Using data to solve child welfare's toughest challenges

Leah Weber (coach) graduated from University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work with a MSW in Social Work with a certificate in Child Welfare. Over the last 15 years her work in Child Welfare has included Casework, Resource Specialist and Application (KIDS) Specialist. Leah currently works in the Office of Data Analysis, Research and Evaluation, where she completes qualitative reviews of cases and practices of the different departments within DHS, primarily in the Office of Children, Youth and Families.

James Caldwell (coach) is a is a 2010 graduate of Clarion University in Clarion, Pennsylvania, with a degree in Political Science. In 2012, James received a master’s degree from Duquesne University’s Graduate School of Social and Public Policy. James currently serves as an Application Specialist in the DARE program office of Allegheny County Department of Human Services. In this capacity, James works to implement, and support IT applications designed to meet programmatic needs of DHS internal staff and provider network.

Liz Reiter (coach) graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work with a BASW in 2007, and completed the MSW program in 2010. She is a licensed social worker, and is currently a Casework Supervisor at the Office of Children, Youth, and Families Mon Valley Regional Office. Liz was a member of Allegheny County Leadership Fellows class one, and was a Resource Fellow for classes two and three. She remains active in coordinating regular meetings, communication, and advancement of projects with Fellows alumni.

Kelley (Smith) Smithula (coach) began working for Allegheny County DHS in 2009 as a CYF caseworker, gaining experience in a wide array of areas - family services, GPS intake, safety response unit, and call screening. Her curiosity for data began as she tracked her own work, looking for trends in what she was facing in her day-to-day experiences. This led her to pursue the Leadership Fellows program, where she was a graduating member of the 2016-17 class. In September 2017, she was promoted to DHS's Integrated Program Services, where she works as a Resource Specialist. Being in Court almost daily, she works with defendants involved with the Magisterial District Judges in the County, connecting those in need to services for hopes of prevention from on-going Court involvement. Additionally, part of her responsibilities include the DHS diversion program for Applications to File Private Dependency Petitions, born from the Leadership Fellows' first class. In the first year of the program, 65 teens were referred to the program. Almost 80% of those teens avoided Dependency from the Application that was filed.

Amanda Berube (coach) graduated from West Virginia University with a BA in Criminology and Investigations. She started working with youth as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor at a Residential Treatment Facility after graduation. Amanda began her career at CYF in 2008 as an Intake Caseworker eventually becoming a Family Service Caseworker for several years. In 2014, she became a Contract Monitor who collaborates with contracted providers who are caring for CYF youth and families. Her current position has really allowed her to utilize data when developing new strategies and monitoring more effective business processes with providers. Amanda participated in the 2016-2017 Child Welfare Leadership Fellow Program.

Erin Frawley (coach) graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology. Erin began her career in child welfare at a provider agency working as a foster care caseworker and SWAN worker. Erin has been with Allegheny County for over three years as a Caseworker and most recently as a Contract Monitor for education stability. Erin participated in the third group of Fellows.

Greg Phillips (coach) graduated from California University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Business, with an emphasis on management and organizational behavior. Greg began his career at DHS in 2010 as a caseworker in the Office of Children, Youth and Families. His primary interests are in coaching, leadership and personal and organizational development which he focuses on in his current role as Manager of Conferencing and Teaming. In addition to his primary role, Greg is also a contracted trainer with the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, and serves in his community through a variety of volunteer opportunities.

Audrey Bement (coach) began working with Allegheny County Children, Youth and Families as an intern in 2006 with the Family Group Decision Making unit. After completing her internship, Audrey remained with the county as an Intake Caseworker. Over the next ten years, Audrey moved to become a Family Services Caseworker, was promoted to a Caseworker 3, and piloted the “One Caseworker” model that is now in place. As a member of Leadership Fellows Class Two which focused on re-entry, Audrey’s work group was instrumental in bringing about the Kinship Navigator Program that focuses on placing children with kin. In 2016, Audrey was promoted to Supervisor at the Mon Valley Regional Office.

ADVISORS

Richard Dunks (content expert) is the founder of Datapolitan, an urban informatics consultancy based in New York City that focuses on the data and information needs of the public sector, including government agencies and non-profits. A graduate of the urban data science program at NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress, Richard works on applying new and innovative techniques to the processing, analysis, and visualization of public data to make meaningful and positive actions with measurable impact. With over 6 years of experience as a data analyst in the public sector, Richard brings a variety of skills to the task of making sense of data. Through past work with the Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University, he helped develop innovative methods of data analysis and visualization to medium-sized cities across the country. He currently teaches a series of informative and engaging classes in open data and geospatial analysis for the City of New York, and has taught courses in data mining, spatial analysis, information visualization, and informatics at Columbia University, Fordham University, and Pratt Institute.

Katherine Ortega Courtney (content expert) has a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the Texas Christian University, where she studied at the Institute of Behavioral Research. Dr. Courtney worked with the State of New Mexico for eight years, first as the Juvenile Justice Epidemiologist, then as Bureau Chief of the Child Protective Services Research, Assessment and Data Bureau. An advocate for data-informed decision-making, Dr. Courtney championed and co-developed the Child Protective Service’s Data Leaders program, liaising with Casey Family Programs as she oversaw program implementation and the training of the majority of local office managers throughout the state. She currently is the Director of Collective Impact Initiatives with the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Dr. Courtney continues to serve as an advocate for strengthening continuous quality improvement throughout all the sectors that impact children, youth and families. She's also the co-author (with Dominic Cappello) of Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment.

Heather Labansat (content expert) graduated from Texas Christian University with a PhD in Experimental Psychology with an emphasis in Cognition. Interested in applied research, her research developed new strategies for helping people be more effective at goal attainment and learning. Her work with Child Welfare focuses on using scientific methodology to develop evidence-based practices to solve workplace and community problems. Heather currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses for Tarleton State University in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Gregory Sherrow Gregory Sherrow (IT expert) is a technology architect for both educational and commercial enterprises. Gregory was the technology architect of the Leadership Fellows program and course series. This website serves as a repository for lessons, tutorials and links to data and research. He provided Data Leaders technology solutions for the sites for the child welfare systems of New York City and Connecticut. Trained as an educator, Gregory has been involved in online technology development and management since 1997 and has developed and managed web technology solutions for companies large and small, most notably 6+ years as the head of Patagonia, Inc. Web Development Department and more than a dozen years as a technology and services executive for an online publishing solution. Gregory architected the prototypes for the Safety+Success learning management systems piloted in South Carolina and New Mexico that housed courses for parents on family health and safety. His learning management system clients include State Departments of Health, Education and Attorney Generals Office and he is currently developing a learning management system to house the Resilience Leaders course focused on implementing a citywide system focused on the prevention and treatment of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), based on the book Anna, Age Eight: The data-driven prevention of childhood trauma and maltreatment.