Kids, a non-profit using technology and data to improve outcomes for children in foster care. Prior to co-founding Connect Our Kids, Jennifer was a fellow and distinguished analyst at the Homeland Security Studies and Analysis Institute. While there, she led teams of analysts in understanding and improving complex systems and processes within the federal government, particularly around nuclear non-proliferation and border control. Jennifer was a White House Fellow in the class of ’05-’06, serving with the National Security Council. Prior to her Fellowship year, Jennifer spent eight years at Sandia National Laboratories leading teams working in numerous foreign countries addressing nuclear security and border control. Jennifer served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a military police platoon leader and jumpmaster at Fort Bragg. She also served in the U.S. Army Reserve as a team leader, a unit commander, a general’s aide, and a nuclear operations officer.

Delaney Jones

Delaney (MSSA, LSW) is a graduate of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences where she studied Community Practice for Social Change. Delaney’s professional and educational background, focused in the area of young child/ family wellbeing, intertwines a micro- level study and practice (child behavior, family dynamics, trauma), with a macro- level focus and practice (policy and program development). Delaney currently serves as the community coordinator for Safe Babies Court Team in Cuyahoga County where she is working alongside local child welfare, judicial, and social services leadership to plan, implement, develop, execute and evaluate the Safe Babies Court Team initiative in the county.

Daphne Kackloudis

Daphne Kackloudis regularly advises health care clients, including providers and provider trade associations, regarding business and practice strategies impacted by federal and state health care reform initiatives such as payment reform; accountable, integrated, and coordinated care; quality; and transparency. One of Daphne’s areas of practice is the nexus between traditional health care legal services and health care public policy.

Mike Kenney

Mike Kenney has worked in the child welfare space for 20 years and his expertise is focused on permanency planning, change management, program development, public speaking, and purpose-driven work. As the Director of Strategic Initiatives, Mike is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the 2021 PCSAO Modernization Plan as it relates to Safety Culture and the corresponding learning agenda, goals, and objectives.

Jill Kingston

Jill Kingston is the Executive Director of Brigid’s Path in Kettering, Ohio. As a foster parent herself, Jill identified a need in her community for an outpatient clinic for babies recovering from neonatal abstinence syndrome and their families. Since 2017 Brigid’s Path has been able to help over 100 infants and their families.

Hannah Knies

Hannah Knies is currently the Family First Prevention Services Act Project Manager at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Prior to her current role, Hannah worked with the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services as an MSW intern, then worked at the Ohio Department of Education before coming to JFS in 2017. She started in the Bureau of Cash/Food Policy and Technical Assistance and has worked as the Program Administrator for the Office of Family Assistance. Hannah has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Anderson University and a master’s degree in social work from Ohio State University.

Kelly Knight

Kelly Knight is a seasoned child welfare professional with over 15 years of direct service experience in the areas of screening, assessment/investigation, and ongoing services. Ms. Knight excels in developing and implementing processes, practice and policy to successfully drive improvement and improve outcomes. She currently serves as the Director of Organizational Health at Franklin County Children Services. In this role she has taken on a leadership role in the agency’s culture change journey, implemented the Culture of Safety initiative, developed the #savingGRACE campaign and worked in support of the agency’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Her work in these areas has garnered national attention and served as template for others.

Leah Love

Leah Love is the Youth Acceptance clinician and advocate with the Chosen Affirming Family Program at Kinnect. She is extraordinarily passionate about creating a safe space for others to navigate through life’s barriers. She works closely with youth and family navigating the youth’s identity journey to increase understanding and build affirming relationships. Leah also provides psychoeducation, Family Finding and network building services for LGBTQ+ youth who enter foster care. She is a dynamic presenter and provides trainings centered on enhancing service providers’ affirmative support and interventions with LGBTQ+ youth and their families with a focus on intersectional identities at the local, state and national levels. Leah’s unwavering positive energy and outlook help to motivate and inspire professionals, youth and their families. Leah has an undergraduate degree in Applied Science and a Master of Science in Social Administration, with her license in Social Work. Her professional career includes experience in juvenile justice, Alcohol and Drug treatment, working with individuals experiencing homelessness, adult corrections, and mental health treatment. Leah believes in the importance of ongoing learning, growth, and adding to her clinical “tool belt” to improve outcomes for those she serves. Leah is committed to walking alongside those she serves in a supportive and assisting lens. She believes that individuals are the best experts of their own lives and her role is to help them navigate the successes and challenges of their individual journey.

