The Kinship Caregiver Council advises the Step Up Coalition and advocates for relative caregivers statewide to ensure that their needs are fully considered in legislation, policy, and child welfare practice.

Members

SYLVIE DE TOLEDO

Sylvie de Toledo is a licensed clinical social worker. In 1987, she founded Grandparents As Parents, a non-profit organization focused on helping relative caregivers. Sylvie co-authored the book Grandparents As Parents A Survival Guide for Raising a Second Family.  A second edition of the book was released in June 2015.

Sylvie and her work have been featured in national and local press to advocate on behalf of relative caregivers, who account for more than half of all those caring for children who have entered foster care.

She has received numerous awards having to do with her work on behalf of relative caregivers for over 30 years, and is a founding member of Alliance of Relative Caregivers (ARC). Sylvie lives in Sherman Oaks with her husband of 22 years and their two daughters ages 21 and 18. They have been caregivers to several children through the years.

BOBBIE JO DEAN

Bobbie Jo Dean holds a B.S. in Mathematics from California State University, Northridge, and is a licensed CPCU who has worked at 21st Century Insurance for 27 years. She became a “big sister” through Big Brothers/Big Sisters in 2003. Her “little sister” lost her grandmother, who was her primary guardian, at which point Bobbie Jo became her primary caregiver. She says the process of going from “big sister” to being a single mom was difficult, but so worthwhile. Since then, she married and her husband brought his two children into the family. Today, they live on 3 acres with 20 chickens and all three kids. Bobbie Jo and her husband also took in her daughter’s young nephew for several months when he was detained into foster care. The family spends their time playing sports, fixing up their home, and scuba diving.

FREDDIE GOLDBERG

Freddie Goldberg was born and raised in New York. She has lived in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years. Freddie works full time for an Attorney/CPA and also volunteers for her synagogue and advocates for women and children’s rights. She first encountered the child welfare bureaucracy when she was granted emergency custody of her infant grandson. Through that experience, she found her passion as an advocate. Her goal is to gain immediate services for families like hers and to support and enable them in their role as caregivers.

STEPHANIE GRIMES

Stephanie Grimes is Staff Services Analyst in the Opinion Unit, Department of Justice. She has worked in the Department of Justice since 2005. Prior to this, she worked with private firms that specialized in election law, FPPC enforcement actions, state initiatives, lobby, major donor and disclosure requirements, conflict of interest issues, and litigation in the state/federal trial, appellate and supreme court jurisdictions.

Stephanie is raising her two grandchildren, ages 11 and 8. As a single parent, working full-time, Stephanie was unprepared for her role as the children’s caregiver. Yolo County provided her with services to mitigate the children’s trauma from the moment they were placed with her, including after-school day care and financial support while her caregiver application was pending.

MARY LEE

Mary Lee has been a relative caregiver for more than twenty years. Mary was given custody of her eldest granddaughter in 1991, shortly after she was born. At the time, Mary was pressured to adopt, and told that unless she adopted her granddaughter, the child would be removed from her home and put up for adoption. Subsequently and as a result of that experience, Mary worked with representative Karen Bass and a group of caregivers in Sacramento to get AB 298 passed, stating that relative caregivers could no longer be forced to adopt their relative children.

Mary has two other granddaughters, one for whom she became legal guardian, and one who was placed with another relative and eventually entered foster care and experienced multiple placements.

Mary has been a foster youth advocate for many years and produces newsletters for caregivers to educate them about changes in the law. She also participates in caregiver support groups including Grandparents as Parents. She volunteers with LAUSD representing foster youth on the Parent Advisory and the Community Advisory, and serves as a surrogate parent for the school district. Her hope is to reach other caregivers and support them in navigating the foster care system.

LINDA LEIGHTON

Linda Leighton is raising two granddaughters. She did not expect to be the primary caregiver for her granddaughters, but family tragedy unexpectedly led to a situation in which the family was pressured to take legal guardianship and told that if they did not, the girls would be adopted by strangers. Now, 12 years later, she continues to raise the girls, and together they have overcome numerous life obstacles and challenges. The family lives in Auburn, California. In her professional life, Linda works with mentally ill patients in crisis and serves as a Kinship Parent Partner thru Lilliput Family. She looks forward to retirement and living the RV life and volunteering for causes near and dear!

ANA LORA

Several years ago, Ana and her husband unexpectedly became relative caregivers to their three nieces and nephew. They were taken aback by the lack of support and difficulty they experienced in the foster care system, including challenges in accessing college financial aid, Medi-Cal, mental health treatment and other benefits for their nieces. Two years later their youngest niece was placed under Ana and Carlos’ guardianship and their nephew reunified with his father in Mexico.

Since then Ana has participated in Advisory Meetings with Casey Family Programs. In 2017 Ana and Carlos attended the GrandRally in Washington, DC where they advocated for relative caregivers. Today they are readily available to provide guidance and support to the children whenever they need it. The family resides in Chula Vista, California. Ana graduated from the University of California Berkeley. During her free time, Ana enjoys hiking. She is also a member of MANA de San Diego, an organization that empowers Latinas through education, leadership training, advocacy and community service.

