Our Organizational Partners
The Western and Pacific Child Welfare Implementation Center is led by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and is comprised of five organizational partners:
- American Institutes for Research (AIR)
- National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA)
- Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP)
- Georgetown University’s National Technical Assistance Center for Children’s Mental Health (NTAC)
- Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida (USF)
Each of the partners have a common understanding of the complexity and interrelationship of human service systems and recognize the importance of engaging stakeholders to improve service delivery. Each have expertise in planning, implementing and evaluating organizational and systemic change and providing training, technical assistance and consultation to public child welfare leaders, staff and stakeholders.
Key Staff
Marketa Garner Walters, Project Director
American Institutes for Research
mgautreau@air.org
Kim Pawley Helfgott, Associate Director
American Institutes for Research
khelfgott@air.org
Regenia Hicks, Ph.D. Co-Principal Investigator
American Institutes for Research
rehicks@air.org
Terry Cross, Co-Principal Investigator
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Terry@nicwa.org
Our Consultants
We engage experts in the field of child welfare as technical assistance consultants to sites to support them in their identified systems change efforts.
Our team also includes recipients of child welfare services – birth parents, foster parents, and adoptive parents and young people who have been part of the child welfare system – who will serve as consultants to ensure that all voices are heard in the systems change efforts.