We are excited to invite you to be a part of our first presentation of the Alaska Child Welfare Conference where the theme is “Safe, Thriving, and Connected.”
This conference seeks to improve our knowledge and skill in providing child welfare services in Alaska. Our audience is focused on four important groups: OCS employees, resource families (foster, adoptive, and kinship care families), tribal members (ICWA workers, tribal social services, tribal court personnel), and child advocates (GALs and CASAs). We all hold a piece in our State’s response to keeping children safe and have crafted the conference to hear those different voices and look at child welfare through different lenses.
Each day will start with an all-conference plenary, followed by a choice of three concurrent workshops in the morning, and three concurrent workshops in the afternoon. For the concurrent workshops, you do not need to pre-select which one to attend. You may freely select which one to attend live on the day of the conference and watch the other two recorded workshops at your own convenience. We will end each day with a thought-provoking panel, grappling with a challenging question and offering a chance to look at these challenges through the different lenses of our participants.
This conference is presented virtually, so wherever you are in Alaska, we invite you to participate. There are the themes for each day:
November 4 - Safe
November 5 - Thriving
November 6 - Connected
All sessions will be recorded and available for you to watch on this site until December 6, 2021.
Francine Eddy-Jones, Casey Family Programs
Miriam Titus, Tanana Chiefs Conference - Opening Prayer
Miriam Titus is from Minto, Alaska, but lives and works in Fairbanks, Alaska. She is the proud parent of Evangeline Titus and Tristan Carey Jr. Her parents are Luke and Alice Titus who live in Minto. She has been working for Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) since graduating from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in May 2000 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a Minor in Human Services. She started her career life at TCC working as a Substance Abuse Counselor at the Old Minto Family Recovery Camp. She also had the privilege of working at home in Minto as the Village Counselor. Other job experiences include Family Advocate for the Head Start Program and the Child Care Coordinator for the Child Care Assistance Program.
Miriam Titus is currently the Tribal Social Services Program Manager and oversees a staff of four at the office in Fairbanks. She is very proud of the work that we all do because she knows that it is a team effort to keep our children safe.
Francine Eddy-Jones Xaasteen, is Eagle/Wolf of the Yanyeidi clan of the Taku Tlingit people on her mother's side and Scotch-Irish on her father's side. She was born and raised in Sitka. Francine's parents instilled the strong values of family, culture, education, and community service to their seven children. Francine and her husband, Laird, are both retired and live in Juneau.
She holds a Master's in Social Work from the University of Utah, Graduate School of Social Work. The seed for her deep passion for the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was planted as a graduate student in 1978 and flourished when she returned home in 1980 when Tlingit & Haida established their ICWA Program. Francine served 24 years as the Director of the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Tribal Family and Youth Services Department, retiring in October 2020. During her tenure, Francine was instrumental in building collaborations and partnerships across tribal, state, private, and national programs; served 21 years as one of five elected Tribal Co-Chairs of the Statewide Alaska Tribal-State Collaboration Group that is committed to embracing and implementing the spirit and tenets of ICWA in Alaska; and served as one of the three elected Tribal Co-Leads in the negotiations for the historic Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact (Compact) signed at the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention in October 2017.
Currently, Francine is a contractor with Casey Family Programs, a national operating foundation based out of Seattle. Her role is to provide technical assistance and consultation services to coordinate communication efforts and support the successful implementation of the Compact.
Participants will increase their understanding about the many pathways that lead to parental misuse of opioids and other substances. The impact of opioid misuse on the parent’s ability to provide safe and responsive care will be explored along with strategies to increase safety and success with these parents and their children. Lastly, the case will be made to ensure common sense, barrier reduction, and reasonable efforts are applied in our helping responses to give these families the best opportunities to thrive.
