When
This webinar took place on Wednesday February 22nd 2023
Where
Speakers
Michelle Chalmers and April Grissom
On Wednesday February 22nd 2023, Michelle Chalmers and April Grissom of the MN Department of Human Services presented to us on the process of building the Foster Care licensing guidelines that are currently being revised with broad stakeholder engagement. The webinar allowed ample time for Q&A, it was free, and everyone was invited to participate.
Speakers
Michelle Chalmers
Michelle Chalmers is a Human Services Program Consultant in the Family Support and Placement Unit at Minnesota Department of Human Services. She is a temporary employee hired to write Child Foster Care Licensing Guidelines, being drafted under legislation passed in 2020. Prior to joining the team at MN DHS Michelle was the co-founder and executive director at Ampersand Families, Minnesota’s only private agency focused exclusively on addressing the permanency needs of (mostly) older youth served by the child welfare system. From 2003 to 2008 Michelle designed and directed The Homecoming Project, a federal demonstration project to develop best practices in achieving permanency for teens under guardianship of the commissioner. Michelle has also worked at a treatment foster care agency, provided home-based services to prevent placement for juvenile justice/child welfare dually-involved youth and worked in an adolescent shelter program. Michelle is a fierce advocate for the right of child welfare-involved youth to restore and maintain connections to relatives, kin, community and culture. She fostered/hosted 6 young adults, now aged 27 to 42. Michelle aged out of Colorado’s foster care system in 1985. Michelle earned her MSW at Augsburg College and her BA from Colorado College and is a licensed independent social worker (LISW) in Minnesota.
April Grissom
April Grissom is a Human Services Program Consultant in the Licensing Division, Foster Care Unit at Minnesota Department of Human Services. She is a temporary employee hired to write Child Foster Care Licensing Guidelines, being drafted under legislation passed in 2020. Prior to joining DHS April worked for close to 20 years as a foster care licensing social worker. Her experience includes work at an agency that provided culturally specific licensing and case management services for foster families and children in placement under the Indian Child Welfare Act; an agency that specialized in recruitment, licensing, and support of families providing treatment foster care, and at a PPAI agency that provides foster care, adoption, and child-specific recruitment services. April earned her Bachelor’s in Social Work from Mankato State University and is a Licensed Social Worker with the Minnesota Board of Social Work.