Kimberly Ambrose

Kimberly Ambrose is a lecturer at the University of Washington (UW) School of Law. She has taught and supervised students in the Children and Youth Advocacy Clinic (CAYAC), the Legislative Advocacy Clinic, and the Race and Justice Clinic, and she also teaches Juvenile Justice. Before joining the UW faculty, she spent several years as a public defender representing indigent adults and juveniles in both child welfare and criminal proceedings and as a resource attorney for the Washington Defender Association, providing training, technical assistance, and resources to public defense attorneys around Washington State.

Carol Bryant

Carol Bryant has represented the Division of Child Support at the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office since 1981 and is also a co-author of the parentage chapter of the Washington Family Law Deskbook. The authors are deeply indebted to Wallace Murray, who was one of the original co-authors of this chapter.

Patricia Clark

In 1987, the Honorable Judge Patricia Clark obtained a Juris Doctor degree and a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington. Before being appointed to the bench, she worked as a prosecutor, an educator, and a constitutional commissioner where she focused on at-risk youth. She was elected to the bench in 1998,and during her tenure used the power and the possibility of the judicial system to improve the lives of children, adolescents, and their families. Judge Clark served as the chief judge for the Juvenile Division of the King County Superior Court from November of 2002 to her retirement in 2013. She chaired the Juvenile Disproportionality Committee and the Dependency Disproportionality Committee, and wasforemost in the implementation of Reclaiming Futures Treatment Court, Family Treatment Court, and Systems Integration. She also served as a member of Superior Court Judges’ Association and Superior Court Judges’ Association Family Juvenile Law Committee, and was also involved in developing the Operational Master Plan for Juvenile Court in the 21st Century.

Judge Clark was a strong supporter of prevention programs that help keep young people out of the detention and foster care systems. She was honored with a 2003 Vanguard Award from the King County Washington Women Lawyers, a 2005 Voices for Children Award from the Washington State Children’s Alliance.

Shawn Crowley

Shawn Crowley was an attorney with The Defender Association in Seattle for 19 years. His practice has included misdemeanor and felony defense, involuntary mental health commitments, sexually violent predator commitments, and dependency cases. He served as supervisor of the Defender Association’s Sex Offender Commitment division. He is now in private practice with an emphasis on criminal and dependency cases.

Shawn received his Juris Doctor from the University of Washington in 1989. As a law student he worked as a research assistant for Professor John Junker, researching search and seizure issues. Prior to law school, Shawn was a biologist, receiving his Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of New Mexico. His research and publications were concerned with the evolution of thermal physiology in cold-blooded animals. He earned a B.S. in biology from the University of Washington in 1977. He taught in the biology departments at the University of Washington and the University of New Mexico.

Patrick Dowd

Patrick Dowd is a licensed attorney with public defense experience representing clients in dependency, termination of parental rights, juvenile offender and adult criminal proceedings. He was also a managing attorney with the Washington State Office of Public Defense (OPD) Parents Representation Program and previously worked for OFCO as an ombudsman from 1999 to 2005. Through his work at OFCO and OPD, Mr. Dowd has extensive professional experience in child welfare law and policy. Mr. Dowd graduated from Seattle University and earned his J.D. at the University of Oregon. Amelia Watson and Brett Ballew are current OPD managing attorneys

Jana Heyd

Jana Heyd is theformer assistant director at Society of Counsel, one of the public defense agencies in Seattle, Washington, where she worked for 24 years. Jana has been involved primarily in the dependency practice area, working with children and families in the foster care system. Jana is currently employed at the Washington State Office of Public Defense as one of the managing attorneys in the Parent Representation Program. She is the former co-chair of the state’s Children’s Justice Task Force and participated in the Immigrant Child Advocacy Project, the Family Treatment Court advisory board, and the Child Youth and Family Advisory Council for the state of Washington. Jana was a e co-chair of the juvenile law section of the Washington State Bar Association.

Sheila Malloy Huber

Sheila Malloy Huber was an Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel with the Olympia Social and Health Services Division, representing the Children’s Administration (CA), retiring in June 2013. She also served as the appellate advisor for the Social and Health Services Division in Olympia. After graduating from law school in 1977, she was in private practice in Spokane for 13 years, emphasizing adoption, family and juvenile law, as well as appellate practice. During that time Ms. Huber also taught legal research and writing at Gonzaga University School of Law. From 1991 to 1999, she worked as a law clerk for Chief Justice James Andersen and, later, for Chief Justice Richard Guy, of the Washington State Supreme Court. She joined the Attorney General’s Office in 1999.