Pamela Baston, JBS International
Pamela Baston has 42 years of experience working in a variety of capacities in the health and human services field including serving appointments under two Florida Governors to manage Florida’s publicly funded drug prevention and treatment system (one of the largest in the country). After leaving State government, in 1995 she moved to Key West Florida and ran Safe Port, the largest family-centered treatment program in the country at that time for child-welfare involved pregnant and parenting women with concurrent opioid, methamphetamine, and other substance use and mental health disorders and their children (serving 100 people including children at any given time). She and her young son at that time moved into this public housing-based treatment campus for five months to develop an in-depth understanding of the needs of this population of focus and to increase associated expertise in relevant policy and program development. In 2013, Pam joined JBS International where she provides training and TA with tribal communities through the American Indian Alaska Native Addiction Technology Transfer Center (AI AN ATTC). She is dually certified as a Master Certified Addiction Professional (MCAP) and a Certified Prevention Professional (CPP).
The 1115 Waiver can be confusing--the changes and opportunities it presents for obtaining services. Join us for this 1115 Waiver 101 session to get your questions answered.
Kristina Weltzin, Division of Behavioral Health
Bunti Reed, Division of Behavioral Health
Bunti Reed has more than 26 years of experience in providing services, administration, program design, and the supervision of children’s behavioral health and developmental disability programs. In 2012, Bunti moved to the Office of Children’s Services central office to become their community services program manager where she supervised multiple grants providing services to children and families. As an advocate for community services, as a specialist in the issues of children of incarcerated parents, and as a private citizen who is a parent of a grown son with TBI, she has presented in multiple state and national venues such as the CWLA National Convention, four National Child Abuse Prevention Conferences, The AK Children of Incarcerated Parents Summit, and four National Parent Leadership Conferences, two of which she chaired. In 2019, she came to the Division of Behavioral Health to provide statewide direction for child and youth residential treatment services, training initiatives, and transition and prevention services.
Bunti moved to Alaska 29 years ago from California where she had worked in special needs Medi-Cal (Medicaid) as well as being a small business owner. She has a BA in Liberal Arts with a Social Science emphasis from Thomas Edison University, an AAS in Chemical Dependency Treatment from Peninsula College, and a Certificate in Children’s Mental Health from the University of Alaska Anchorage.
When taking an intergenerational life-course perspective, intervention and prevention become interconnected. From prevention to response and treatment, our collective efforts matter. Whether our work focuses on the child, parent, teen, or system, we all need to understand our role in preventing or mitigating the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Anchored in data, this session will describe the connection between household challenges and adverse childhood experiences, explore the risk behind the challenge, protections, and linking strategies. We truly can make a difference by shifting the life-course trajectory of one individual/family at a time, but we have to be coordinated and focused on the headwater (root causes).
Jared Parrish, Alaska Division of Public Health
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Jared Parrish is the senior Maternal and Child Health epidemiologist at the Alaska Division of Public Health and co-chairs the Alaska Statewide Violence and Injury Prevention Partnership. He developed the Alaska Longitudinal Child Abuse and Neglect Linkage Project (ALCANLink) which integrates both population survey and administrative data sources for studying child and adolescent injuries longitudinally in statewide populations and has replicated these methods in other jurisdictions. His current research interests focus on identifying factors predicting elevated ACEs, early outcomes, and incorporating novel methods for applied surveillance with an emphasis on improving timeliness, efficacy, and utility of data that lead to prevention.
Pat Sidmore, Alaska Division of Public Health
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Pat Sidmore is the Health Schools Specialist with the Division of Public Health. He holds degrees in economics and social work and studied elementary education. He is the co-author of Alaska's trauma-engaged school framework. He has presented more than 200 times to more than 11,000 Alaskans about how childhood adversity impacts our state and what can be done about it.
Matt Hirschfeld, MD/PhD, Alaska Native Medical Center
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Matt Hirschfeld MD/PhD, moved to Alaska in 2005 to become a pediatric hospitalist at Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC). Today, in addition to his clinical work, he serves as ANMC’s Medical Director of Maternal Child Health Services, where he focuses on strategic planning and development of services to improve the health and wellness of Alaska Native women and children. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for Bean’s Café / The Children’s Lunchbox, an organization dedicated to fighting hunger for all people in Anchorage, Alaska. Finally, Matt is on the Board of the All Alaska Pediatric Partnership, a 501c3 organization that is dedicated to improving the health and wellness of the next generation of Alaska families.