LORI NOLAN

Lori is raising two young grandchildren, with help from one of her daughters. Both caregivers work full-time. They spent almost ten months navigating the resource family approval process. Lori hopes her work with the Kinship Caregiver Council will help other caregivers facing similar circumstances.

ROSALÌA F. ORNELAS

Rosalía was born and raised in Woodland, CA. Earlier in her life, motivated by her desire to help those in need, Rosalía had the privilege to work with children in Butte County through Migrant Education and the Woodland School District, including those for whom English is a second language, as well as children who are autistic, hearing impaired, and severely disabled. Rosalía eventually left the school district for a position with a communications company where she worked as a member of leadership for 17 years. In January 2017, Rosalía chose to pursue her BA in Psychology. After some unexpected family events, she became a foster parent to her infant nephew. Rosalia says that her transition to foster parenting has been very challenging, but also the most fulfilling time of her life. Today, Rosalia hopes to continue providing a safe and loving environment for her nephew until reunification is completed. She is also volunteering for Resource Families and completing her education to become an Art Therapist.

IMRITH RODE’AMERICA

Imrith Rode’America and his life companion, Reyna, have two daughters, Judith, and Zion, and they are the relative caregivers for Imrith’s younger siblings Ricardo, Angel, and Esli.. Imrith is actively involved in his sibling’s academic achievements and he is a passionate advocate for all those who have experienced foster care. Imrith is a founding member of Proyecto Vecindad (Project Neighborhood), a grassroots collective focusing on utilizing the arts to empower the community. Imrith also works closely with Inside Out Writers. The mission of Inside Out Writers is to reduce the juvenile recidivism rate by providing a range of services that evolves to meet the needs of currently and formerly incarcerated youth and young adults.

BOB RUBLE

Bob Ruble has been the primary caregiver for his niece since she was 8 years old. At the time, he was told that if he decided not to step up and care for her, his niece would be sent to live with a stranger in foster care. With little guidance on how to proceed on his own, Bob’s kinship journey began.

Bob eventually became his niece’s guardian and has helped her to grow and recover from trauma.  In addition to attending support groups with his niece, Bob also took the initiative to seek out other vital supports: including parent classes and trauma training from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Today, Bob’s niece is 23 and attending college, and he is proud of the young woman she has become. Bob has also become an important voice for kinship families in his local area through his work with Children and Family Services and organizing kinship recognition events. Bob founded his own nonprofit to provide support for other kinship caregivers. He is also the President of the National Kinship Alliance and serves on the Step Up Coalition, representing relative caregivers in policy discussions.

CHERIE SCHROEDER

Cherie Schroeder has twenty years of experience as a service provider and expert in early childhood and foster and kinship care with particular focus on the impact of trauma and loss on a child’s development.  Her life’s work is training and supporting families willing to open their hearts and homes to abused, neglected and abandoned children.  Cherie has a graduate degree from UC Davis and completed a 2-year Advanced Transdisciplinary Mental Health Practitioner program in the fields of Infant/Family and Early Childhood through WestEd and sponsored by First5 Yolo. She and her husband, Ken, are approved resource families, and they have taken in many teens and several non-minor dependents.

DEIRDRE SKELTON

Deirdre has forty years of experience in education and recently retired from Los Angeles Unified School District where she helped disconnected students get back in school with the educational and community supports to help keep them succeed and graduate. At LAUSD, she worked in specialized programs that partnered with county child welfare agencies. In addition, she has been a foster parent. Since joining the Kinship Caregiver Council, she has spoken to the California legislators and participated in Caregiver Education Day in Sacramento.

ELIZABETH (LIZ) TURNER-NICHOLS

Liz has been employed with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Palo Alto for over 25 years and lives in San Jose. She is also Founder and current President of the Mid-Peninsula/Silicon Valley Chapter of Blacks In Government. Liz is raising her young grandson. She spent more than a year prior to his placement with her pursuing the requirements of the resource family approval and the ICPC (Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children). Working with two different states with different requirements was daunting and prolonged her grandson’s placement. Liz hopes that her experience and insight will be helpful to other families through her work on the Kinship Caregiver Council.

MARCELINA VALENZUELA

Marcelina Valenzuela, who was in foster care herself, has been a relative caregiver for the last five years, providing for her brother, who is 14 years old, and her 18 year-old sister. She works at Children’s Law Center as a case manager.

She joined the Kinship Caregiver Council in order to work with other relative caregivers and collectively advocate for the needs of those who might follow in her shoes, especially sibling caregivers. She says she wants relative caregivers to know that they are not alone and have a community to back them up.

CHERIE WEATHERALL

Cherie Weatherall was born and raised in Los Angeles. She married and raised six children, spending much of this time as a single parent. Cherie is a former insurance account executive and a fitness instructor!

Cherie ran a non-profit youth sports organization in the West LA area, and has served as a board member on behalf of emerging charter schools. She is employed by the Senior Citizen Section for the City of Los Angeles, working on community engagement for seniors.

Cherie has been the “Super-Grandma” to her four year-old granddaughter whom she is now raising, an experience that she says brings her unspeakable joy. Cherie worked with the Alliance for Children’s Rights when she required advocacy in order to access benefits through DCFS to help her meet Jasmine’s special needs. Today Cherie is committed to partnering with the Alliance and other advocates to ensure that foster and relative caregivers continue to benefit from legislative improvements.