Area Administrators Summit 2026
Welcome to the Area Administrators Summit! We are excited to host this year’s event to support you in your roles as leaders.
This webpage will be your guide to the conference, including Zoom links, speaker biographies, and answers to frequently asked questions. This information will be populated as it becomes finalized.
Conference Details
Tuesday, April 28
9-9:30 a.m.: Introductions and Welcomes
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/96869063634
9:30-10:30 a.m.: Making Changes in the System That You Want to See
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/96869063634
Evolving systems is challenging, but the impact is profound. Rebecca Jones Gaston has experienced systems both personally and professionally, working at nearly every level from frontline caseworker to state leader. She was recently appointed Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) for New York City after serving as Commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2022 to 2025. She brings a rare and powerful understanding of what children and families need, and how to move systems to meet them.
Rebecca Jones Gaston
10:30-11 a.m.: Break
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Breakouts:
Choose one of the following sessions:
Level Up M365 Superpowers | Power Moves Unlocked
Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/274461317161717?p=PoeI3bvpn3Vw02Zedb
You already use Microsoft 365; but is it actually making your work easier? This session is all about power moves: small, smart shifts that reduce friction, save time and quietly change how your workday feels. No theory. No overwhelm. Just practical, real-world tips you can use immediately. We’ll move fast and focus on quick wins across Outlook, Teams, OneNote, OneDrive, and SharePoint. The kinds of things that make you say… ‘wait, that’s a thing?!?’ and then wonder how you ever worked without it. Small changes. Big Relief. Power Moves Unlocked.
Sara Games
Youth and Family Meetings (YFM) Implementation Overview
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/93980944881
Youth and Family Meetings (formerly Family Team Decision Making and Shared Planning Meetings) are evolving to strengthen consistency, transparency, and partnership with families. This session provides an overview of recent practice changes, including the shift to a single, structured meeting framework used across the life of a case. You will learn how roles, referrals, invitations, documentation, and decision-making and planning processes are being clarified to better support youth voice, family and kin engagement, and shared accountability. You will leave with a clear understanding of how the updated Youth and Family Meetings model supports intentional trauma-informed and healing centered practice.
Sarah McCamant
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/94503210852
Join us as to review data outcomes from the recent 2025 ICW Case Record Review. While our team will provide some initial findings, this space is intended to hear from you. Not only do we look forward to hearing the stories behind the data, we also look forward to how all of this information prepares us to move the work forward. We look forward to the conversation with you!
Jeanne Olney, ICW Quality Review Manager, Office of Tribal Relations
Kebreab (KB) Hailegiorgis, Active Efforts Navigator, Office of Tribal Relations
Antonia Bancroft, Active Efforts Navigator, Office of Tribal Relations
12:30-1:30 p.m.: Lunch Break
1:30-2:30 p.m.: Project Connect
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/95908995904
One thing we hear from nearly every conference planning committee is the desire to understand better what colleagues are doing across the department. This session will give you the opportunity to learn from each other about best practices, valuable strategies and how to stay engaged. You will be able to choose a topic-based breakout to engage in facilitated conversation that’s most valuable to you!
2:30-3 p.m.: Break
3-4 p.m.: It’s Your Turn to Center Down and Rise Ready
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99151854720
We are leading in challenging times, and what we do today will shape what happens next. This session will help bring the current challenges to view in the context of the long arc of history to better understand what is being asked of us in this moment. We will learn what we can do to sustain ourselves, and how to hold onto the hope that’s needed for us to work together to build a better future.
Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer
Thursday, April 30
9-12:15 p.m. Breakouts:
This extended breakout block will include a break from 10:30-10:45 a.m. Choose one of the following sessions:
Rooted in Resilience: Prioritizing Well-being with Trauma Informed Approaches
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/94106632535
Rooted in Resilience is designed to expand the administrative focus from individual self-care to systemic organizational care. This workshop will provide you with frameworks and practical tools necessary to steady their teams and offices during turbulent periods. You will practice identifying stressors in daily operations and replacing them with high-impact, low-cost structural supports. This workshop also includes skill-building exercises that support Reflective Supervision, creating environments that foster psychological safety.
Charina Carothers, DSW, LICSW
One Step Away: Relying on Ambassadors to Achieve Success
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99915592513
AAs rely on other subordinate leaders to model and implement best practice with each other, with staff, with clients and with community stakeholders. This workshop will identify the challenges of working through others to affect successful performance. Relationships that impact success include HR, community stakeholders, colleagues and direct reports. Participants will complete a self-assessment to shape strategies to highlight the opportunity to use the parallel process for others to represent the AA in the community as ambassadors.
Peter Dahlin, MS
Supporting materials: self-assessment, Ambassador handout, worksheet
12:15-1:15 p.m.: Lunch Break
1:15-2:15 p.m.: Collaboration and Empathy Are the Path to Success: A Conversation with Parents 4 Parents
Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99366104089
Join us for a change-making panel discussion with four Parents 4 Parents about how they support your clients and how you can best show up for parents.
Johni Gibson, Leah Legee, Dana Gibson
Meet the Speakers
Tuesday, April 28
Rebecca Jones Gaston
Making Changes in the System that You Want to See | Rebecca Jones Gaston is a nationally respected systems leader, public policy expert, and keynote speaker whose work has transformed child and family services across the country. Her journey has spanned every level of the child welfare system—from childhood to social worker to technical assistance to state and federal leadership.