Overview of the Child in Need of Aid legal process in Alaska. The presentation will include how and when other stakeholders, such as law enforcement and CAC members may interact with the process.
Carla Erickson, Alaska Department of Law
Carla Erickson is the Supervising Attorney for the Child Protection section of the Department of Law. Attorneys in this section represent the Office of Children’s Services in all aspect of Child in Need of Aid cases. She has been practicing child welfare law over 20 years.
This session will explain what a Child Advocacy Center is and how tribal child welfare workers can be involved. The use of a Multidisciplinary Team will be explained including the members and their different roles in a child abuse case.
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Traci McGarry has dedicated both her professional and personal life to preventing child abuse and neglect, and advocating for changes that improve the lives of Alaska’s children and families. Traci moved to Alaska in 2010 and was a school counselor for Bering Strait School District. She started her job at Kawerak in 2012 as Program Director for Children and Family Services and the Child Advocacy Center. Since then, Traci has been elected as Secretary for the Alaska Children’s Alliance, Northern Co-Chair for the Tribal State Collaboration Group, and Co-Lead for the Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact. Traci is committed to collaborating with local, state, and nationwide entities to improve and expand services offered to Alaska’s children and families. Outside of work, Traci is a member of the Nome Public Safety Commission and a community DJ for KNOM. She enjoys traveling and reading and reading about traveling.
We will look at national and local prevention strategies for keeping children safe and with their families. How do we implement best practices for prevention in Alaska?
Charity Carmody, Alaska Impact Alliance
Charity Carmody is a fourth generation Alaskan. She and her husband, Kris, have four grown children and two grandchildren. They first became foster parents at the age of 21.
Charity is a Top 40 Under 40 recipient, an Athena Society Inductee, member of Anchorage 100+ Women who Care, and Anchorage Rotary member.
Charity has been in finance and insurance since starting her career in 1994. She started her own company, Carmody Insurance Agency in 2007, in Anchorage, Alaska.
She is currently the facilitator/consultant for the Alaska Impact Alliance under her business and strategic consulting company, Beautiful Step, LLC.
Charity co-founded Beacon Hill in 2009. Beacon Hill has a foster care prevention program called Safe Families for Children Alaska that operates in six cities. It operates Family Support Centers in Anchorage and Wasilla that host supervised visits and mentorship for children in foster care with their biological families. Beacon Hill also manages the Heart Gallery of Alaska which recruits adoptive homes for children in foster care that are legally free for adoption and are waiting for a forever family. The Heart Gallery of Alaska operates state-wide. In 2017, Beacon Hill opened a thrift store and café whose profits fund the operating expenses of the organization. Charity acted as the volunteer Executive Director until 2018 and remains on the board. Charity received her bachelor’s in business and MBA from Alaska Pacific University where she now teaches as an adjunct business professor. She is currently finishing her Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University in Boston.
Often times within child welfare we hear the term best interests of children. This concept frequently drives services, decisions, and court orders that greatly affect the lives of children and youth in care. Hear from a panel of child welfare professionals as they discuss the questions, considerations, and determinations for what is in the best interests of children.
Kevin Campbell, Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness
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Kevin Campbell is an American Child Protection and Children’s Mental Health Innovator and the founder of the Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness. Kevin developed Family Finding, a set of strategies now utilized throughout North America, Australia, and Western Europe to engage networks of family members and other important adults to promote the safety, healthy development, and healing of children and youth involved with government systems. Kevin has been an administrator, director, and vice president of private social service agencies for over 30 years.
What do older youth in foster care need to Thrive? Protective and Promotive factors are key to building the success of older youth in care. Panelists from Facing Foster Care in Alaska will share personal stories of resilience, resources available to older youth, the importance of relationships, and how to draw on lived experiences to improve direct practice and systems improvements.
