CL22 - Baby Talks Group E: Coordinated Services for Those at Risk

Dr. Giovanni Billings IMH-E® is a licensed psychologist with over 15 years of clinical experience. Throughout his education, training, and work, Dr. Billings’ focus has been on serving children and families who have experienced trauma, with a particular focus on infant and early childhood trauma. This work includes parent-child relational assessment; relationship-based therapeutic interventions; and training/consultation in the medical, court, and child welfare systems on the needs of young children. Dr. Billings is a rostered Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) therapist and endorsed as a Clinical Mentor in infant mental health. He trained at Children’s Hospital Colorado, The Kempe Center, and in the Irving Harris Fellowship at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Dr. James Kaferly is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at University of Colorado School of Medicine, a general academic pediatrician and the Coordinator for Denver Health’s Connections for Kids Clinic (CFKC), a medical home for children and adolescents in out of home care. Clinical experience with high-risk general pediatric and out of home care populations guides his research on clinical decision-making process, child maltreatment and health outcomes for children in the child welfare system. Dr. Kaferly seeks to promote health and safety for all children, to develop an evidence-base to inform clinical, child welfare and policy practices and build translational protocols to eliminate pediatric health disparities, especially for the out of home population.

Jaime Maroney, LCSW has served children and families in Colorado for over fifteen years. In her current role as the Connections for Kids Clinic Social Worker, Jaime provides strengths-based support and intervention to address the unique psychosocial needs of those children and teens in the foster care system. Her prior experience includes 6 years as the NICU Social Worker for a safety net hospital where she as the NICU where she helped to support families of medically complex infants by providing culturally sensitive counseling and care management, as well as internal and external resource interventions to help address presenting problems. Jaime also has an extensive background in foster care and kinship placement during her 8 years working as a Child Protection Caseworker and Supervisor advocating for the safety and best interest of at risk children. Throughout her years of work with children and families, she has developed expertise in safety and risk assessments, care coordination, trauma-informed interventions, and implementation of best-practice models while working collaboratively with families to build upon their inherent strengths. In addition, Jaime has several years of experience working with adults with chronic and acute mental health conditions as well as with supporting families with grief and loss.

Ruth White is co-founder and executive director of the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare and former director of Housing and Homelessness for CWLA. Ruth works closely with professionals and people personally impacted by social programs to improve public policy to reduce government intervention into families. Since beginning her to expand housing resources for families and youth involved with child welfare and early childhood education programming, Ruth has successfully advocated for over $300 million in funding for new permanent housing subsidies. In 2020, Ruth partnered with Connecticut Head Start Association to create the Early Childhood Housing Outreach team and successfully opened a conduit to immediate access for Housing Choice Vouchers for Head Start and Early Head Start Families. In 2018, Ruth partnered with current and former foster youth from ACTION Ohio to design and deliver the youth-written Fostering Stable Housing Opportunity proposal directly to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The HUD Leadership Team adopted the on-demand, synchronized, and revolutionary distribution method for time-limited housing choice vouchers and work supports as the basis for the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative in 2019. Ruth is a certified Assisted Housing Manger and holds a master’s degree in social administration from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree in social work from The Ohio State University. She is currently a doctoral candidate and professor at the Catholic University of America.

Jamole Callahan, Director of Training and Development, ACTION Ohio & NCHCW Jamole Callahan is an international trainer and motivational speaker on topics ranging from child welfare system reform to housing and community development. Jamole is a co-host The Daily JAM which highlights a variety of social and urban issues on a national stage. Over the past six years, Jamole led a group of current and former foster youth through the process of working with legislators and federal policy-makers to synchronize federal housing and child welfare programs to close the gaps through which youth fall into homelessness and human trafficking on their journey to adulthood. Jamole worked closely with the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to design the Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities proposal – to align HUD’s Family Unification Program Vouchers with emancipation and eliminate geographic disparities in the program. Together, they created the Foster Youth to Independence Initiative. Since the creation of FYI in 2019, over 1000 youth have received vouchers and supportive services to prevent and end their homelessness. Jamole has trained thousands of professionals nationwide on FYI and has contributed to its expansion to every state in the U.S. Jamole serves on various private, non-profit Boards of organizations that promotes better outcomes for foster and adoptive youth, and youth experiencing homelessness. Jamole’s vision for empowering foster parents, caseworkers, foster youth and alumni to succeed is informed by his a 15 year career in child welfare training and development as well as the six years in foster care he spent moving through a variety of placement before finally aging out to independence at age 18. Jamole has a bachelor’s degree from Central State University. Dynamic solution-driven leader with 25 years of successfully delivering HUD programs to help the underserved. Trusted advisor, counselor, and case manager with strong ability to collaborate with local non-profits, financial agencies, schools, and healthcare providers to name a few. Leverages strong communication and relationship management skills to build strategic partnerships with external organizations and internal teams. Recognized as Subject Matter Expert providing consultation and development of Family Self Sufficiency collaborative used by dozens of housing authorities.

Brie is a registered nurse with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Montana State University and has a Certificate in Maternal and Child Health from Colorado University’s School of Public Health. Brie’s past work as a home visiting nurse, lactation counselor, early childhood coalition leader, and ACE Master Trainer informs her current work.

Stephanie was born and raised in Montana. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon and earned a Master of Social Work at the University of Montana. She has worked for several nonprofits supporting children and families.