The Foster Care Review Board (FCRB) has announced the recipients of its 2014 Child Welfare Awards, which recognize exceptional services to children and families in the state’s child welfare system.
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Beth Kelly and Michigan Department of Human Services Director Maura D. Corrigan will present the awards during a lunchtime ceremony Nov. 6 at the Adoba Hotel Dearborn.
FCRB Program Manager Jim Novell said the awards “are presented annually to recognize exceptional work on behalf of abused and neglected children and their families.”
Christina Pudvan of the Michigan Department of Human Services in Otsego County was named Foster Care Worker of the Year. Pudvan is described as a “stellar example of sincerity, sensitivity, service and humility.”
In addition to her family engagement skills and devotion to improving the lives of children in the foster care system, she was applauded for her advocacy efforts on the Otsego County Child Welfare Board to improve the overall well being of all children in the community.
The Lawyer-Guardian Ad Litem of the Year Award will be presented to attorney Fred Gruber of the Michigan Children’s Law Center in Wayne County. He was nominated for his diligent efforts in assuring that his child clients’ best interests are represented before the court and that they have the services and support they need while in the foster care system.
He is active in the community in organizing and hosting events focused on recruiting foster and adoptive parents, and Mr. Gruber was appointed as a Child Advocate to the Governor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect in 2013.
Members of the Overmyer/Ahola Family of Marquette were named Foster Parents of the Year.
The family legacy began in 1983 when Don and his deceased wife, Violet, were licensed as foster parents, and continues with Don and Jana, as well as the younger Overmyers and their spouses, who have cared for over 300 foster children combined, bettering their lives and offering them homes, sometimes long after they have left foster care.
The Parent Attorney of the Year will be presented to Paula A. Aylward of Allegiant Legal Services in Marshall, Michigan.
Aylward was recognized for her for professionalism and demand for perfection in her practice.
She was noted for her advocacy for parents impacted by the child welfare system and significant pro bono work in family law, particularly in the area of helping parents and foster parents obtain expunction from Michigan’s Central Registry for Child Abuse and Neglect.
Aylward also provides services to veterans and animal rights groups, and once worked with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.
Judge Timothy Connors, who serves in the Family Division of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court will be honored with the Jurist of the Year Award.
He was nominated by Judge Allie Greenleaf Maldonado, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, who noted Judge Connors’ work to ensure cases involving Indian children were being handled appropriately in order to achieve timely permanency and protection for the children involved.
Connors was noted for working to achieve compliance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), not only in his own court, but statewide and nationally.
He helped draft and advocated for passage of the Michigan Indian Family Preservation Act of 2012 (MIFPA), which strengthens and clarifies provisions of the ICWA within Michigan law.
The FCRB, which was created by the Michigan legislature in 1981, serves as a statewide system of third-party review of the foster care system. The program is administered by the State Court.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