Amanda Metivier, UAA Child Welfare Academy Office of Youth Empowerment
Amanda Metivier (BSW 2008, MSW 2012) is the Interim Director of the UAA Child Welfare Academy and an Adjunct Faculty in Human Services at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Amanda is an alumni of Alaska’s foster care system and has dedicated her career and personal life to child welfare. She co-founded the foster youth-led non-profit Facing Foster Care in Alaska in 2003 and serves on the Board of Directors. She has been a foster and adoptive parent to teens for more than a decade. Amanda has received local, state, and national recognition for her work to amplify the voices of foster youth in direct services and advocacy.
We will discuss the implementation of the Cultural Resource Guide and coordination of Cultural Support Services. Workshop attendees will learn how Cultural Support Service Providers are identified through collaboration between the Tribe, parent, and OCS, and are compensated through the Request for Funds process at OCS. Join us as we have a conversation about ways to link parents to Cultural Support Services in their community!
Melanie Fredericks (Nagcuk) is the daughter of George and Geraldine “Lulu” Beans and the grand-daughter of the late Patrick and Irene (Peterson) Beans, and Fred and Domitilla (Afcan) Alstrom. She was born in Bethel and raised in St. Mary’s with her five siblings and extended family.
Melanie moved to Bethel in 2005, where she currently lives with her husband, Jerry (Dada) Fredericks and their three children- John, MaeLynn, and Jayden. She loves to spend time outside doing subsistence activities with her family, taking boat trips to the Holitna River, and volunteering in various ways within the community.
She is a graduate of Mount Edgecumbe High School and received a BA Degree in Social Work from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She has been with AVCP since 2012 serving Tribes as an ICWA Advocate, Healthy Families Program Manager, and currently as the Family Services Division Director.
Casey Groat, Office of Children’s Services
Casey Groat, Baayin, is a Tribal citizen of Naknek Native Village where her and her four sisters were raised by their loving parents, Guy Groat III, from Bristol Bay, and Darlene Groat (Ivanoff), from Unalakleet. Casey received her Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services and minor in American Cultural Studies from Western Washington University. Casey Groat has worked for the Office of Children’s Services since 2005 and has served in the position of Statewide ICWA Coordinator since 2014.
Dee Pearson, Office of Children’s Services
Dee Pearson is a Social Services Program Coordinator where she manages the Office of Children’s Services Foster Care and Adoptions Provider Payment Unit and the Foster Care Special Needs Quality Assurance. Dee has been with the Office of Children’s Services for 12 years.
Tisha Simmons, Office of Children’s Services
Tisha Simmons spent her childhood growing up in McGrath and Tok. After high school she moved to Fairbanks where she raised her two daughters and graduated from the UAF BSW program. Tisha has been working for the Office of Children’s Services since 2007 and is currently a Protective Services Manager l overseeing the Fairbanks Investigations and Assessment units, as well as, the Delta and Nome offices. Her passion is rural social work and she enjoys strategizing ways to incorporate cultural activities and supports into all aspects of child protection work.
Alaska tribal organizations are developing innovative and culturally responsive approaches to supporting families, instituting wellness, recruiting and supporting resource families, and providing prevention services to the people they serve. Learn about some of the promising practices that are happening around the state developed by tribal organizations to respond to the unique needs of their communities.
Cyndi Smith, Knik Tribal Council
Charlene Naulty, Aleut Community of St Paul Island
Amalia Monreal, Central Council of Tlingit-Haida
Amalia Monreal has spent the last 30 years living and working in Juneau, the State capital of Alaska. She is Lingít (Tlingit) L'eeneidí Áak'w Kwáan (Raven, Dog Salmon), from the Big Dipper House. The Clan gave her the name, X’aa aan Tlaa / translation, Mother of the and in this area. Amalia has been providing a progressive range of services for Tribal Citizens. Her dedication and compassion are well spoken of by her colleagues, the people she serves and the community members who have worked alongside her throughout the years. In addition to providing counseling services to children, youth, adults, and families, Amalia developed a psychoeducational group for women called, Yéil kwooú shaawát / Raven tail woman. This therapeutic group integrates western therapies with traditional and tribal values to deliver a holistic approach to healing. Amalia’s approach to counseling focuses on trauma and intergenerational trauma, its impact on identity, relationships, childrearing, and individual resiliency.