Brian Lowery

Brian Lowery is the Educational Coordinator at Lowery Training Associates. He has been a child welfare trainer for the past 30 years and recently received the prestigious Linda Pope award for excellence in training in Ohio. Brian has served as the Director of In-Service Training for the largest private child caring agency in Ohio and the Director of Child Care at a Northeast Ohio residential treatment center. Brian currently serves as a consultant with contract agencies of the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board Cuyahoga County. He is a sought-after consultant and trainer with child welfare organizations throughout the
Midwest.

Renee Lupi, Esq.

Renee Lupi, Esq. is currently employed by the ODJFS in the Office of Families and Children, Child Protective Services Unit, as a Human Services Policy Developer. In her current role, Renee provides technical assistance and policy interpretations to Ohio’s PCSAs and ODJFS staff. She also tracks legislation and creates regulatory rules to be used in the Ohio Administrative Code. Renee develops programs and policies to be used by PCSAs in the children services field. Additionally, Renee has conducted trainings and presentations throughout Ohio on federal legislation such as CARA and the FFPSA. Prior to working for ODJFS Renee served as a PCSA Attorney and Supervisor for over 10 years in Morrow County, Ohio at a quadruple combined JFS agency. Renee is a certified Guardian Ad Litem. Her expertise ranges from elder law/estate planning to juvenile/family law. As a law student she was a research assistant for the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy now FYLaw. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice/Sociology (Justice Studies) from Kent State University in 2000 and a Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School 2003.

Larry Lynch

Larry Lynch brings over 25 years of technology experience serving 10 years in the private sector at the Boeing Corporation, Rockwell International along with several shorter engagements with small consulting firms. Upon joining ODJFS, Larry was tasked to build and implement a statewide technical support program for ODJFS county partner agencies resulting in the remote support tech program. As County Operations Manager, Larry holds a seat on the OIS Senior Leadership Team advocating for all county IT operations including the County User Experience (UX) team, Remote Support Technicians, Service Level Agreements (SLA), Business Relationship Management (BRM) and hardware budgeting & procurement.

Karen McGormley

Karen McGormley is the Project Manager over Children Services Transformation at the ODFJS Office of Families and Children (OFC). Prior to transitioning back to OFC, she served in the same role at the Children Services Transformation Office. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her previous work at OFC where she served in a variety of roles since July 2013 including the Project Manager over the development of the Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator Program; the Section Chief over Substitute Care and Permanency in the Bureau of Child and Adult Protective Services; and as a SACWIS Business Analyst. Karen began her career as a caseworker for Butler County Children Services before being hired at Franklin County Children Services also as an ongoing caseworker. Most of her time at Franklin County was spent as an adoption assessor and then an adoption supervisor. Karen also managed both the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program and ICPC office at Franklin County. Karen has over 27 years of experience in children services in Ohio.

Holly Miller

Holly Miller, Esq. is a defense attorney for parents and a Guardian ad Litem for children in the Lucas County Juvenile Court. She has been participating in the Healthy Baby Court since December 2018. Her private practice focuses on family and business law. Previously, she worked at Ford Motor Company World Headquarters with a focus on contractual risk management and insurance coverage. Holly received her J. D. from the University of Toledo College of Law and her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Toledo.

Lauren Morosky

Lauren Morosky oversees ROX community-based programming including corporate workshops, summer camps, community outreach, parent workshops and ROX collaborative program delivery. She regularly presents ROX research and programming at school professional development workshops, state and national conferences and local and community events. Prior to joining the ROX team, Morosky spent 9 years as a high school counselor and has worked both in private and public-school settings. Learn the newest insights and practical intervention strategies from the country’s largest, first-of-its-kind national survey with 10,678 5th-12th grade girls. From confidence, body image, sexting and social media to school, academics, career planning and leadership, the findings from The Girls’ Index provide a roadmap for counselors, educators and caseworkers to recognize the challenges impacting girls. Learn tools and strategies for creating stronger girls, safer schools and successful students.

