This
book grows out of our combined nearly 50 years of child welfare experience,
both social work and legal; and from personal life experiences that
have led us to identify ourselves as child advocates. Our careers joined
in 1981 as social work and legal consultants to county departments of
social services in North Carolina. As we each provided training to separate
segments of the child welfare system, we quickly recognized together,
the need for all the parties to work together toward a timely, appropriate
permanent plan for each child in our system.
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Jane Malpass
has served as a social work consultant for the North Carolina Division
of Social Services since 1980, providing case consultation and training
in all areas of child welfare services for county departments of social
services. She holds a masters degree in counseling and has twenty-five
years experience in the child welfare field as a social worker, supervisor,
director of a family violence program, trainer and consultant. Jane
has frequently testified in court as an expert witness on permanency
planning and best interest issues. She has been a regular presenter,
along with Jane Thompson, at the annual conferences of the National
CASA Association and at over a dozen state CASA Association conferences,
and at several Court Improvement Conferences. She has also spoken
on adoption issues at the Conferences of the North American Council
on Adoptable Children and is a regular presenter at juvenile law training
for North Carolina district court judges, as well as at numerous statewide
conferences and training events. Jane has served on the advisory panel
of the Statewide Friends of Black Children program and has provided
consultation to Another Choice for Black Children - a specialized
adoption agency in North Carolina. Ms. Malpass is the parent of five
children, three of whom are adopted. Her husband is the Guardian ad
Litem administrator for a North Carolina judicial district.
- Jane
Thompson
holds a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. Since 1981 she has served as a child welfare attorney with the
North Carolina Attorney General's Office. In that position she consults
with and trains 33 county departments of social services on all aspects
of child welfare services and has litigated dozens of juvenile court
cases. Jane provided mandated "Legal Aspects" training for social
workers in North Carolina, currently provides "Legal Aspects of Adoption"
training and has presented at numerous statewide conferences and training
events. She has served on the North Carolina Supreme Court Permanent
Families Task Force and the Adoption Study Commission of the North
Carolina General Assembly. As an outgrowth of that Commission's recommendations,
she served on the drafting committee that rewrote North Carolina's
adoption law. Ms. Thompson is active in the North Carolina Association
of Social Services Attorneys, has worked on the Court Improvement
Project legislation committee and is a regular presenter at juvenile
law training for North Carolina district court judges. Ms. Thompson
is the parent of two daughters, both of whom are adopted. Her husband
is an attorney and business consultant.
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