The PACC Team

PACC Staff

Traci LaLiberte, PhD, MSW, LISWExecutive Director, CASCW

Dr. LaLiberte focuses on child welfare practice and policy with special interests in comprehensive family assessment, system change, permanency for children in out-of-home care, and work with children and parents who have disabilities.

Elizabeth Keely Vandre, MSW, LGSWPACC Coordinator

Keely coordinates the Permanency & Adoption Competency Certificate (PACC) program, supporting advanced level training for mental health and child welfare professionals, and increasing a network of qualified providers state-wide.

Elizabeth Snyder, MSW, LISWDirector of Professional Education

Ms. Snyder is the Director of Professional Education at CASCW. She coordinates the MSW Title IV-E program and the BSW Title IV-E Statewide Consortium in addition to overseeing professional education training programs (including the PACC).

Current PACC Trainers

Wendy Baker, MSW, LICSW Co-owner and Psychotherapist at Family Circle Counseling

Ms. Baker is co-founder of Family Circle Counseling, in St. Paul, MN, a family focused private practice clinic with particular dedication to adoptive and foster care families and their unique and potentially intensive therapeutic needs. Wendy has over 35 years of therapy experience working with children, families and individuals of all ages with specialization in clinical work with trauma survivors who deal with issues surrounding childhood neglect, physical & sexual abuse and attachment traumas/disruptions. Ms. Baker has advanced training EMDR, Theraplay, DBT, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Play Therapy and Art Therapy. Wendy has conducted parent and professional trainings throughout the state of Minnesota, and has been with PACC since its inception in 2011.

Rachel Banks Kupcho, MPA, LGSW (Leech Lake Ojibwe)Dispositional Advisor, Ramsey County Public Defender's Office

Ms. Banks Kupcho has worked in the field of child welfare for 13 years, nine of those in Indian child welfare, in several capacities: family advocate, substance abuse counselor with youth, ICWA specialist, community development specialist, ICWA court monitor and Indian child welfare program consultant.

Michelle Robertson, MSW, LGSWFaculty member, College of St. Scholastica

Ms. Robertson worked with children and families experiencing foster care and adoption for over 13 years at Fond du Lac Reservation. She brings extensive knowledge, skills, and experience in the Indian Child Welfare Act and over 16 years of experience as a Master Trainer for the MN DHS Child Welfare Training System.

Past PACC Trainers

Claudia Fletcher, MEdAdoption worker, Downey Side Families for Youth

Ms. Fletcher has worked with children and families experiencing foster care and adoption for the past 11 years. In addition, she brings extensive knowledge, skills, and experience as an adoptive parent of 12 children. She has 8 years experience training foster and adoptive parents and social work professionals.

Diane Martin-Hushman, MSWAdoptUSKids Respite Coordinator, North American Council on Adoptable Children

Ms. Martin-Hushman provides education and advocacy for parents in post-adoption services. Previously she worked in two private non-profit therapeutic foster care settings. Personally, Ms. Martin-Hushman is the adoptive parent of six children through the child welfare system as well as a foster parent for twelve years, is licensed in three states, and is a former kinship parent.

Krista Nelson, LICSW, LMFTCenter for Children with RAD; Co-owner, Family Circle Counseling

Ms. Nelson has worked extensively with individuals experiencing abuse, trauma, and family changes, including child welfare involvement or adoption. She practices psychotherapy with individuals experiencing attachment losses or complex trauma. Her prior experiences include supervising Whole Family Foster Care and developing culturally specific school-based groups to foster resilience in children and parents.

Kathy Porter, MA, LPPsychologist, Bluestem Center

Ms. Porter has worked extensively with children with Reactive Attachment Disorder and their parents. Her practice includes work with parents, children, adolescents, individuals, couples, and families. Other areas of expertise include trauma, parenting, adoption, divorce, women’s issues, also, grief and loss work.

Richard Gertsema, MS, LPPsychotherapist, Essentia Health

Mr. Gertsema has extensive clinical experience providing individual and family therapy for children and adolescents. He consults with foster homes, treatment facilities, and child welfare agencies. In addition, he has trained for the MN ADOPT statewide training for parents and professionals on topics such as the adoption process.

Cindy Lee Thomas, MSW, LICSWPrivate practice

Ms. Thomas has worked as a director of a Public/Private Adoption Initiative child welfare agency and as a Tribal adoption consultant. She is an experienced psychotherapist and former adolescent foster parent, and has worked with youth in residential treatment.

Funding made available through Minnesota Department of Human Services Child Safety and Permanency Division through grant GRK%30794. Many thanks to PACC Advisory Board members: Ginny Blade, Cathy Bruer Thompson, Dr. Maria Kroupina, Rachel Banks Kupcho, Ellen Lepinski, Dianne Martin-Hushman, Alexis Oberdorfer, Jodi Raehsler, Mary Regan, Monica Seidel, Anita Smith and Melissa Sherlock.