Randall Muth

Randall Muth is currently the Executive Director of the Mahoning County, Ohio, Children Services Board where he oversees all public child welfare operations at the county level. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Kent State University and Juris Doctor from the University of Akron. He began his career in 1993 with the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office where he prosecuted juvenile delinquency complaints. After a year and half in that role, he entered private practice where he focused on family and criminal law. In 1999, Director Muth returned to public service as in-house counsel for the Stark County Department of Job and Family Services where he prosecuted child abuse and neglect complaints. He was appointed as the executive director of the Wayne County, Ohio, Children Services Board in 2006 where he served until moving to his current position in 2013. Director Muth has served two terms as a trustee for the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, a trade association representing all 88 Ohio county children services agencies. He also has chaired its Legislative Committee and serves as lead counsel for PCSAO’s Amicus Brief program.

Alexandra Nardo

Alexandra Nardo is the Family and Children Community Administrator at the Ohio Department of Education. In this role, she coordinates family engagement initiatives with the Department and outside partners, as well as oversees the federal foster care education program. Prior to joining the Ohio Department of Education in 2019, Alexandra was a teacher for five years in both Chicago and Columbus.

Aubrey Page

Aubrey Page is an educator, consultant, advocate, and parent coach. While being a foster parent, she learned that an estimated 5% of all kids have a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, she started advocating for the millions of children with the symptoms and educating others. In November of 2020, she started The Change Starts Here Collaborative to provide resources and training to parents and professionals working with children of any brain-based disability.

Bhumika Patel

Bhumika Patel joined PCSAO in March 2018 to serve as Anti-Human Trafficking Coordinator and transitioned to the Ohio START team in February 2021. Prior to joining PCSAO, Bhumika served as Regional Coalition Specialist in the Anti-Human Trafficking Program at The Salvation Army of Greater Cincinnati. At The Salvation Army, she facilitated training, awareness, and coalition-building activities in Southwest Ohio. Bhumika attained her Master of Arts in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati in 2014; she received her Bachelor of Arts in Women’s Studies from Agnes Scott College in 2012.

Rebecca (Becky) Phillips

Rebecca (Becky) Phillips is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Social Work (CSW), where her research focuses on addressing the prevalence and impact of occupational stress within HHS systems, particularly through the use of multi-level and theory-based approaches to designing and implementing solutions. Becky currently works as a member of a research team studying inter-agency implementation of client programs within child welfare service systems. Prior to her enrollment in the CSW Ph.D program, in May of 2017 Becky received her MSW from The Ohio State University, with a concentration on Community and Social Justice. In addition to her MSW, Rebecca has received an M.A. in Child Development and Human Studies from Tufts University, as well as dual BAs in Psychology and English from the University of Rochester. During the time between graduation from Tufts and enrollment in OSU, Becky worked as a practitioner in a community mental health agency based in Burlington, Vermont, where she first provided therapeutic in-home family-based services (IFBS), before being promoted to the position of team leader for the IFBS team.

Tracy A. Pritchard, MSW, LISW-S

Tracy A. Pritchard, MSW, LISW-S is a Professor of Social Work Instruction and the Child Welfare UPP Coordinator for Ohio’s University Consortium for Child and Adult Services (OUCCAS). He has been with Ohio University since 2005. He has worked as a Field Education Coordinator, faculty within Regional Higher Education at Ohio University Eastern and Zanesville and the UPP Coordinator for OU. He has a social work practice in eastern Ohio and the Upper Ohio Valley region of WV.

Jo Simonsen

Jo Simonsen recently joined Kinnect as a Regional Director for OhioKAN, the statewide kinship and adoption navigator program. She is a member of the Citizen Review Panel for Central Ohio and Co-Chairs the Ohio Interagency Council on Youth. She previously served as the Family Systems Advocacy Director for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network, providing leadership to the Linking Systems of Care for Ohio’s Youth Project, a federal demonstration grant spanning Ohio’s child-serving systems awarded to the Ohio Attorney General’s office. During her seventeen years at the state’s domestic violence coalition, Jo provided domestic violence technical assistance to more than thirty public children’s service agencies and their community partners who were implementing the Safe and Together model. She also privately consults as an expert witness in criminal and civil domestic violence cases.