Amalia finds personal joy in her spiritual ceremonies, singing, drumming, and dancing traditional songs of the S.E. clans in her dance group. She enjoys time spent with her family & friends and walking & debriefing with her dog Louie at the end of the day.
Information on the Wellness Program at Tlingit & Haida in Juneau, Alaska, and how the program can assist in identifying youth and families that may need support to prevent or assist with involvement in child welfare. The program focuses on the well-being of the family through culturally-based programs that occur inside and outside of the school setting. Within the Wellness Program, Elders are involved to pass on culture, show support, and to give others a way to honor Elders. The Wellness Program connections between youth, family and Elders have helped our children on their journey to wellness.
Mary Johnson, Central Council of Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Mary Johnson is Yup’ik and is enrolled in the Native Village of Scammon Bay and Sitka Tribe of Alaska. Her father Ralph Johnson of Scammon Bay, residing in Sitka, and her mother is the late Jill Johnson from Montana. Mary was born and raised in Sitka where she resided until moving to Fairbanks to attend the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Social Work and graduate degree in Community Psychology.
After college, Mary and her husband, worked and raised their three boys in Fairbanks while working for the native community for 21 years prior to moving back to the Southeast. She is currently the Director of the Tribal Family & Youth Services department for Tlingit & Haida. Her previous work includes ICWA Advocate, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) as a therapist and managed the Child Protection Program at Tanana Chiefs Conference.
Kyle Worl, Central Council of Tlingit Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Kyle Worl is Tlingit of the Lukaax̱.ádi clan, Deg Hit’an Athabascan and Yup'ik. His father is Rod Worl of the Shangukeidí from Klukwan, and his mother is Beverly Demientieff from Holy Cross on the Yukon River. Kyle was born in 1991 and raised between Fairbanks and Juneau before moving to Anchorage for high school and college. He graduated in 2016 from University of Alaska Anchorage with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Alaska Native Studies. While a student, Kyle was actively involved in several academic and extracurricular organizations at UAA, including Native Student Council in which he served as President his senior year.
After college, Kyle moved to Juneau to pursue learning the Tlingit language with his clan elders in a mentor-apprentice program through Sealaska Heritage. Kyle is also an award-winning athlete at Arctic Winter Games and the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. He is credited for spurring a revitalization of Native games in southeast Alaska as the first Native Youth Olympics (NYO) Coach for Juneau in over 25 years to bring a team to State NYO in 2018. He is also a Traditional Games coordinator for a region wide NYO program that spreads from Yakutat to Metlakatla. Since 2018, Kyle has worked as an Indian Education Cultural Specialist and Tlingit Language Teacher with the Juneau School District. Recently, Kyle was hired as the new Wellness Coordinator for Central Council Tlingit & Haida.
Learn more about Help Me Grow Alaska, a program dedicated to promoting healthy child development statewide by providing support and information to individuals and organizations who care for and about children and young adults. The vision at Help Me Grow Alaska is to ensure that every Alaskan child reaches their full potential by building a system where every kid has what they need to grow and succeed.
Elizabeth Schultz, Help Me Grow Alaska
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Elizabeth Schultz Elizabeth joined Help Me Grow Alaska in August 2019 as the Help Me Grow Alaska Outreach Coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Natural Science and Psychology from Juniata College and a Master’s of Divinity from Princeton Seminary. Elizabeth has worked as a Presbyterian pastor, focusing on youth and families, community outreach, and national and international service opportunities. She most recently served as the Community and Nonprofit Liaison, and policy analyst on Housing and Homelessness, for Governor Bill Walker. In this role, she had the opportunity to build strong relationships within the nonprofit community, identify gaps and barriers, and work collaboratively to improve systems to meet various challenges faced by Alaskan families and communities. She also planned and implemented statewide interfaith forums and training for State of Alaska Commissioners and Division Directors on the Adverse Childhood Experiences study and trauma engaged response. Elizabeth and her husband, Matt, are the proud parents of three children and love to call Alaska home!
