shelly kihnke

* Develop, implement, and evaluate Project EMBRACE- an abandoned infant adoption placement program funded by the Gerber Foundation * Write program updates and yearly reports to the Gerber Foundation * Development of a program manual * Organize and coordinate a Central Planning Committee, Program Conferences, and monthly progress meetings including clinical social worker training, as well as specialized training for foster and adoptive parents * Provide support services for each of the five program sites * Develop and analyze program statistics * Assist with the development of future funding opportunities * Provide foster parent training when needed and conducted professional training sessions for the 2003 National Spring Conference * Develop Power Point presentations for the purposes of marketing and recruitment * Proficiency in MS Word, MS Power Point, and MS Excel

* Managed caseload and specialized treatment of special needs foster children and moved cases from foster care to adoption finalization. * Prepared adoption reports for prospective adoptive families * Assisted pre-adoptive parents with adoption preparation * Attended court hearings, prepared court reports, and submitted adoption subsidy packets to DCFS * Member of a multidisciplinary team * Assisted in placement decisions and made recommendations for adoption finalization * Provided training to foster adoptive parents and staff in social work area content * Areas of expertise include working with children who have trauma histories, have been sexually and physically abused , diagnosed with depression, oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit hyperactive disorder, reactive attachment disorder or who have been drug and alcohol exposure

* Developed and implemented the training modality for the Kinship Care Training Unit * Conducted bio-psychosocial assessments, home consultations, and provided referrals for prospective foster and adoptive parents * Co-led ten-week training groups for prospective foster and adoptive parents, utilizing the Group Preparation and Selection curriculum * Wrote bio-psychosocial assessments and made recommendations for licensing and child placement * Coordinated Therapeutic Foster Care program with two adjunct agencies- Boys Town and Residential Care Inc. * Supervised first and second year graduate level social work students from Howard University * Developed, implemented, and evaluated ten-week support group for teens in foster care * Planned, implemented, and evaluated children’s component of “Parents and Children Together” program and conducted children’s therapy group

Internships included Arlington county Public Schools: School Social Work Intern Washington Hospital Center: Units included Burn NICU, Shock-Trauma and Emergency Activities and Societies: Provided services to Disabled Student Services for the two years I attended CUA-