Matthew has over twenty years of experience in human service-related fields, eighteen of which have been in child welfare. He was an investigator/family assessor for nine years, focusing on family-centered, strength-based safety practices. He found passion in highlighting what worked well for families to build upon their successes while keeping families intact and children safe. He then transitioned into supervising Family Assessments, Family In-Home, and Permanency Planning, where he worked to streamline case transfer processes between service areas and break down silos within his agency.
During his nine-year tenure as a supervisor, he specialized in domestic violence-informed practice. He helped train the entire workforce at his agency, resulting in fewer children coming into care and more substantial outcomes for families. Matthew is a certified Safe & Together Trainer, which helps create systems and practice change that is child-centered, keeping children safe and together with the protective parent. Matthew’s approach to social work balances support and accountability, focusing on achieving safety, permanence, and well-being. He has developed a transferrable communication style that feels supportive to the workforce and filters down from the workforce to the families they serve. He believes that a social worker’s engagement with the community and their engagement with families and youth, through words and actions, can be the intervention needed to achieve positive results. He prides himself on being creative with the family while meeting all child welfare policies, procedures, and mandates.
