EXPERTISE
I am a Ph.D. psychologist working full-time as an independent child welfare consultant.
I am IM4KIDS, Inc.
I received my Ph.D. in Psychology and Education from The University of Michigan, a Masters in Psychology from the University of Michigan, and a B.S. in Psychology from St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York.
My experience spans more than 35 years of commitment to strengthening the delivery of quality social welfare and mental health services, including 30+ years as a consultant to children's agencies and institutions.
I have had professional experience in the design, evaluation, and regulation of all aspects of children’s out-of-home care facilities since 1979. I was the consultant to two of the three major national training packages designed for staff who license children's out-of-home care facilities, evaluated children's agencies for the Council on Accreditation, and have been a workshop presenter at more than a dozen state, regional, and national conferences, including both Child Welfare League of America and Council on Accreditation national conferences.
I have provided therapy for foster children and their families, conducted protective services investigations, conducted national surveys, and am the author of a book on the placement of older and handicapped children for adoption.
I have been Director of a Community Mental Health case management department and a member of the psychology staff at the Institute for the Study of Mental Retardation and Related Disabilities, University of Michigan.
My practice consists of two areas of focus. The first focus is providing litigation support as a consultant and expert witness to both Plaintiff and Defense attorneys in out-of-home care child abuse cases. I have been retained as a litigation consultant and expert witness in 50+ cases in 16 states and the District of Columbia.
The second area of focus is providing consultation to agencies and states in how to improve services, increase safety, and reduce risk of harm to vulnerable children.
In its simplest form, I'm for kids! This phrase so clearly reflects my professional philosophy and focus that it is the name of my business, my license plate, and my E-mail address.
To learn more, please feel free to visit my other pages. Thanks!
LITIGATION CONSULTANT and EXPERT WITNESS
The first area of focus in my practice, IM4KIDS, Inc., is providing Litigation Consultation to both Plaintiff and Defense attorneys in out-of-home care child abuse cases.
I have been retained as a litigation consultant and expert witness in more than 50 cases in 16 states and the District of Columbia, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
My area of specialization is Child Abuse in Out-of-Home Care, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, physical assault, burns, death, wrongful placement, and wrongful adoption.
I have served as an Expert Witness regarding the adequacy and appropriateness of abuse and complaint investigations, staff training, foster home, day care, and residential care licensing, assessment, and supervision, and the matching of foster and adoptive children with appropriate caregivers by both public and private social service agencies.
My expertise includes all areas of child welfare licensing, supervision, service delivery, program organization, and program administration related to foster care, residential care, day care homes and centers, detention centers, and respite care for medically fragile children, as well as wrongful placement and wrongful adoption.
Services provided span record and document review and evaluation, case preparation,
consultation involving avenues for discovery, interrogatories, and questioning during deposition and trial, provision of written reports of expert opinion, and testifying in deposition and trial.
Fees for document review, case preparation, and consultation are based on an hourly rate for agreed upon work to be done. Fees for deposition and court time are based on an hourly or daily rate plus expenses. It is my expectation that my services will be retained in good faith in a reasonable, open, and honest manner and that I will be provided with an opportunity to review and discuss all case documents necessary for the professional and reputable provision of my services.
The driving force behind my work is to do all that I can to help reduce the risk of harm to children in out-of-home care. Since many of these children live with the anger and pain produced by separation and loss, feelings of abandonment, self-doubt, lack of trust, and, too often, the emotional and physical scars of abuse, my focus is to do whatever I can to reduce the number of children who are being re-victimized by the very system entrusted with the responsibility of assuring their health, safety, and well-being.
In its simplest form, I'm for kids! This phrase so clearly reflects my professional philosophy and focus that it is the name of my business, my license plate, and my my E-mail address.
To learn more, please feel free to visit my other pages. Thanks!
CHILD WELFARE SAFETY CONSULTANT
The second area of focus in my practice, IM4KIDS, Inc., is providing Child Welfare Consultation for Children's Agencies and Institutions as well as City and State Departments of Social Service to assist them in improving the quality of their services and reducing risk to vulnerable children in their care and custody.
This includes assistance with reform implementation, strategic planning, utilization review or quality assurance programs, staff training for licensing, foster care, adoption, and institutional line staff, supervisors, and administration, strengthening communication and empowerment skills, treatment planning, and documentation, and providing formative and evaluative program-specific evaluation and research for both public and private child welfare agencies and programs.
Large project or small, I am able to provide effective expertise and guidance to assist with:
STRATEGIC PLANNING:
- Creative, long-range, progressive planning
- Review, creation, expansion, and reorganization of programs and departments
UTILIZATION REVIEW / QUALITY ASSURANCE:
- Design, implementation, evaluation of UR/QA programs for agencies and
institutions
EDUCATION:
- Assessment of professional, educational, and training needs of staff and providers
- Effective strategies to meet those needs
TRAINING:
- Hands-on, situation specific training for child welfare agency licensing, foster
care, adoption, and institutional line staff, supervisors, and administration
- Creative strategies for increasing recruitment rates of qualified foster parents
- Assessment of attitudes and values needed by today's foster and adoptive
parents
- Skills for writing and implementing successful treatment plans / service
agreements
- Proven approaches for ensuring timely, appropriate responses to licensing
problems
- Practical strategies for implementing effective supervision and program
management
COMMUNICATION:
- Development of reasonable, effective, enforceable licensing laws and rules
- Development of "user friendly" service delivery documents, procedures, and
manuals
- Design of progress and goal-oriented performance evaluation systems
- Strategies and programs for improving staff relationships and morale
RESEARCH:
- Design, implementation, and evaluation of operation-based research to
help guide administrative decision-making
In its simplest form, I'm for kids! This phrase so clearly reflects my professional philosophy and focus that it is the name of my business, my license plate, and my my E-mail address.
To learn more, please feel free to visit my other pages. Thanks!