Overview of research focused on Indigenous child wellbeing. There were 25 self-identified Alaska Native foster care alumni, relative caregivers and foster parents who provided their knowledge, stories, and experiences of what child well-being is and should be in order to improve outcomes for Alaska Native children within child welfare. An Indigenous Connectedness Framework was updated as a result of this study and information will be shared about how the use of this framework could inform policy, practice and systemic change.
Dr. Jessica Saniguq Ullrich, University of Alaska Anchorage
Dr. Jessica Saniguq Ullrich is Inupiaq/Swiss/German/French, a mother of two children, wife, relative, friend, and community member that is determined to help restore what it means to be healthy and well from an Indigenous perspective. Jessica worked within child welfare in various capacities before going back to school to gain research and teaching skills that could be helpful within the broader Alaska community. This work is done with the love of our sacred children.
Research shows that when families are engaged in their child welfare intervention, safety, permanency, and well-bring are achieved more successfully. When families are a part of the process and their voices are heard, they are more motivated to make necessary changes. How is that done despite the typically adverse working relationship families encounter in the child welfare system?
Participants will learn ways to practice wellness and incorporate these personal practices into the workday. The discussion will also focus on the importance of making the mental health of our workforce a foundational priority in our policies and practice.
Renee Rafferty, Behavioral Health Department, Providence Health System
Renee Rafferty has been in the behavioral health field for 29 years with 24 of those being in a leadership role. Currently serving as the Regional Director of Behavioral Health for the Providence Health & Services, Alaska region, Renee is a licensed professional counselor and specializes in treating trauma. She has not only worked diligently to decrease the stigma associated with mental health and addiction but has also advocated the importance of mental health and wellness in the workplace, as this is something that she is passionate about.
This session will explore the historical context of inequities in the child protection system and how that influences our current biases about birth parents. We will also discuss the current conditions that are driving increased alcohol use among women/birthing people and review the basics about how FASD may manifest in both children and adults. Finally, strategies and resources that may be helpful to improve your success with adults with FASD on your caseload will be shared.
Marilyn Pierce-Bulger, Alaska Center for FASD
Marilyn Pierce-Bulger MN, FNP, CNM Marilyn is a family nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwife with 40 years’ experience providing care and creating services in the field of maternal and child health. She began her nursing career in Bethel and worked for many years at the Alaska Native Medical Center/Southcentral Foundation. She created Nutaqsiivik, a home visitation program (now at Southcentral Foundation) that supports high social risk families. During that work she discovered that 28% of the clients either had an identified diagnosis of FAS/FAE or were living and parenting unsuccessfully due to an undiagnosed cognitive impairment. That understanding led to her professional focus on FASD prevention and services for the next 25 years. Marilyn has worked as an MCH/FASD consultant for the State of Alaska, University of Alaska (UAA), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). She founded and was medical manager of the multidisciplinary Anchorage FASD Diagnostic Team (2009-2020). She created the non-profit, Alaska Center for FASD, in 2017 to address continuing concerns related to missed diagnosis/recognition, support, services, and advocacy for individuals who live with FASD and their families.
Overview of how families work with OCS in establishing a guardianship, when guardianship is an appropriate goal as opposed to Adoption, and ongoing supports once guardianship finalizes.
Jack Eddy, Office of Children’s Services
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Jack Eddy is the OCS’ Adoption & Guardianship Program Coordinator, supervising the State Office Unit that oversees Adoptions and Guardianships for children in custody, negotiates subsidies, issues adoption consents, and then manages post-finalization support services with families through the duration of their kids’ childhood.
Overview for both state and tribal workers and best practices to allow for a transfer to tribal court in a way that reduces the trauma/stress to the children involved.