Gaston was recently appointed Commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) for New York City by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer
It’s Your Turn to Center Down and Rise Ready | Amelia is the Founder/Executive Officer of the national non-profit, Alia. Amelia and Team Alia are UnSysteming the child welfare system and shifting mindsets and practice to keep children safely with, not from, their families. Alia uses community co-design, working alongside parents with lived expertise and innovative systems leaders as partners to co-create new solutions to old problems while supporting the wellbeing of leaders, teams, and caregivers. Amelia is one of People Magazine’s “25 Women Changing the World,” an Ashoka Fellow, and a Bush Foundation Fellow.
Breakouts
Sara Games
Level Up M365 Superpowers | Power Moves Unlocked
DCYF Technology Experience Manager Sara Games began her career with the state of Washington in 2000, but her IT experience goes back to 1997 when she began developing web pages and databases for local businesses in Thurston County. Throughout the years, she has focused on developing and implementing long range IT strategic organizational and technical training plans, SharePoint architecture and practical governance. Driven by a desire to empower inclusive cross organizational teams, Sara’s personal mission is to motivate, educate, and inspire others to seek knowledge, gain efficiencies and find services through accessible technology resources.
Sarah McCamant
Youth and Family Meetings (YFM) Implementation Overview
Sarah McCamant is the CW Youth and Family Meetings Program Manager in the Programs and Practice CW Division. Sarah has a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and is a Master of Social Work 2026 candidate at Eastern Washington University in the Child Welfare Advancement and Training Program (CWTAP).
Jeanne Olney, ICW Quality Review Manager, Office of Tribal Relations
Kebreab (KB) Hailegiorgis, Active Efforts Navigator, OTR
Antonia Bancroft, Active Efforts Navigator, Office of Tribal Relations
Final 2025 Statewide ICW Case Record Review Update
Jeanne Olney is the ICW Quality Review Manager for the Office of Tribal Relations and she is a citizen of the Yakama Nation. She brings over 30 years of child welfare experience in private operating foundation work, non-profit agencies and currently is leading the ICW Case Review process at Washington State DCYF.
Antonia is a citizen of the Navajo Nation and has dedicated years to serving Tribal communities. She has worked in various capacities providing social services work to tribal, state, and non-profit agencies in Idaho, Arizona and Washington. Antonia began her Child Welfare career with DCYF in 2017 as a Social Service Specialist II in the Family Assessment Response unit which lead to a passion in Indian Child Welfare. Antonia is now an Active Efforts Navigator with the Office of Tribal Relations
Kebreab (KB) Hailegiorgis has more than 17 years in different areas of child welfare including CPS/FAR, FVS Specialist, Coach/Trainer with the UW Alliance and a consultant at Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) before he took the Active Efforts Navigator position at OTR.
Thursday, April 30
Charina Carothers
Rooted in Resilience: Prioritizing Well-being with Trauma Informed | Charina is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker with experience in both administrative leadership and clinical practice. For nine years, she held various roles with Children’s Administration before joining the Alliance in 2016 where she currently serves as the Director of Equity and Belonging. In her solo practice, she specializes in counseling children, youth, adults, and individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities. Her clinical approach is rooted in Systems Theory, which recognizes the interconnectedness of all elements in a person’s life. She integrates this with a Strengths Perspective and frameworks from Cognitive Behavioral and Solution-Focused Theories, allowing her to consider the entire family system in her work. Charina’s academic background includes a Master of Social Work and a Doctoral degree in Social Work with a focus on education and leadership.
Peter Dahlin
One Step Away: Relying on Ambassadors to Achieve Success | Peter Dahlin, MS, is a private consultant, providing coaching, organizational development, training, and curriculum development services to a variety of organizations throughout the country. He is passionate about integrating creativity and fun in solving organizational challenges and has created and taught social worker, supervisor, manager, executive, mentor/coach and trainer courses. His style is energetic and engaging and he infuses appropriate issues of cultural humility and strong “transfer of learning” opportunities throughout all of his trainings and coaching. His family has volunteered to host high school exchange students for over twelve years, and was a foster family for teenagers several years– adopting their son when he was 15.
Collaboration and Empathy Are the Path to Success: A Conversation with Parents 4 Parents
This panel will feature:
- Johni Gibson, Whatcom County Parents for Parents Program Coordinator
- Leah Legee, Parents for Parents Program Coordinator for Pierce, Kitsap, Clallam, Island and Jefferson County
- Dana Gibson, Parent Ally Coordinator with YWCA of Snohomish County
Frequently Asked Questions
We will have completions uploaded into The Learning Center within 30 days of the event.
You are required to participate in 75% of sessions to receive completion. This information is taken from Zoom attendance logs.
We will share slides and other materials from all speakers who consent to sharing within seven days of the conference.
Zoom links for each session are posted above on this page.
The agenda is detailed above on this page.
Yes! Reach out to us at acwemar@uw.edu. You will get a reply that the inbox is not monitored but we will be doing so during these events and will reach out to you in a timely manner to help.
After the Conference
Continue learning with the Alliance
The Alliance offers training opportunities for social service professionals statewide. Find training recommendations at RiseWithTheAlliance.org/Programs. To take one of our free courses, create an account and register through Alliance.ExceedLMS.com.
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