Update: Celebrating More of Northern California's Outstanding Social Workers

September is National Child Welfare Workforce Recognition Month

Let’s keep the celebration going! Last week, we featured seven outstanding Northern California child welfare social workers. This week, we are bringing you nine more to cap off our participation in and support of National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Child Welfare Workforce Recognition Month. 

This Week’s Outstanding Social Workers

Please join us in congratulating these outstanding child welfare social workers who were nominated by their supervisors and colleagues:

Jayson Partridge, Mono County
Jayson has been a child welfare social worker for the past 23 years!  His colleagues describe him as “dedicated,” “genuinely caring,” “incredibly calm” and “hilarious.” Perhaps the word that best describes Jayson is ‘humility.’  He has had the opportunity to advance to supervisory levels throughout his career, but, ultimately, he found the most satisfaction from direct service. His ability to prevent burnout all these years is an inspiration. In particular, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jayson found ways to safely remain in contact with families in the most rural areas of the County who would otherwise have no contact with supportive services. He transported clients hundreds of miles using large vans for social distancing to get them to residential treatment, ensuring the pandemic would not interrupt their progress toward family reunification. We thank Jayson for all the years of service and dedication he has given to creating safer lives for children.
~Michelle Raust, Mono County

Corina Long, Siskiyou County
When Corina began at our agency as a visitation monitor, she immediately caught the attention of social workers and supervisors as a person who truly cares about families. She is also a hard-working and dedicated employee. She was quickly promoted to a social worker and has been recently promoted to a lead social worker, where she plays a key role in training new social workers. Even though she carries a heavy caseload, she always finds time to help her fellow social workers. Corina embodies the true spirit of a social worker, always advocating, always seeking community support, and always seeing the best in all the families she partners with.
~ Angeline Zufelt, Siskiyou County

Tiffany Baker, El Dorado County
Tiffany excels in her role as a social worker in a small office in which she takes on many roles to meet the needs of children and families. She has outstanding skills in locating placements for children and goes above and beyond to assist other social workers in locating appropriate placements. Tiffany is calm and professional under stress and has earned the respect of the court, parent's attorneys, community partners and the families she works with. She is a truly exceptional social worker who deserves recognition for her strong work ethic and dedication to the children and families she serves. 
~ Kristina Samimi, El Dorado County

Kristi Claycamp, Shasta County
Kristi has worked for Shasta County as a social worker for over 15 years. Her current position as a child and family team meeting facilitator has allowed Kristi to positively impact all the families involved in child welfare as she works to engage children, families, support systems, staff, and providers in creating safety plans, integrating the CANS, and ensuring that the families voice and choice is always heard first. Over the last 10 years, Kristi has overseen a prevention program known as the high risk pregnant women's program that works with the local hospital and maternity clinic who identify possible women with high risk factors for child welfare involvement in the future. Families in that program share that Kristi helped them in a fair, considerate, and trauma-informed way. Kristi is an outstanding social worker.
~ Amber Condrey, Shasta County

Kristin Blakely, Mendocino County
Since joining our team Kristin has been a rising. She had some natural skills as a helping profession when she started this work, and has taken every opportunity to learn and grow at a rapid rate. Kristin has been able to carry a number of high-risk cases, and has demonstrated an ability to listen, to make time for families, and to encourage and model advocacy for their growth balanced against a sharp and responsive ability to assess safety and risk. She is a great colleague, and will often step up to help her teammates, and does not hesitate to seek support from her supervisor when she has a difficult decision to make. She is inclusive of Child & Family Teams, and works hard to remove barriers to behavior change to promote safety. We thank her for her contribution to our community and the Mendocino FCS Team.
~Matt Purcell, Mendocino County

Anne Nava, Mendocino County
A social worker supervisor, Anne Nava embodies the heart of child welfare social work. She consistently practices the Core Practice Model Practice Behaviors, particularly the foundational practices of communicating openly, honestly, clearly, and respectfully, and in being accountable.

She also models the balance of engagement and assessment in her work with families. Her ability to listen, take an interest, and offer realistic support encourages families and social workers to practice in this way, and deepens their ability build and monitor relevant safety plans and case plans. Her personal values shine through in her work and her relationships. She is trustworthy, action-oriented and fun. It's difficult to define, but Anne possesses a quality that draws others in and makes them feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves.
~ Kendra Pashales Palma, Mendocino County

Peggy Breaux, Sutter County
Peggy Breaux has been a child welfare social worker with Sutter County for nearly 25 years. Her commitment and dedication to the safety and well-being of children, combined with a desire to see parents and families succeed, has never wavered over her long career. Peggy’s wealth of knowledge and experience has made her a valuable social worker who has been an asset in any program she has worked in. She exhibits a natural ability to engage with people, find common ground, and ask the tough questions with a nonchalant flare that people invariably respond to in a positive way. There are certain things that remain a constant in Peggy: a heart for helping others, a strong value of teamwork, and the determination to put her all into everything she does.
~ Kimberly Womack, Sutter County

Nataly Skuorchuk, Sacramento County
As a social worker, Nataly does a phenomenal job. She’s intelligent and a fantastic advocate for her clients. She expects her families to make behavioral changes and will give them homework, encouragement and will walk with them every step of the way in order move them towards positive outcomes. Perhaps the thing I admire most about Nataly is her willingness to always do what’s right for the children and parents on her case load…not what’s easy. She’s committed to doing what’s best for her clients even when it means extra time and work for her. She embodies the passion of a new social worker along with the wisdom and maturity that often takes years of experience to accumulate. It is this rare combination of traits which make Nataly so special.
~ Melanie Perez, Sacramento County

Marisol Garcia, Sacramento County
"Marisol has distinguished herself as a tremendously skilled and compassionate social worker whose ability to form positive connections with parents, children, caregivers and external partners is acknowledged and commended by line staff and management alike. Whether she is helping parents reunify with their children or seeking permanent homes for children whose special needs have made home finding more challenging, Marisol approaches the work with great integrity and a strong sense of responsibility to the families who have placed their trust in her. Marisol is the personification of everything we want a CPS social worker to be: skilled, yet humble; a teacher, yet always willing to learn; a leader, but also a strong collaborator." 
~ Melanie Perez, Sacramento County

To get the full picture

Read about our other outstanding nominees in last week’s blog post.

Learn more about how you can participate in Child Welfare Workforce Recognition Month

There are several ways you can support and recognize the child welfare workforce this month:

• Be sure to "like” and "follow" our Facebook page. Wouldn't it be a nice change for some good news to go viral? You can help make that happen by "liking" and commenting when you see a social worker highlighted on Facebook. Let's make them famous!
• Stay tuned to our News Blog. We'll be highlighting new social workers throughout September.
• Visit the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute's Child Welfare Workforce Recognition Month website. Our colleagues at NCWWI are offering a lot of great resources and events throughout September.
• Thank a social worker for everything they do. Gratitude is so important in this challenging field; during these current times it may be the breath of fresh air that turns around someone's entire day or even week. Thank someone you know who is a social worker for everything they have done, are doing, and will continue to do in service of California's vulnerable children and families.