Mishal Gaede, Tanana Chiefs Conference
Brittany Madros, Tribal Government & Justice Division
Brittany Madros is originally from Leavenworth, WA. As a young teen, she moved to Nulato, Alaska, and never left. She was pretty much adopted by the village. She attended school and graduated in Nulato. She married her high school sweetheart, Henry Madros, Sr., during the fire in Nulato in July 2015. They share 2 sons and 1 daughter; all Nulato tribal members. Brittany worked for the Nulato Tribe as Director of Human Services and was also the Tribal Court Clerk for 7+ years. Brittany and her family moved to Fairbanks in 2016, she worked for Fairbanks Native Association for 2+ years before coming to work at TCC. In August 2018, she is moved to Tanana Chiefs Conference and took her ‘dream job’ as the Tribal Government Specialist within the Tribal Development Dept. However, in 2020, TCC reorganized their non-health services and created a new Division, the Tribal Government & Justice Division. Brittany was appointed in May 2020 to the Division Director. She holds a UAF certificate in Rural Human Services and A.A.S. in Human Services. She is currently working on her B.A. in Rural Development and a minor in Tribal Management. Brittany’s passion is working with tribal governments and assisting them to find local solutions to local problems through exercising their inherent tribal sovereignty and reawakening the use of the restorative tribal justice system. She also has a knack for grant writing and is always researching funding opportunities for TCC Region tribes and/or TCC to contribute to strengthening tribal governments and tribal justice in Alaska.
Mishal Gaede is the daughter of the late Elmer and Ruby Gaede, of Soldotna, and the late Dora Tooyak Weston, of Point Hope. Mishal is an enrolled tribal member of Native Village of Point Hope. Being a Native person adopted outside of her own Tribe and culture has taught her to be strong, yet sensitive to many issues relating to identity and valuing and practicing culture and traditions.
Mishal has had the privilege of working with TCC region Tribes in the child protection arena since 1996 (about 25 years). Mishal has worked with the village-based social workers in the TCC region, as well as with the Tribal Court Judges and the families involved with their children in protective custody, mainly in Tribal Court jurisdiction. Holding numerous positions at Tanana Chiefs Conference, from ICWA Advocate, Child Protection Program Manager, and her current role for the last 10 years, Tribal Court Facilitator. She is enthusiastic about Tribes and communities that are pro-active and coming up with innovative and caring ways to help their tribal members move toward positive change. Mishal believes that while Alaska’s indigenous people have survived generations of cultural suppression and change as well as an explosion of negative forces, that she/they are resilient and stepping back into the Circle where healing can begin. If a tribal court and/or a party in a court case need technical assistance in the TCC Region or have questions in regards to a tribal court child protection case, please contact me.
Drawing from the work of Darla Henry’s 3-5-7 Model, this session will teach three key principles for preparing children for permanency. Participants will learn best practices for transitioning children in a manner to promotes safety and stability in within the new family.
Brenda Ursel, Alaska Center for Resource Families
Brenda Ursel has been with ACRF as an Adoption Specialist for the last 15 years. She holds a Masters Degree in Counselling Psychology, and has completed post graduate work in therapy focusing on foster and adoptive families. Brenda is also a Trust Based Relational Intervention Educator and was the first person to introduce this training to Alaska. Brenda is an adoptive parent of three children.
ROCK Mat-Su and Beacon Hill share the importance of family contact and the innovative approach currently being piloted in the Mat-Su. What is best practice of family contact? How can everyone involved support family contact that is meaningful, healthy, culturally centered and best for the child?
Dawn Paulson is a born and raised Alaskan. She began her career after college working in all areas of child protection with the state of Idaho. After returning to Alaska in 2006 she led groups on parenting, marriage, Casey Family Program’s Strengthening Families, and more. She has volunteered with Beacon Hill since January 2015 and came on staff in March 2016 beginning as a Family Coach Supervisor for Safe Families for Children and then expanding the Mat-Su services to include Family Support Center and Heart Gallery of Alaska support. Dawn has a passion for strengthening families in Mat-Su. She and her husband of almost 20 years live in Palmer where they raise their four children. Their home is always open to others whether it be neighborhood children, supporting foster and adoptive families or hosting children through Safe Families for Children.
