Experts on Youth Permanence and Child Welfare

Welcome to a guide of in-house experts on youth permanence and older youth living in foster care at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and its direct service agency, Casey Family Services.

Communications staff members will assistant you in arranging interviews. For more information, please contact Marci Bransdorf , Foundation public affairs specialist, at 410.223.2852, or Roye Anastasio-Bourke, Casey Family Services public affairs manager, at 203.401.6955.

Douglas Nelson | The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Douglas W. Nelson is president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and a member of its Board of Trustees. Prior to joining the Foundation in May of 1990, he was deputy director of the Center for the Study of Social Policy, a policy research organization. Before that he served as assistant secretary of the Wisconsin State Department of Health and Social Services. He is nationally known for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of family-centered, community-based responses to the needs of at-risk children and vulnerable families. In addition to frequent lectures and addresses, Nelson has written widely on a range of domestic social policy issues. His social history of the World War II relocation of Japanese Americans, entitled Heart Mountain, earned him a Pulitzer Prize nomination in 1976.

Raymond Torres | Casey Family Services
Raymond L. Torres is the executive director of Casey Family Services, the direct service agency of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He is responsible for the oversight and administration of the agency's eight divisions, located throughout New England and in Baltimore, Maryland. He also serves as a member of the Annie E. Casey Foundation senior leadership team. Prior to his current position, he was the programs administrator for child welfare services within the Oklahoma State Department of Human Services. He held the post of deputy regional director for the New York State Division of Family and Children Services. He has served as adjunct assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Social Work, where he taught courses in child abuse prevention and child welfare issues.

Lauren Frey | Casey Family Services
Lauren Frey, project manager with the Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice of Casey Family Services, has 25 years of experience in the field of permanency planning, child welfare system reform, and adoption for older children, teenagers, and children with special needs. A trainer, consultant, and speaker, she oversees technical assistance projects related to permanence for youth in transition from foster care. Prior to joining the Center, she was director of Massachusetts Families for Kids, a system reform project. She previously held positions as an adoption worker, supervisor, and program manager. She is the parent of four young adults - one foster son and three daughters adopted as older adolescents "aging out" of the foster care system.

Sarah Greenblatt | Casey Family Services
Sarah Greenblatt is director of the Casey Center for Effective Child Welfare Practice at Casey Family Services. Over her 30-year career, she has been a teacher, caseworker, supervisor, trainer, policy analyst, consultant, and program administrator. Prior to joining the Center in 2001, she served as the director of the National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning at the
Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City. Throughout her career, she has worked with community groups, public child welfare agencies, and private foundations across the country to collaboratively improve practice and policies related to permanence for children and youth.

Sania Metzger | Casey Family Services
Sania A. Metzger is director of policy for Casey Family Services. She serves as a member of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Policy and Communications Strategy Group, the Child Welfare Strategy Group, and the Casey-Center for the Study of Social Policy's Alliance for Racial Equity. She works to influence and track policies at the local, state, and federal levels, often working with Casey's direct service divisions. She continues to provide pro bono legal services and has served as a small claims court arbitrator. She worked for the New York State Legislature for 11 years as legislative counsel to Assemblyman Roger Green, then chair of the Standing Committee on Children and Families. Metzger is on the Board of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse America and the Center for Family Representation.

Wanda Mial | The Annie E. Casey Foundation
Wanda Mial is a senior associate for child welfare at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Responsible for the Foundation's child welfare portfolio, she also directs and manages the Family to Family Initiative. Most recently she worked for the City of Philadelphia's Department of Human Services as chief deputy commissioner for program and planning, directing agency operations for three programmatic divisions - Children and Youth Services, Community-based Prevention Services, and Juvenile Justice Services. During 2002, she was an Eisenhower Fellow, traveling to and exploring child welfare and juvenile justice systems in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and England.