Timothy M. Jaasko-Fisher

Timothy M. Jaasko-Fisher is Assistant Director of Programming and Curriculum at Robert’s Fund, providing consultation and training focused on improving consciousness, creativity, and community to promote a more civil world. Prior the that, he was Director of the Court Improvement Training Academy (CITA) at the University of Washington, School of Law’s Child and Youth Advocacy Clinic. Prior to becoming the director of CITA in September 2007, Tim was an Assistant Attorney General for 11 years, representing the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Children’s Administration. He conducts training on a variety of topics relating to child welfare law and litigation of child abuse and neglect cases. He has presented at the Washington State Children’s Justice Conference, the Washington State Children’s Administration Social Work Academy, and the Washington State Judicial Conference. He has trained on a wide range of topics including legal issues relating to chronic neglect, criminal records checks in child welfare, and the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. He was awarded his Bachelor of Arts in Government from New Mexico State University in 1993 and his Juris Doctor from Seattle University School of Law in 1996.

Pam Kramer

Pam Kramer is the Adoption Program Manager for Children’s Administration. She has been with Children’s Administration for over 15 years and in her current position for the past 11 years. She does policy development on adoption, foster care, permanency including guardianship and is the lead on the Relative Guardianship Assistance Program.

Thurman W. Lowans

Commissioner Thurman W. Lowans was appointed to the Kitsap County Superior Court in 1993 and is responsible for the Paternity calendar, Dependency calendar, Family Law motions calendar, Mental Commitment calendar, Domestic Violence calendar, Adoption calendar, Civil Contempt calendar, and the Ex Parte calendar. He established the position of Courthouse Facilitator for the Superior Court in 1993, and in 2001 he established a juvenile diversion program known as Youth Court where teens serve as judge, advocate, and jury in diversion cases. Commissioner Lowans graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1972 and received his J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 1975. In 1996 he retired as a Commander with the JAG Corps of the U.S. Navy following 22 years of service in the Reserves. Commissioner Lowans was in private practice in Bremerton with Soriano, Soriano and Lowans for 15 years before his appointment to the Bench. His trial practice included felony defense, juvenile offenders and dependencies, domestic relations, real estate and probate. He served as Land Hearing Examiner for Kitsap County in 1992–1993 and as President of the Kitsap County Bar Association in 1993. Commissioner Lowans served on the Faculty of the Washington State Judicial College (2002–2007 and 2009–2011) as instructor concerning Dependencies, and served as the judicial representative to the Board of Directors of Washington State Court-Appointed Special Advocates (2002–2005).

Lianne Malloy

Lianne Malloy is an Assistant Attorney General. She has represented the Division of Child Support since 1990 and has been their lead counsel since 1998.

Meghann McCann

Meghann McCann earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Hawaii in 1999. She attended Seattle University Law School between the years 2002–2005. Meghann has focused her practice on issues impacting juveniles and their families. Meghann represents sixteen school districts in truancy proceedings in Pierce County Juvenile Court.

Jennifer S. Meyer

Jennifer S. Meyer is an Assistant Attorney General in the Olympia Social and Health Services Division where she advises and represents the DSHS Children’s Administration, focusing in particular on education and Indian child welfare issues, as well as litigation. Prior to joining the team that represents CA, she was a lawyer for nine years and manager for three in the AGO’s Torts Division where she defended state employees and agencies in claims for money damages. Meyer started her career at the AGO in 1997 representing DCFS in dependency and termination proceedings. Prior to joining the AGO, she was a law clerk at the Special Master’s Office of the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. She graduated cum laude from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1996 where she was an Associate Editor of the Gonzaga Law Review.

Renee Morioka

Renee Morioka earned her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Philosophy from Seattle University in 1992. She attended Seattle University Law School between the years 1992–1995, and during that time clerked for the Washington State Office of the Attorney General as a law clerk for both the Labor and Industries Division in Tacoma, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Division in Olympia. She has been with the Office since September 1995 as an Assistant Attorney General representing the Department of Social and Health Services in the Tacoma Office. After more than four years on Pierce County’s dependency drug court team, Renee has returned to a dependency litigation caseload. She continues to be an active member of the Office’s Juvenile Litigation Training Committee, and the in-house specialist on Becca Bill and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) proceedings.

Wallace Murray

Wallace Murray was counsel for the Washington State Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Support Enforcement Project before retiring in 2010. He was an observer to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws revision of the Uniform Parentage Act.

Ryan Murrey

Ryan Murrey is the Program Services Director for Washington State Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) in Seattle, an agency he has been with for nine years and a CASA volunteer with Pierce County. Prior to his employment with Washington State CASA, he worked for the Guernsey County Department of Human Services, a
substitute teacher and the Guernsey County Job Training Partnership Act in their Community Youth department. Ryan graduated from the College of Wooster in his native state of Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts in Geology and a minor in Chemistry. Ryan would like to thank Lori Irwin of King County Dependency CASA and Kati Ortiz of Washington State CASA for their assistance in editing and compiling the chapter on CASA.