Lindsey Prunella is the Operations Manager for R.O.C.K. Mat-Su. Lindsay is a transplant from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has a master’s degree in social work and moved to Alaska for the first time in 2011 to work at Alaska Island Community Services in Wrangell, as a mental health clinician and prevention specialist. She moved back to Michigan after a few years, but Alaska kept calling and she moved to Palmer and began work for the Mat-Su Health Foundation in her current position in 2017. Lindsay had always imagined becoming a therapist and supporting individuals and families as they navigate life and the many challenges that exist. She was introduced to community organizing during her first job out of graduate school and found herself moving away from direct service to positions that target improving systems that impact children and families. Lindsay currently lives in the Butte area of the Mat-Su with her partner, their toddler, three dogs, two cats, two aquariums, and too many plants.
LGBTQ+ youth are over-represented in foster care compared to their LGBTQ+ peers and have worse experiences and outcomes as discrimination, psychiatric hospitalization, criminalization, placement in congregate care and exiting care to homelessness. Participants will discuss how to have proactive conversations with youth about identity and ensure youth are safe and supported with family, in care, in school, and in the community.
Currey Cook (he/him/his) is the Director of the Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project and Counsel in the National Headquarters Office of Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people with HIV. At Lambda Legal, Cook advocates on behalf of LGBTQ youth and youth living with HIV in child welfare and juvenile justice settings and on behalf of youth experiencing homelessness. He works at the state and federal level and achieves systemic reform through a mix of litigation, proactive law and policy development, and training for professionals, including child advocates, working with youth in out-of-home care. Cook’s advocacy has resulted in explicit nondiscrimination protection for youth at the federal level, including the first-ever LGBTQ-specific policy recommendations from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. In 2017, Cook co-authored Safe Havens: Closing the Gap Between Recommended Practice for Transgender and Gender-Expansive Youth in Out-of-Home Care, a groundbreaking report capturing legal protections for youth at the state level and sharing the voices and lived experiences of trans youth in care. Cook’s advocacy has been instrumental in defending and advancing state level protections for youth in Alaska, Kentucky, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada, and North Carolina. He currently co-leads the state policy coalition for the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign and a legislative work group that fights against state laws that seek to grant government-funded child welfare contract agencies a license to discriminate against same-sex couples and people of differing faiths.
The work to protect children from maltreatment is filled with great passion and commitment from people who each play different and very specific roles. How do we bring our different perspectives to the work and be heard, while still respecting each other? This panel brings those different perspectives together to address the question, “How do we disagree about the best interests of the child while still respecting each other's role in the process?”
Kim Swisher, Office of Children’s Services
Carla Erickson, Alaska Department of Law
Carla Erickson is the Supervising Attorney for the Child Protection section of the Department of Law. Attorneys in this section represent the Office of Children’s Services in all aspect of Child in Need of Aid cases. She has been practicing child welfare law over 20 years.
Kim Swisher has worked a professional social worker in Alaska for over 20 years. She began at the Office of Children’s Services as an intern 1999 and has worked in a variety of roles across the agency in three separate regions. After several years teaching for the University of Alaska Fairbanks Social Work Department, Kim returned to OCS as an Initial Assessment supervisor. She had the pleasure of serving as Western Regional Manager prior to her recent promotion to Deputy Director. Kim grew up in Fairbanks, but now calls Anchorage home. She is married with a kid in college and three Boston Terriers.
This conference is sponsored by the UAA Alaska Child Welfare Academy, the Alaska Center for Resource Families, and the Alaska CASA Program with support from the State of Alaska Office of Children's Services, the Court Improvement Program, Friend of Alaska's Children in Care, the Office of Youth Empowerment, and Facing Foster Care in Alaska. Click on each logo to be directed to the sponsor's site.
