Susan Badeau, director of systems analysis for Casey Family Program, has been a child welfare professional for more than twenty-five years. During this time, she has worked at every level in this arena, from direct casework to administration at the local, state, and national levels. Most recently, she served as deputy director of the national, nonpartisan Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, and as a policy consultant for child welfare agencies, organizations, and foundations.

In 1999 Ms. Badeau served as a public policy fellow in the U.S. Senate, where she worked on the Chafee Foster Care Independence Act, a follow-up to the landmark Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA). Also active in child health, education, and disability initiatives, she has served on the Philadelphia Department of Public Health's Special Needs Task Force and as the Pennsylvania representative for Family Voices, a national child-health organization, for over a decade. A Philadelphia resident, she and her husband have been foster parents to more than fifty children and have adopted twenty children from foster care, whom they have raised alongside their two biological children.

Dr. Thomas H. Bornemann became the director of mental health programs at The Carter Center under the leadership of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter on August 1, 2002. Prior to this appointment, he served as senior adviser for mental health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence of the World Health Organization. Dr. Bornemann has spent his entire career in public mental health, working in all aspects including clinical practice, research, research management, policy development, and administration at the national level. At the National Institute of Mental Health he served as chief of refugee programs in the Office of International Health, where he was one of the leaders in developing a national mental health program for refugees.

In 1994 Dr. Bornemann was appointed deputy director of the Federal Center for Mental Health Services in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). During his tenure at the center, he provided leadership in the development of the first-ever Surgeon General's Report on Mental Health. A career public health officer, Dr. Bornemann retired at the rank of assistant surgeon general.

Earlier in his career, he held an academic appointment at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.

Barbara Feaster is a survivor of child sexual abuse by her father. She was rescued by the West Valley City Police Department at age 16 and successfully placed in Utah's Independent Living Foster Care Program at age 17. Ms. Feaster is cofounder and interim executive director of uFOSTERsuccess, a nonprofit organization whose membership is composed entirely of former foster care youth.

Ms. Feaster is a governor-appointed member of Utah's Board of Child and Family Services and has more than twelve years' experience working to make a positive difference for children in foster care. Her proudest accomplishment is being a loving and devoted mother. She knows firsthand that even children from tragic personal circumstances have enormous potential and can attain great success in their lives. Ms. Feaster wants children in foster care to know that they are just as important and valuable to society as are the children of royalty!

Mary Fetchet, a clinical social worker, cofounded VOICES of September 11th following the death of her 24-year-old son, Brad, in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Her vision was to create an organization to address the ongoing needs of survivors and the families of the nearly 3,000 victims. Ms. Fetchet also campaigned for the creation of the independent 9/11 Commission and continues to promote the implementation of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for government reforms. She has successfully pursued advocacy efforts that address long-term needs of victims of trauma, promote national and local preparedness, and increase cultural awareness internationally.

Ms. Fetchet has led the creation and launch of the 9/11 Living Memorial project, an online digital archive commemorating the lives and stories of September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993. To date, more than 1,000 individual stories have been created. She believes the 9/11 Living Memorial will become the definitive web-based 9/11 memorial and resource for future generations.

In recognition of her diligent and compassionate work, Ms. Fetchet has been honored as a recipient of the National Justice Award and the Connecticut Hero Award (presented by U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman), and as a 2004 ABC News Person of the Year. A graduate of Columbia University with a master's degree. Fetchet has worked as a clinical social worker at an outpatient mental health clinic. She lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with her husband, Frank, and their two surviving sons, Chris, age 18, and Wes, age 25.

Dr. Vivian Jackson is a senior policy associate and member of the faculty of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) at the Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development in Washington, DC. She provides technical assistance and consultation related to cultural and linguistic competence for the Children's Mental Health Initiative of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Dr. Jackson is a social worker with more than thirty years of experience as a practitioner, supervisor, manager, and trainer in health, mental health, substance abuse, child welfare, managed care, system reform, and cultural competency.

