Social work alumni Amanda Metivier appointed Child Welfare Academy director
by Ahliil Saitanan |
The University of Alaska Anchorage Child Welfare Academy has named Amanda Metivier its new director.
In her new role, which started on April 18, 2022, Metivier will oversee the training and technical assistance of child welfare staff, child-serving agencies throughout the State of Alaska, and direct services to youth transitioning from foster care to higher education and training.
"The work that we do is ultimately about families," Metivier says. "It's important to me to focus on how we can enhance child welfare workforce training and development to improve outcomes for children and families throughout Alaska."
Most recently, Metivier received the 2021 Alumni Humanitarian Award during the Alumni of Distinction Banquet on April 23 for her 19-year career working in various roles within child welfare. Through her advocacy with the nonprofit Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA), which she co-founded in 2003, Metivier has led efforts to expand services and support for foster youth across Alaska, including freedom of speech for foster youth; extended foster care; foster care re-entry; higher education funding; access to mentorship, technology and clothing; foster parent recruitment; transitional living; medically necessary orthodontia; sibling contact and relative search; increased training and staffing for child protection; school stability; and youth engagement in case planning, all while paving the way for foster youth to share lived-expertise to raise awareness and make change.
Metivier received her Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work from UAA in 2008 and 2012, respectively. Having spent time in the foster care system as a teenager, Metivier understands how valuable an education can be and the difference being around peers can have. When she first joined CWA in 2012, it was to develop the Education and Training Voucher Program to help foster youth pursue higher education throughout the state.
“This path found me,” Metivier says. “I didn’t initially see advocacy as my path, or even imagine myself as someone who would go to college. But I had this caseworker who just kept showing up and encouraged me to finish school. So it was natural for me to want to help others in the same way that I had been helped.”
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