Michelle Ressa

Michelle Ressa was appointed to the Spokane County Superior Court bench in May 2007. Before that, she spent a year as the Superior Court Commissioner in Grant County. Michelle was born and raised in Spokane and graduated from the University of Washington in 1992 with a degree in Political Science. She graduated, cum laude, in 1996 from Gonzaga University School of Law. Michelle has spent her entire legal career working in the field of child welfare. Appointed in 1996 by then-Attorney General Christine Gregoire, Michelle represented the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in dependency, termination, and licensing actions in Thurston, Lewis, and Mason Counties. Michelle also represented DSHS in King County for several years before taking a position representing Children’s Administration headquarters in 2002. Michelle also represented DSHS in civil tort cases for two years before her appointment to the bench. Michelle has conducted numerous hours of training for the courts, DSHS, the Attorney General’s office and the child welfare community. She has consistently showed her dedication and passion for children and families navigating their way through a complicated, emotional, and financially challenging legal system.

Janet Skreen

Janet Skreen is a Senior Court Program Analyst with the Administrative Office of the Courts. Ms. Skreen staffs the Superior Court Judges’ Association Family and Juvenile Law Committee and works with courts and stakeholders on juvenile and family law issues. Ms. Skreen received her B.A. in secondary education in 1975 from Eastern Oregon State College and a J.D. in 1988 from the University of Puget Sound School of Law.

June Tomioka

June Tomioka is senior counsel for the Washington State Association of Prosecuting Attorneys’ Support Enforcement Project. She has been a child support deputy prosecuting attorney since 1992, first in King County and later in Walla Walla County.

Tom Tremaine

Tom Tremaine is the Presiding Judge of the Kalispel Tribal Court. Tom worked 26 years as an attorney with Spokane Legal Services Center and Northwest Justice Project representing the interests of children, adults and tribes in tribal, state, and federal courts. Tom has presented on Indian child welfare and other Indian law topics for the National Congress of American Indians, National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, Federal Bar Association, American Judge’s Association, Washington State Bar Association, Washington State and National CASA, and at Washington’s annual Children’s Justice Conference. Tom is the acting chair of the Northwest Tribal Court Judge’s Association, a member of the Washington State Supreme Court Gender and Justice Commission, and a member of the adjunct faculty at Gonzaga University School of Law. Washington State CASA honored Tom with the 12th Annual Judge David W. Soukup “Speak Up for a Child” Award in October 2013. He received his Juris Doctor from Gonzaga University in 1985.

Kitty-Ann van Doorninck

Judge Kitty-Ann van Doorninck was appointed to the Pierce County Superior Court in October, 1998, and she is currently Pierce County Juvenile Court Presiding Judge. She serves on numerous Pierce County Superior Court committees. Between September 2003 and December 2007, Judge van Doorninck was the Family Court Judge, handling high conflict custody matters and emphasizing nonadversarial resolutions. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she was a Pierce County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney litigating both criminal and civil cases, as well as acting as Administrative Deputy from 1989–1996. She is a past trustee of the Superior Court Judges’ Association, past trustee of the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association, and past member of the YWCA Women’s Shelter Fundraising Committee. In addition to other community work, Judge van Doorninck is on the Board of Trustees for the Safe Streets Campaign and is actively involved in the American Leadership Forum. Judge van Doorninck has also served as Chair of the Superior Court Judges’ Association Family and Juvenile Law Committee and in that capacity served on several other statewide committees.

Carrie Hoon Wayno

Carrie Hoon Wayno is an Assistant Attorney General with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. She is the lead counsel to the Children’s Administration Assistant Secretary, coordinates juvenile litigation appeals, and provides child welfare practice advice and training to Assistant Attorneys General state-wide. Ms. Wayno graduated from the University of Washington in 1998, and from the UW School of Law in 2001. She thereafter joined the Attorney General’s Office, initially representing the Department of Labor and Industries, and soon also representing the Department of Social and Health Services. Ms. Wayno represented DSHS in child welfare cases in Clark, Cowlitz, Skamania, and Pierce Counties. She also serves as Co-chair of the WSBA Juvenile Law Section Executive Committee.

Cheryl Wolfe

Cheryl Wolfe is an Assistant Attorney General and Senior Counsel for the Attorney General’s Office. She has been an Assistant Attorney General for 25 years representing the Department of Social and Health Services in a variety of cases including child welfare proceedings in Juvenile Court. Ms. Wolfe graduated from Gonzaga Law School in 1985 and was admitted to the Washington State Bar in the same year. Ms. Wolfe is currently the Section Chief of the Social and Health Services Section in the Spokane Division.