Child Welfare Expert Witnesses

This highly-qualified expert has over 10 years of experience as a pediatric hospitalist. In addition to general hospital medicine practice, his work has focused on child abuse, neonatology and newborn medicine, and tropical medicine. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina with a BA in government and international studies before earning his MD from the University of South Carolina, graduating cum laude. He subsequently completed both an internship and residency in pediatrics at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. This expert is board-certified in pediatrics and holds certifications in basic life support, pediatric advanced life support, and neonatal resuscitation. He is active in his field as a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Advancing Pediatric Educator Excellence, and the Society of Hospital Medicine. He is also involved as an author of media publications on pediatrics and a speaker at various pediatric conferences. He has formerly served as the director of inpatient pediatrics and a pediatric hospitalist for PIH Health Physicians Medical Group, the pediatric clerkship director and a faculty hospitalist for Advocate Children's Hospital, and the medical director of inpatient medicine and a pediatric hospitalist for Jupiter Medical Center. Currently, this expert serves as a senior pediatric hospitalist for a healthcare system in California.

This highly-qualified social worker has more than 20 years of experience in her field, working in various settings such as residential treatment centers, psychiatric hospitals, domestic violence shelters, and outpatient mental health clinics. She earned her BS in social work from Northern Arizona University before earning her MS in social work from the University of Southern California. This expert is a licensed clinical social worker and is active in her field as a member of the International Association of Trauma Professionals. Formerly, she served as a therapist at Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services before working in multiple roles in the psychiatry department of Kaiser Permanente. This expert is currently a social working in private practice in California, where she specializes in several areas related to women's health, including maternal mental health and PTSD.

This highly-qualified expert has twenty years of experience specializing in law enforcement investigations with particular expertise in sexual assault, threat assessment, and management. She is certified in forensic sciences, as a defensive tactic and use of force instructor, and as a threat assessment professional. This expert is active in her field with memberships to the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals, Alliance for Hope, California Homicide Investigators Association, and California Sexual Assault Investigators Association. She has given multiple presentations in her field, has received multiple awards, and has trained thousands of individuals throughout the country in domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, etc. Formerly, she served as an investigator for multiple entities and most recently served as a master investigator for the Violence Against Women's Act and the Ben Clark Training Center at Riverside County Sheriff. Currently, she serves as CEO of a sexual assault and domestic violence consultancy, the CEO of a trauma and survivor nonprofit, and as an investigator of persons crimes for a county sheriff, all located in California.

This highly qualified expert has over 20 years of experience in the field of clinical social work. She earned her BA in sociology and MEd from Rutgers University and her MSW in clinical social work from Florida International University. She then completed her PsyD in clinical psychology with a child psychology concentration at Carlos Albizu University before completing an internship at Treasure Coast Evaluation and Treatment Center. This expert is certified as a Florida Supreme Court Family Mediator and is a licensed psychologist and clinical social worker. She formerly served as a child protective investigator with the Florida Department of Children and Families, as the director of the adult intensive outpatient program at the Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County, and as a psychologist at the Palm Beach County Main Detention Center. Currently, this expert serves as a psychologist and licensed clinical social worker at a private practice in Florida.

This expert has over 25 years of experience as a grief counselor, specializing in parental grief, child and adolescent grief, suicide bereavement and other complicated grief issues. He is author of a book covering grief and loss and numerous professional and popular publications. He is currently an international keynote speaker, consults to law firms, human service professionals, schools, businesses, hospitals and hospices, and maintains a private grief counseling practice.

This expert has 10 years of experience as a litigator and more than 30 years of experience as a staff person and volunteer in agencies advocating for victims of abuse and neglect. In addition to her Juris Doctorate and Masters Degree in Human Relations, she also has a diploma from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine Department of Pediatrics in Interdisciplinary Training in Child Abuse and Neglect. A nationally and internationally recognized expert in the area of child sexual abuse prevention, she played an integral role in the research, development, and implementation of a child sexual abuse prevention program that is delivered in 87 U.S. Catholic dioceses, representing about 75% of the Catholics in the U.S. Currently, this expert is the Owner and Principal of a consulting firm that provides programs and services to educate adults about the nature and scope of child sexual abuse and teaches adults how to recognize other adults whose behavior may indicate that they are a potential risk to children. Her consulting firm also works with corporations and agencies to create policies, procedures, and processes for screening and supervising employees and volunteers who work with children.

This highly experienced director of nursing for a 180 bed skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living community has over ten years of experience as a multi-state regional nurse manager. Her current position involves supervision of 150 team members to include the physicians, nurse team, floor nurses, social workers, infection control, quality assurance, medical records, a commissary and recreation therapy. She spent three years as a clinical nurse specialist. She is a registered and certified nursing home surveyor. She spent many years as a regional nurse consultant and recently received a Medicare/Medicaid deficiency free survey.

