Experience

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  Office of the cook county public guardian

  Oct 2008 - Sept 2015

  Courtroom paralegal, post emancipation services coordinator, and liaison to the youth advisory board

  Served under general supervision, completing a variety of duties while assisting 20+ attorneys in their representation of foster children and delinquency clients. Assisted the office with compliance with all ethical requirements as set forth in the Code of Professional Responsibility, and legal requirements set forth in the JCA along with other governing bodies of law. Increased attorneys capacity to maintain contact with clients through formal and informal communications. Ensured attornies succeeded in observing the strictest confidentiality in client matters and use a reasonable degree of care to ensure the health, safety and welfare of our clients.Spearheaded launch and staffing of older youth services project. Connecting any of the 6,000 youth served with services to help ensure stable launch into adulthood.Spearheaded efforts to assist youth/adults who sought assistance with petition for release from Juvenile Registration. Show less

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  National child traumatic stress network

  Jun 2012 - Jan 2021

  Cosumer advocate

  Served to create & review products to improve assessments as a primary way to improve youth outcomes. Helping to ensure products are youth sensitive, informed and accessible.

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  American academy of pediatrics

  Jun 2012 - Sept 2023

  Liason

  Serve as liaison to AAP Council on Foster Care Adoption and Kinship Care (COFCAKC). Helping ensure policy procedures, statements, and products are trauma informed and youth/family focused.

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  Duke university

  Jul 2014 - Dec 2020

  Consumer advocate

  Working to develop and improve products and website focusing on youth trauma and trauma treatment.

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  Illinois department of children and family services

  Sept 2015 - Dec 2020

  Spearheaded with other department leaders DCFS Governors youth taskforce culminating in a 200 youth event at the Governors Mansion.Secured an extension for the Immeraion site Title IV-E Federal Demonstration waiver resulting in an additional $15M in claiming.Severed in on Data Governance during initial launch of applications from Power BI data visualization tool. Served in development, review, analytics, and tool training. developing a 36 slide dashboard of health for state child welfare agency.Played critical roles in implementing department activity as a result of changing legislation, and the passage of new laws.Lead and built systems of account stability under the framework of 4 Disciplines ofExecution statewide including our entire provider network. overseeing and building 400+ scorecards, providing full technical support for rollout and launching 4 statewide conferences. Show less In 2015, I joined DCFS in the Strategic Planning and Innovation Division. • Coordinating the Illinois Children and Family Advisory Council• Instituting the Youth Bill or Rights in Illinois;• Identifying the department response to youth issues and concerns and residential comments boxes • Coordinated and finalized the Illinois Child Welfare Strategic plan for 2016-2021;• Successfully completed the inaugural class of the Leadership Academy. Training provided byCasey Families and Nagash and Associates. •Speadheaded with other leadership an additional Title IV-E Federal Demonstration waiver which will result in $15M new dollars in the first year, $15M each following year ($38M in total)•Departmental lead on ISBE data integration into internal Case management data systems Show less

  • Chief Accountability Officer

    Mar 2020 - Dec 2020

  • Deputy Chief Of Staff

    Jul 2019 - Mar 2020

  • Deputy Director- Strategic Planning and Innovation

    Sept 2017 - Jul 2019

  • Associate Deputy Director

    Sept 2015 - Sept 2017
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  Illinois court improvement programs advisory committee

  Jan 2017 - Jan 2021

  Board member

  Appointed to CIPAC in part due to my ongoing commitment to change Illinois courts. Serve not only in an official department capacity but to ensure loved experience voice is heard to help change systems to serve youth and families better.

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  Icf

  Dec 2020 - Sept 2023

  State and territory liaison (region 5)

  The Capacity Building Center for States (the Center) partners with State and territorial public child welfare agencies to achieve better outcomes for children, youth, and families. The Center offers an array of services to meet this goal, including products and tools, web-based training, peer networking, group coaching, and individualized expert consultation. As part of the Children's Bureau (CB), my role at the Center helps support Region 5 jurisdictions.Maintain expert knowledge about each assigned jurisdiction’s strengths, needs, systemic issues and pressures, and other critical information.Collaborate with staff from ACF Children’s Bureau and child welfare agency to create work plans that focus on jurisdiction specific initiatives, or new/ongoing projects related to the State’s Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) or Program Improvement Plan (PIP)Collaborate with partners to ensure that the expertise, skills, and relationships of Center Subject Matter Experts, consultants, and other staff are leveraged for the overall provision of capacity buildingHelp identify regional and national child welfare trendsProvide coaching and insight about the jurisdiction for contractors or staff who provide services Show less

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  U.s.government

  Sept 2023 - now

  Operations manager