ABOUT CHILDREN'S

Kimberly Mays, Member

Kimberly Mays is a parent who was formerly involved in the child welfare system. She currently works for King County Juvenile Court as the Parent-to-Parent Program Coordinator. The program employs successfully reunified parents, formerly called Veteran Parents (VP's), who meet with parents at shelter care hearings to offer support and encouragement and to invite them to attend the Dependency 101 Class. At the Dependency 101 Class, parents are educated about the dependency court process and the roles and expectations of all the key stakeholders involved in a dependency case.

The main objectives of this program is to empower, educate, and engage parents early on in the dependency process and to find quicker ways to provide parents with services, resulting in faster permanency for children. The program has recently expanded to the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, reaching parents involved in dependencies in the Kent, Auburn, and Federal Way area. Kimberly is the coordinator for both the Seattle and Kent programs.

Kimberly worked as a legislative intern for Senator Adam Kline during the 2007 session and is currently enrolled in the Masters in Public Administration Program at The Evergreen State College in Olympia. She will earn her MPA this August 2010.

She has been a member of the Washington State Parent Advocacy Committee, the Children's Alliance, and the Center for Children & Youth Justice. She regularly speaks at the Children Administration's Training Academy, symposiums, summits and leadership conferences, sharing her experiences and understanding of the difficulties encountered by parents and children in the child welfare system. She is the Mentor Coordinator, a board member and Scholarship Committee member of the Post-Prison Education Program.

In addition, Kimberly previously served on two other legislative advisory committees: the Children and Families of Incarcerated Parents Advisory Committee and the Offender Reentry Policy Advisory Committee.

Kimberly is raising her 6-year-old daughter with the help of her daughter's father, whose support enables Kimberly to pursue her passion and her educational and career goals.