This highly qualified expert has 22 years of experience in Child Protective Services, Mental Health, & Addiction. She earned a PhD from Rutgers University and has a broad array of expertise including Child Welfare, Behavioral Health, Diversity issues, Institutional, and Evaluation services. She is a professor at a PA University, the Executive Directorof a social services nonprofit organization that provides mental health and substance abuse evaluations as well as training, consultation, and therapy, and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. This expert is a member of several professional organizations including the National Association of Social Workers, Council on Social Work Education, Society for Social Work and Research, and National Network of Social Work Managers. In her former position as Investigator and Social Worker for the CT Department of Children and Families, this expert's focus was children in the foster care system. She trained city school districts on when to make a child abuse report and trained social worker trainees regarding child protective services and assessing risk and safety.

This fellowship trained doctor has a wide breadth of knowledge in the field of child abuse pediatrics. She received her medical degree from Ege University Faculty of Medicine and has been in practice for 31 years. She holds two board certifications, and is currently working on a parental education program to prevent shaken impact syndrome and the development of online training material on child abuse and neglect for medical trainees at the University of Iowa as well as the implementation of trauma informed care. She is an expert on severe physical abuse, criminal neglect, and Munchausen by Proxy among other areas of chidl abuse and neglect.

This highly qualified, double board certified doctor has extensive experience in the field of the child abuse and neglect. He is on the Executive Council of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and is Past President of the Helfer Society, an honorary international group of physicians working in the field of child maltreatment. He has served on the Boards of Prevent Child Abuse America and the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Dr. Dubowitz is a clinician, researcher, and educator, and he is active in the policy arena. He edited Neglected Children: Research, Practice and Policy and co-edited the Handbook for Child Protection Practice, as well as International Aspects of Child Abuse and Neglect and ISPCAN’s World Perspectives 2012. He has over 180 publications and has presented at many regional, national and international conferences.

This expert has 15+ years of success working with children and their families. Her expertise includes mediation, child forensic interviews, adoption, child custody evaluation, CPS investigations, and child abuse prevention. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker she has completed hundreds of child abuse investigations covering neglect, molestation, and death. After years of public service, she now runs a nonprofit organization that prepares children for court proceedings and provides trauma counseling. She is also a consultant on lawsuits pertaining to Child Protective Services and is also a Child Custody Evaluator for Family Law Court.

This expert is Board of Governors Professor in the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research and the School of Social Work for a leading NJ University. At the Institute, he directs the Center for Health Services Research on Pharmacotherapy, Chronic Disease Management, and Outcomes, whose programs include the AHRQ-funded Center for Education and Research on Mental Health Therapeutics. He also is Chair of the Institute's Division on Aging and Associate Institute Director for Health Services Research. His work, which has resulted in more than 250 publications, includes many widely cited books and research articles on old-age policy and services for the elderly; on the use and outcomes of psychotropic medications and other mental health treatments; on HIV/AIDS care; and on numerous other health care and social policy topics. His work on gerontological policy and inequality has been particularly influential nationally, as the cumulative advantage model of aging which he originally proposed in the 1980s and has developed in a line of subsequent work has contributed to understanding of late-life inequalities and the way in which initial advantages such as educational attainment; social structures; health and economic events over the lifecourse; and public policies interact to shape late-life outcomes. He has also been an important contributor to research on long-term care and mental health among the elderly. His work on mental health services has contributed importantly to understanding problems of healthcare access, quality and disparities in large usual care populations, particularly those served by Medicare and Medicaid. Much of his recent work has focused on prescription drug use in society where he has pioneered important studies on treatment use, safety, and effectiveness, including current work on comparative effectiveness of treatments funded by the FDA and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In 2009, his contributions to scholarship on health services and outcomes were recognized by his appointment as Board of Governors Professor of Health Services Research at a leading NJ University with the university's Board of Governors citing his "major theoretical, methodological, and research contributions in the fields of aging, HIV care, and behavioral health; his highly influential and social policy scholarship; the impressive rigor of his cross-disciplinary research contributions that have shaped thinking, both in the U.S. and abroad, on issues confronting some of the most vulnerable groups in our society" and for his "numerous and enormously influential books, journal articles, reports, and other publications . and his outstanding contributions to improving decision-making in public policy as evidenced by his frequent invitations to testify before and advise Congress and other policymakers."

This expert is a vocational specialist and Certified Rehabilitation Counselor who has provided vocational evaluation, occupational counseling, and labor market evaluation services for the severely disabled since 2009. Her professional career includes work with work with several career services and therapy groups. Her professional associations include the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the American Board of Vocational Experts, the Baylor Women's Council of Austin, and Junior League of Austin. Her academic and teaching appointments include lecturer and curriculum design positions at the University of Texas at Austin, and the Austin Resource Center for Independent Living. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and a Master of Education in Rehabilitation Counseling from The University of Texas at Austin.

