Casey Family Programs has announced its annual Excellence for Children award winners, which this year include a former foster youth helping others prepare for adulthood in Puerto Rico, a pioneer in mental health, and the longtime editor of the nation’s only magazine for foster and kinship parents.
Each year, the Seattle-based organization bestows the honor onto leaders from every corner of child welfare — from caregivers and youth with lived experience to professionals dedicated to improving the system. Each winner’s story is captured in short videos presented on the organization’s website.
“This year’s honorees all share a passion for improving the lives of children and families,” said Casey Family Programs CEO William Bell. “This heartfelt commitment to ensuring children and families have what they need to thrive is the essence of what it means to build Communities of Hope.”
Yalanis Vélez González, who entered Puerto Rico’s foster care system at 16 and aged out of it during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, founded OverComing Adversities to help support other transition-age youth on the island. Her mentoring approach is based on the main ingredient that helped her make that leap, she said in her video, which was relationship building and friendship.
Dr. Bruce Perry, principal of the Neurosequential Network, is one of the most respected clinicians and researchers in the nation on the subject of child trauma and its lingering effects in adulthood. He is the founder of the ChildTrauma Academy and author of several bestsellers, including “What Happened to You?” which he co-wrote in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey.
Kim Phagan-Hansel is the director of sustainability for Fostering Media Connections, the nonprofit that publishes The Imprint and Fostering Families Today magazine. Before taking on that role she oversaw the production of Fostering Families Today, a bimonthly resource delivered to the caregivers on the frontlines of foster care. Each issue of the magazine features important news and advice for foster and kinship parents, along with insightful perspectives from foster youth, birth parents, health professionals and others.
The publication was launched by Dick and Annie Fischer, who began with Adoption Today after adopting two girls from China. “Pretty soon, someone told them, you know, foster parents have nothing,” Phagan-Hansel said, in her video.
Other Excellence Award recipients this year include:
Kinship Caregiver Award
Dion Stump, an enrolled member of the Chippewa Cree Tribe and the office manager for Western Native Voice’s Great Falls office, a full-time university student and an advocate for foster youth homes.
Birth Parent Awards
Dee Bonnick, who grew up in kinship care and serves as an educational advocate for Connecticut’s State Department of Education.
Michael Ray Simmons, a peer mentor and program supervisor for Morrison Child and Family Services in Oregon.
Sabra Jackson, a parent engagement specialist for New York City’s child welfare agency, who passed away in June of 2024.
Leadership Awards
Don Wells, chief empowerment officer for Just in Time for Foster Youth in San Diego, which works with foster youth to achieve self-sufficiency as adults.
Shannon Deinhart, co-founder and executive director of Kinnect, an Ohio-based nonprofit dedicated to pioneering KinFirst strategies and implementing programs that strengthen kinship connections and build inclusive support networks for families, youth and children.
Bryan Samuels and Clare Anderson of Chapin Hall, one of the nation’s premier policy research center’s on child and family well-being.
Casey Family Programs is a financial supporter of The Imprint. The foundation played no role in our decision to publish this article, per our editorial independence policy.