Rick Shepler

Rick Shepler is the director, Center for Innovative Practices, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor with supervising counselor designation and is the external project lead for the Ohio Department of Mental Health’s Intensive Home-Based Treatment initiative. He is also the co-developer of the Integrated Co-Occurring Treatment (ICT) model, one of the first treatment models designed specifically for youth with the co-occurring disorders of substance abuse and mental illness. In partnership with youth and families, Rick co-led the Ohio Department of Mental Health’s Resiliency Leadership Ohio initiative and was awarded the Resiliency Leadership Award for his work. In partnership with youth and families, he has developed mental health promotional videos on resiliency and children’s mental health, youth and family stories of resiliency, and resiliency and suicide prevention, which can be found at ResiliencyOhio.org.

Dan Shook

Dan Shook has over 23 years of State and Local Government experience. Additionally, he has 3 years’ experience at a nationally recognized not-for-profit agency, focusing on older youth adoption. He has provided many opportunities to serve state and local, public and private agencies, and most importantly children and families of Ohio and beyond. He has immense experience with that State budget process, cost analysis procedures, procurement of goods and services and tracking of expenditures against budgets. Further, his expertise extends to leading workgroups and team projects designed for revenue maximization, cost containment, fund flexibility and efficiency. Mr. Shook has a long history of public service with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, serving as the Auditor Section Chief, Title IV-E Policy and Assistant Bureau Chief; Bureau Chief, Assistant Deputy Director and Deputy Director. Mr. Shook currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer at Franklin County Children Services Mr. Shook has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management and a Master of Business Administration in Finance.

Victoria Smith

Victoria Smith currently serves as the Quality Compliance Manager at Bridges. She was previously the staff attorney at the Family and Youth Law Center at Capital University Law School where she managed the Children’s Justice Act initiatives and program planning in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and the Supreme Court of Ohio. She served foster youth across Ohio to bust down legal and educational barriers and worked to educate the community on family and juvenile law issues. She has also served as a CASA since 2018 and has worked with current and former foster youth in child care settings since her undergraduate years at The Ohio State University. Victoria received her JD from Capital University Law School.

Jessica Stern

Jessica Stern is the COO and co-founder of Connect Our Kids. Born and raised in St. Marys, Ohio, Jessica lived with a foster family as a young girl. One of eight children, Jessica has a great interest in reducing trauma and family separation. With a background in philanthropy and communications, Jessica has received numerous awards in business, as well as for her leadership with non-profit organizations. From small fundraising events to producing a benefit concert with the legendary Bob Marley Band, Jessica is passionate about creating positive change in the world. She was awarded the Key to the City of Destin, Florida for her work on behalf of the World Food Program.

Cynthia Thomas

Cynthia Thomas is the Co-Owner of Sans Pareil Training Group, an Executive Coach, Professional Trainer, Facilitator, and Motivational Speaker. Her primary areas of focus include: Leadership, Professional Development, Organizational Change, Customer Service, Diversity, and Sales. All delivered in an inspirational message that energizes participants and motivates them to return to work and home…with an attitude to perform at a higher level. Over the past 30 years, Cynthia has held positions from Sr. Manager to Vice President while working across the following fields: medical, judicial, automotive, transportation, financial, retail, and, consulting. She has worked with a number of organizations, i.e. Sunoco, Ford, GM, Chrysler, BP, Unilever, Shell, Bank of NY Mellon, Citizens Bank, Veteran’s Administration, Honeywell, et.al. Most of her consulting/training/speaking focus on training needs, recruitment, leadership, performance mgmt. team building, customer focus, sales, diversity, and, supplier diversity. Her facilitation opportunities have included such topics as Growing Your Bench Strength leadership/management, Raising Your Personal Development, Improving Your Customer Focus, Diversity, Supplier Diversity, Sexual Harassment, Change etc. She has spoken to groups as large as 8,000 and served on the agenda of numerous conferences. Cynthia also serves as an executive coach for various members the Lucas County Children Services management team.

Greg Tipping

Greg Tipping has been living in the health and human services world for the past 27 years. He started as a frontline caseworker in a metropolitan county in Ohio determining Medicaid, SNAP and TANF for five years, then after a short time with the EPA, he became the assistant Director in Wood County Ohio. In 2004 joined Northwoods, a document imaging and software development company. He spent 17 years deploying cutting edge technological solutions to over 140 State and County HHS customers. Greg recently launched his own consultancy, The Tipco Group, to share his expertise and experience with organizations across the country.

Mary Wachtel

Mary Wachtel, PCSAO Director of Public Policy, brings 25 years’ experience advocating for children and families, including administrative and legislative advocacy and building grassroots support for issues. She is skilled in distilling complex policy issues for policymakers and the public in order to create understanding and support for issues.

