Archives

Gaelin Elmore is a dynamic and nationally sought-after keynote speaker, trainer, and thought

leader. He works with organizations and people to become belonging-informed in order to help

children overcome trauma and unleash their potential. Gaelin's passion and energy for his work

stems from his heart for justice and his own lived experience. His own belonging journey has led

Gaelin to the National Football League, and now stages, board rooms, and organizations, all

across the country, aiming to inspire, encourage, and equip others to think differently about

their work and its long-term impact on others. Gaelin now lives in Burnsville, MN, where he gets

to experience the purest form of belonging as a husband to his wife, Micaela, and dad to their

three children, Laniah, Tatum, and Gideon! 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

SafeGenerations Director of Implementations, Consultant and Trainer

Sherry brings nearly three decades of hands-on experience in child welfare to her role

as an organizational consultant and Director of Implementations at SafeGenerations.

Since joining the team in 2015, she has been instrumental in driving organizational

transformation for child welfare agencies, large and small.

Her work is informed by nearly two decades as a child welfare practitioner in Minnesota.

Sherry has served as a key consultant to New York Office of Children and Family

Services, Missouri Children’s Division, and Kansas Department for Children and

Families, helping them customize and implement collaborative, solution-focused

practice approaches.

Christine holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Saint Louis University in the Philippines and a Master of Social Work, specializing in mental health and gerontology, from the University of Southern California. She began her career as a Social Worker I at the Madera County Public Guardian Office. With nearly six years at Madera County Child Protective Services, she developed her expertise in the court and legal processes related to child dependency and permanency cases, reunification and family maintenance services, and the Resource Family Approval program.

Her dedication and competence earned her a promotion to Social Work Supervisor II, where she focused on ICWA cases and served as the Education Liaison for Madera County. Christine then transitioned to the role of Operations Manager for Santa Rosa Tribal Social Services. In addition, she served as a Family Court Services Child Court Recommending Counselor and Investigator for probate and guardianship cases with the Madera County Court. With 17 years of experience working with the aging population, she also held positions as a medical social worker at Central Regional Medical Center and as an associate social worker at Central Star Behavioral Health. Currently, as the Director of the Central and Bay Area Adult Services Training Academy, Christine is dedicated to fostering excellence in Adult Protective Services.

Lucia Weiss is the founder of Adaptive Together which is working to reimage the child welfare system to preserve families, maintain connections & honor culture. Lucia partners with families, tribes, and family-serving agencies to collaboratively build organizational capacity to better meet the needs of communities. This includes assisting with partnership engagement, conducting community & organizational assessments, collaborative strategic planning, implementation support & continuous quality improvement efforts.

Lucia has supported the implementation of Systems of Care, Core Practice Models, Child & Family Team Meetings, the Cultural Broker and Parent Partner Program, Structured Decision Making, Safety Organized Practice, Coaching and Organizational Health. She led efforts that have increased the preservation of families, increased kinship placements, and reduced youth in congregate care.

Lucia earned a Bachelor’s & Master’s degree in Social Work from California State University, Chico. She became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California in 2015. Lucia is from a large Nicaragua family and lives in Los Angeles with her husband & daughter.

Kai has been working in child welfare for 21 years, including in direct service, policy research, TA delivery, capacity-building, and management roles, at local, state, and federal levels. He brings considerable research experience in data collection, analysis, and synthesis of both qualitative and quantitative data, focused on delivering the right knowledge to the right audiences at the right times.

He believes that when we know better, we can do better, and that effective dissemination of evidence/ knowledge is crucial to transforming systems so they can focus on prevention, racial equity, and listening to lived experience. His subject matter expertise includes areas of child maltreatment prevention, differential response, hotlines, warmlines, workload estimation, Implementation Science, Knowledge Management, and innovation. He has masters degrees from the University of Chicago in Social Work and Public Policy, and lives in Seattle with his wife and feisty 16 year-old cat.

Dr. Danny Morris Jr. has worked in Social Services for over 25 years. He began his career in 1995 as a group home counselor working with juvenile sex offenders, gang members, a substance abuse treatment/anger management counselor, etc. In 1999, he transitioned to county government as a social worker, then a Supervisor in 2003 in Fresno County. In 2006, he was promoted to Program Manager. Dr. Morris worked for Fresno County until 2011, when Madera County hired him as a Program Manager and was promoted to Deputy Director in 2012.

Dr. Morris has extensive experience working with parents of sexually abused children, alcohol and drug abuse, teen parents, Welfare-to-Work, CalWORKs, adult services, and various social services programs. He has worked as the Legislative Liaison for the County Welfare Directors Association-Children’s Committee, California Core Practice Model Leadership team, and other local and statewide committees. Dr. Morris is an instructor for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education in Human Services, where he teaches and helps with curriculum development. In addition, Dr. Morris has experience working with non-profit organizations and churches to build and lead change. Dr. Morris has an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts, Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Master’s in Business Administration, and Doctorate in Psychology with an Emphasis in Integrating Learning and Technology.