What about Massachusetts CASA’s mission compelled you to join the organization?

One of Massachusetts CASA’s core values of centering lived experience had a profound impact on my decision to join the staff, as I was born in El Salvador, experienced living in foster care in El Salvador, and was then transracially and internationally adopted to the US. I look forward to leveraging my out of home experience and expertise to meaningfully influence strategy development and implementation of multiple MA CASA priorities related to raising public awareness about CASA and providing equity and justice-centered statewide training and professional development opportunities for CASA staff and volunteers.

Additionally, the majority of my professional career has aligned with Massachusetts CASA’s mission of ensuring that children involved in the child welfare system have both a voice and the appropriate services and resources they need to thrive. This important work also includes empowering local CASA programs to center the well-being of children while advocating for a more equitable, fair, and just child welfare system.

 Can you tell us a little bit about your professional background?

Prior to joining Massachusetts CASA, I spent the past decade focusing my career on advocating for the advancement of policies, best practices, and collaborative strategies that result in better outcomes for children, youth, and families involved in the child welfare system. In particular, my professional background in advocacy, building relationships across systems, macro-level policy research, and clinical social work all fuel my passion and commitment to empower young people with out of home experience to elevate their own voices in working towards their best interests and improved outcomes from their systems involvement.

I graduated from Roger Williams University with a B.A. in Anthropology, Sociology, and Spanish and received my Masters of Social Work (MSW) from Boston College in 2014. Prior to graduate school, I received a Fulbright Grant in 2011 to conduct anthropological research for ten months in El Salvador. My research focused on the social, political, and historical components that have influenced the cultural construction of adoption in El Salvador and contributed to its shifting intercountry adoption statistics. The conclusions gained from this research project have been helpful to social work professionals and international policymakers as a guide to identify how current international child welfare service models could be redesigned to better serve Latin American countries.

I began my career in social work as an in-home therapist at Adoption Journeys, working with adoptive families to address clinical concerns related to mental health, trauma, attachment, loss, and joint problem solving. I also held a position as a Program Coordinator at Silver Lining Mentoring, providing clinically-informed guidance to a caseload of mentoring matches, supporting long term relationships between young people impacted by foster care and dedicated volunteer mentors. Most recently, I was a Program Manager at both Boston CASA and CASA of NH, providing supervision to volunteer CASA GALs to ensure that they effectively advocated for the best interests of court involved children throughout MA and NH who have experienced alleged abuse or neglect.

What brings you joy?

Enjoying a quiet, relaxing Sunday morning comfy on the couch with my husband, my son, and our dog Bella – eating breakfast and watching my son’s favorite TV shows together (right now, it’s Sesame Street!).