Earlier in her career, Dr. Jackson served as director of the Office of Policy and Practice at the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and as child welfare advisor for the National Resource Network for Children's Mental Health at the Washington Business Group on Health. Her publications include Cultural Competence in Managed Behavioral Health Care (Manisses Communications Group, 1999), and Getting Started...and Moving On: Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Cultural and Linguistic Competency for Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Families (NCCC, 2003). Dr. Jackson is currently a member of the NASW's National Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and the NASW's Presidential Diversity Task Force.

Kim Kang is the parent of a shaken baby syndrome victim, and cofounder and former president of The Shaken Baby Alliance (www.shakenbaby.org), a nonprofit organization dedicated to prevention efforts, family support, and justice (advocacy) for children of shaken baby syndrome and abusive head trauma. She has resided in Minnesota since 1998 and was inspired by the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone and his wife, Sheila, as well as by many of the families touched by shaken baby syndrome, to dedicate her life to public policy to improve the lives of children. Grassroots organizing remains at the heart of her work.

Ms. Kang has been a registered state lobbyist since 2006 and is currently employed as the public policy and early childhood director for PACER Center, a national nonprofit dedicated to protecting the educational rights of children with disabilities. She has presented and published nationally and internationally on the topic of shaken baby syndrome child abuse.

William Modzeleski is an ex officio member of the NCTSN Advisory Board. He currently serves as associate assistant deputy secretary in the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. Mr. Modzeleski oversees the Center for School Preparedness, which develops programs to help schools to prepare for, respond to, and recover from possible terrorist attacks.

Mr. Modzeleski has been involved in juvenile justice and school safety issues for more than twenty-five years. He has served at the county and federal levels, working both at the DOE and at the U.S. Department of Justice. Over the past several years, he has been involved in several major initiatives related to school safety and preparedness including development and implementation of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. Coauthor of several articles and publications dealing with school shootings, Mr. Modzeleski has also been involved in helping communities that have suffered tragedies—ranging from school shootings to serial suicides—cope with and recover from these traumatic events.

In recognition of his efforts, Mr. Modzeleski has received numerous awards including the Presidential Award from the National Association of School Psychologists and the U.S. Secret Service Director's Recognition Award.

Dr. Peter Pecora is senior director of research services for Casey Family Programs and professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington, Seattle. He was a line worker and later a program coordinator in several child welfare service agencies. Working with a number of state departments of social services, he helped implement intensive home-based services, child welfare training, and risk assessment systems for child protective services.

Dr. Pecora has also served as an expert witness for many states in the area of child welfare, and has coauthored numerous books and articles focused on child welfare program design, administration, and research.

Currently, with Harvard Medical School and the University of Michigan, Dr. Pecora is planning a new study of foster care alumni with the states of Michigan and Texas. This study is being conducted in conjunction with a Midwest foster care study of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. He is also testing caregiver and youth empowerment approaches to helping youth in foster care access evidence-based mental health services. Additionally, he is participating in a national effort to reduce racial disproportionality in the child welfare system.

Patricia Puritz has worked as a child advocate in the juvenile justice system for thirty years and currently serves as executive director of the National Juvenile Defender Center, an organization dedicated to ensuring excellence in juvenile defense and promoting justice for all children. Ms. Puritz was director of the American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center from 1985 to 2004, where, among other projects, she led the creation of the National Juvenile Defender Center, which was created to serve as a clearinghouse, backup, and resource center for lawyers who defend children. She has worked in a number of advocacy and community-based organizations; and she has been involved in designing, implementing, managing, and monitoring programs to reform the nation's juvenile justice systems. Since the early 1990s, Ms. Puritz has emphasized developing strategies to ensure that children have adequate access to competent counsel throughout the duration of the court process.

In her role at the National Juvenile Defender Center, an organization independent from the American Bar Association since 2005, Ms. Puritz oversees a range of training, technical assistance, leadership, and capacity-building activities designed to improve juvenile indigent defense systems. She was appointed in 2003 by then Governor of Virginia Mark Warner to serve on the state's Board of Juvenile Justice, and she co-chairs the Juvenile Justice Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). In recognition of her work, the NACDL named Ms. Puritz the "2004 Champion of Indigent Defense," and the American Bar Association honored her with the 2006 Livingston Hall Juvenile Justice Award.