This experienced social worker and city employee held Director roles in the City of New York Administration for Children's Services for over 14 years. She was the Director of Supervision and Case Practice Improvement and then the Director of the Office of Preventive Family Team Conferencing before leaving government leadership in 2013. The expert has a master's in Social Work from NYU and previously worked as a legal aid social worker.

This child welfare industry executive has over 25 years of social services experience, including 15 years in leadership roles at foster care agencies. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Western Connecticut State University and her M.S.W from Smith School for Social Work; she is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She began her career as a Social Worker and Supervisor and then joined Green Chimneys Children's Services as the Director of Social Services. From 1999 until 2004, the expert was the Director of Foster Home Services & Adoption and a Vice President at Jewish Child Care Association, in charge of the foster care division. The expert later served as JCCA's Senior Vice President of Foster Home & Residential Services and completed her career as the Assistant Executive Director at Good Shepherd Services, where she rolled out a new foster care program and oversaw a $12 million budget from 2011 until retiring in 2014.

This expert is a Licensed Clinical Social (LCSW) and a Diplomat Child Forensic Interviewer (DCFI). She is currently practicing at an advocacy center in VA. In this role, she coordinates the multidisciplinary team response to child sexual abuse and severe physical abuse investigations. She conducts forensic interviews and extended forensic interviews of child and adolescent alleged victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, and witness to crimes. She has also worked at the Safe Shores: The DC Children's Advocacy Center coordinating the Forensic Interview Program and conducting interviews. This expert has conducted hundreds of CAC-based forensic interviews of alleged victims of abuse. She has completed nationally recognized trainings in Forensic Interviewing including ChildFirst-Virginia, American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), Childhood Trust, and the National Children's Advocacy Center. She was a faculty member with Child First-Virginia and is a trained facilitator for the Stewards of Children Darkness to Light Curriculum. She has spoken at state and national conferences including the National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, the National Center for Victims of Crime, Child Advocacy Centers of Virginia, and the National Children's Alliance Leadership Conference. she has served as an expert witness in both civil and criminal courts providing testimony about forensic interviewing, sexual abuse dynamics, the process of disclosure, delayed disclosure, and interviewing techniques.

This expert has considerable experience in organizational compliance oversight for mental health facilities. She earned her B.A. in Criminal Justice and her Master's in Health Administration from Saginaw Valley State University. The expert is a credentialed LBSW and QMHP and QIDP in the state of Michigan, here she worked in the mental health field for 12 years. Most recently, she was a Support Coordinator and Recipient Rights Advisor/Investigator for the Saginaw County Community Mental Health Authority until 2015. The expert now works in Florida as a Regulatory Compliance Leader for a large medical center.

This former health and human services worker of 10+ years is the current proprietor of a behavioral health services private practice. She a certified clinical social worker in several states,and is a member of such prestigious societies as the Health Care Compliance Association and the National Association of Social Workers. Her specialty includes treatment of sexual offenders and survivors of sexual abuse, as well as in the development sexual abuse treatment programs. This expert also is a subject matter expert in the provision of behavioral health services and the documentation of medical necessity of these services to ensure appropriate Medicaid billing. She assists behavioral health agencies in the identification of areas of compliance risk and provides consultation and staff/board training to mitigate those risks. She has assisted agencies in becoming nationally accredited. She is also an independent representative of Measure of Success Tracking (MOST), which is a compliance tool that allows agencies to measure both quantitative and qualitative data to improve compliance and quality of care.

This highly qualified expert received her BA in Psychology and her MS in Clinical Social Work from the University of Texas-Pan American. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and she is a certified Family Trauma Professional, Suicide Prevention Counselor and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA). This expert previously worked as Supervisor II for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Here, she led and supervised a unit of caseworkers responsible for providing adult protective services to victims of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. She provided case management supervision and interacted routinely with the Texas Department of Family Services' clients, organizations' representatives, and the public. This expert then went on to work as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and as Executive Director of the Family Crisis Center of the Rio Grande Valley. She managed and lead the social services agency and provided individual and group mental health therapy and case management supervision. This expert is currently an Adjunct Professor of Social Work at two universities in Texas and she is a Psychotherapist at a women's emotional wellness center.

This highly qualified and board certified expert has over 40 years of experience in Security Management. He received his BA, MA and PhD from Wayne State University and is board certified in the American Society for Industrial Security and Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology and is also a Licensed Social Worker. He has published 75+ Journal Articles on security, safety and criminal justice. He is currently serving as Emeritus Professor in the Sociology and Criminal Justice department for a University in Midwest and is the Principal Consultant at a Consulting Firm.