Ashley Watson

Ashley Watson is a healthcare attorney in BMD’s Columbus office who works with nonprofits, trade associations, healthcare practices, individuals and businesses. She is experienced in healthcare policy and regulatory compliance, legislative and government affairs, grant administration, and policy development.

Marisa Weisel

Marisa Weisel is the deputy director for Strategic Initiatives at the Ohio Department of Medicaid. Prior to that, she served as a senior advisor with Vorys Health Care Advisors where she provided health care and Medicaid consulting services to providers, business decision makers, state and federal government agencies, and professional associations. Her work focused on responding to the complex needs of health care consumers by discovering, developing, and implementing innovative policies and programs.

David Wigent

David Wigent has 28 years Human Services experience including CPS, Fraud Investigation, Senior Services, and Management. He has been the Director of Wood JFS for eight years. Dave founded the statewide Collabor8 call center project. He has sixteen years experience in document imaging and integration issues and lead the BGSU/Wood JFS SACWIS data mining research project. Dave now consults in the design of omnichannel communication systems for Human Services agencies.

Andrea Williams

Andrea Williams has worked in the foster care adoption field for 16 of her 17 years in child welfare. Andrea is currently the Director of Training for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, where she has been responsible for the development and delivery of curriculum involving the child-focused recruitment model, and other related topics, to child welfare professionals, legal professionals and other stakeholders across North America. Andrea began her career in Fairfield County as ongoing caseworker and swiftly moved into the foster care adoption unit as an adoption caseworker. After 10 years in casework, Andrea moved into the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter position where she helped embed the child-focused recruitment model within their permanency unit. In 2016, Andrea began her work at Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption as an Adoption Program Manager where she was charged with the oversight of all 56 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters in the state of Ohio. During this time, she helped in training and coaching of the child-focused recruitment model, helped recruiters to overcome systemic barriers to permanency and monitored fidelity to the CFR model. Andrea received a B.A. from Ohio Northern University with a major in psychology and minor in sociology.

Amber Willoughby-Phelps

Amber Willoughby-Phelps joined Kinnect with experience in the fields of social welfare and policy, including hands-on social work and expertise in building and implementing evidence-based programming. After attaining her master’s degree in Social Work from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and a Juris Doctor from Western Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Amber worked for Cuyahoga county in the juvenile prosecutor’s office, serving as a liaison to parents of youth impacted by incarceration and the court system. Most recently, Amber served as District Senior Project Manager for Lorain City Schools working in collaboration with the Governor’s office implementing and evaluating House bill 70. Amber is currently the regional director for region three – serving Cuyahoga, Summit and Medina county.

Angela Wilson

Angela Wilson is Regional Director of Youth Centered Permanency Roundtables at Kinnect. She has worked in the Social Service field since 1998. Although she began her career working with the elderly and disabled population, in 2007 she felt a tug to transition to working with families. In the transition, Angela was somehow always assigned to those considered “high-risk” and connected to the Department of Children and Family Services. Having worked with families for over twenty years as a Wrap Specialist, Early Child Educator and Nurturing Parenting Coach, Angela is passionate about encouraging clients and professionals to believe that nothing is impossible if you are willing to do the work. As a trainer, Angela takes pride in sharing engagement techniques and developing strategies for successful engagement of families with multisystem involvement.

Timyra Wilson

Timyra Wilson has over 15 years of experience in child welfare. She has been a Business Analyst with ODJFS on the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) project since 2008. Timyra has worked on the SACWIS Help Desk and on the SACWIS Data Reporting team. She is currently responsible for assessing training needs, working with the SACWIS team to develop, create & deliver SACWIS training in a variety of methods, and provide Technical Assistance to the SACWIS user community.

Lauri Wolfe

Lauri Wolfe has worked in the field of child welfare since 2006, both as a caseworker and a therapeutic foster parent for at-risk youth. In 2016, she began focusing on the effects of secondary trauma on child welfare workers and other first responders. Her experience
fuels her training topics; keeping them focused on decreasing stress and increasing skills. In 2017, she completed a one-year leadership training program and is eager to train and encourage others. In 2020, she became a certified trainer for the world-wide Youth Mental Health First Aid program. She holds Bachelor of Psychology and Master of Criminal Justice degrees from the University of Toledo.

Back to Main Registration