Dr. Walter Howard Smith Jr., a licensed psychologist, is executive director of Family Resources, a private nonprofit corporation focusing on child abuse prevention and treatment. He became the agency's first clinical director in 1987 and its executive director in 1997. In his private practice, Dr. Smith treats children, couples, and families. He is the founding member of the Western Pennsylvania Family Center, an education resource center for lay and professional persons interested in family therapy and family studies. He has presented lectures and conferences nationwide on child abuse and family emotional process.

His career has centered on the use of Bowen family systems theory to understand the functioning of families, organizations, and social groups. For twenty years he has focused on conflict and violence to understand how relationship shifts and responses to stress lead to child abuse, domestic violence, and conflict. He specializes in implementing complex ideas and intervention strategies in community and professional settings.

Dr. Smith also serves as an adjunct associate professor in the psychology program at Duquesne University and is an organization consultant. His consulting work—which includes a university department, an employee assistance firm, a religious order, a medical practice, and several human service nonprofit organizations—concentrates on leadership coaching and organization conflict.

Dr. Robert Ursano is a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience and chairman of the department of psychiatry in the School of Medicine at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, the only federal medical school in the United States. He is also director of the school's Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress. Dr. Ursano is one of the world's leaders in research and public health planning and policy development for psychological and behavioral effects of trauma, disasters, terrorism, and bioterrorism. His research and publications on the effects of traumatic events on individuals and groups are widely recognized as having fundamentally contributed to our understanding of the distress and illness that can result from trauma, disasters, and terrorism.

Dr. Ursano is also widely published in the areas of PTSD and the psychological effects of combat. He and his team have served as consultants for and have completed studies on numerous disasters; disaster rescue workers; motor vehicle accident victims; family violence; and veterans of the Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Gulf wars. Dr. Ursano's Textbook of Disaster Psychiatry (Cambridge University Press, 2007), is the first textbook on the topic ever published.

Dr. Ursano also serves as editor in chief of the distinguished psychiatric journal Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes.

Paul Vick is associate vice president for government relations at Duke University Health System (DUHS), a sprawling enterprise that includes Duke University Hospital, Durham Regional Hospital, and Raleigh Community Hospital, along with a variety of ambulatory surgery centers, primary and specialty care clinics, wellness centers, and community-based clinical partnerships. Mr. Vick oversees all health-related issues at the federal level for DUHS and state government issues for Duke University and DUHS.

His professional background includes both local and federal government experience. For three years he worked in Washington, DC, as administrative assistant to U.S. Senator (and former Duke president) Terry Sanford of North Carolina, and he served four years on the Durham (N.C.) City Council. Mr. Vick is a 1966 graduate of Duke University and holds a master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Elizabeth Yore is an attorney at law in Chicago, Illinois, who currently serves as special counsel to Harpo, Inc. Previously, Ms. Yore was general counsel t0 the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DFCS), a $1.4 billion state agency with 21,000 children in state care. In that role, she oversaw a staff of one hundred and had primary responsibility for all federal and state litigation. Before holding that position at DCFS she was chief deputy general counsel, with responsibility for international and immigration legal issues, such as unaccompanied minors, Hague Convention petitions, and missing children. She also served as the legal liaison with the communications department, handling legal issues in high profile media cases, and as legal legislative liaison, providing legal analysis for proposed legislation.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Yore was chief legal officer for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Virginia. She oversaw all legal matters and directed the international and Internet Child Exploitation divisions of the Center. She directed the creation of the first Internet cyber-tip hotline for child pornography and trained hundreds of international and national law enforcement officers on legal issues of Internet safety.

Ms Yore has received numerous appointments and awards for her committed diligence to helping children, including the 1996 Award of Merit by the U.S. Department of State for outstanding work on behalf of the Hague Convention on Child Abduction. She has served as subject matter expert for several media outlets. Ms. Yore holds a juris doctor degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University.