Meet the 2014 Leadership Honorees
Estos premios reconocen a los líderes que han tenido un impacto significativo en la mejora de los resultados para los niños y las familias y en la construcción de Comunidades de Esperanza en todo Estados Unidos.
Seleccione la foto a continuación para obtener más información sobre los homenajeados de este año.
Reggie Bicha
Reggie Bicha was appointed the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Human Services in 2011. He has extensive experience working on child welfare, education, employment and health issues at the county, state and national levels. Director Bicha has helped to lead a 33 percent safe reduction of the number of children in foster care in Colorado between 2005 and 2013. During that time, Colorado also maintained an approximate rate of 85 percent of children in care exiting to permanency. The number of children achieving permanency in Colorado is 50 percent, 10 percent above the national average, and the percentage of children who do not experience maltreatment within six months is 93 percent. When Director Bicha assumed leadership, the state child welfare system was in considerable flux. Director Bicha’s steady leadership has enabled a practice model to take shape, the implementation of a Title IV-E waiver and a strong partnership with counties to emerge.
Dr. Allison Blake
For nearly 30 years, Dr. Allison Blake has been working on behalf of children and families. She served for 18 years at the formerly named New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, where she worked in direct service and administrative positions. Dr. Allison Blake was appointed Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF) in 2010. As commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, she has led the development of the blueprint for the state’s child welfare system with an emphasis of working in partnership with NJ’s communities to help ensure the safety, wellbeing, and success of NJ’s children and families. Between 2005 and 2012 New Jersey DCF has safely reduced the number of children in care by 41.1 percent. During the same seven year span, exits to permanency increased. Dr. Blake and her staff continually review both the data and their practice to safely keep children at home and find timely permanency.
Marc Cherna
Marc Cherna has served as Director of the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS) for over 17 years. He has implemented system-wide changes that have resulted in significant improvement in outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Director Cherna has lead Allegheny County DHS to achieve improved outcomes over the past three years. Under his leadership, DHS safely reduced the number of children in out of home care by 48 percent between 2005 and 2013. Exits to permanency and reunification have increased. Of all children who exited care in Allegheny County in 2012, over 80 percent of children exited to permanency, including 72 percent of those exiting to reunification. Director Cherna began his career in human services as a youth worker over 40 years ago. He has extensive experience in the field, including 13 years as an Assistant Director with the New Jersey Department of Human Services.
Judge Michael Nash
Michael Nash, the current Presiding Judge of the Los Angeles Juvenile Court, was appointed to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1985. Elevated to the Superior Court in December 1989, Judge Nash was assigned to the Juvenile Dependency Court the following year. Since 1995, he has served as either Supervising Judge of the Juvenile Dependency Court or Presiding Judge of the entire Juvenile Court. Nationally, Judge Nash is a former president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and is a member of the Board of Fellows of the National Center for Juvenile Justice. Judge Nash has improved the well-being of and permanency for children in the Los Angeles County child welfare system through his efforts to reduce the number of children in congregate care and their length of stay; increase and improve oversight of children receiving psychotropic medication; and the creation of Adoption Saturday.
National Governors Association (NGA) Center
En Asociación Nacional de Gobernadores was an integral part of convening the Three Branch Institute. This institute is a model for states seeking to work collaboratively across government’s three branches to improve outcomes for children and families. Previous institutes focused on safe foster care reduction strategies and on increasing permanency for older youth. The most recent institute focused on improving child social and emotional well-being.
FosterMore
FosterMore is a coalition of not for profit organizations and foundations working to raise awareness of the youth in America’s foster care system. Last year, FosterMore’s message of hope reached millions of people across the United States through television ads, websites, social media and other avenues. This campaign spurred mothers, fathers, grandparents and others to learn more about foster care – and what they could do in their communities to improve the lives of children who experience it.
Club de acogida
Club de acogida is a national network of young people in foster care who are determined to build a better future for themselves and for other children involved in the child welfare system. They serve as a lead partner working with the Congressional Caucus on Foster Care to organize Shadow Day, a day in which foster youth and alumni “shadow” their congressional representative for one day. FosterClub has also presented a series of “lunch-box” sessions for senators, representatives and staff highlighting key foster care issues.
