Edenne Gross joined NACC in November of 2024. Edenne works to provide high-quality sales and membership support for the organization.
Edenne previously worked as a program and property manager for local non-profits, directly serving marginalized communities. In this role, Edenne developed and demonstrated skills relating to increasing client engagement and outreach.
Edenne graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado State University, with a degree focused in political science and legal studies.
In her free time, Edenne loves to hike with family and friends, and volunteer in Denver. She is dedicated to advocacy for children and families nationwide through her position at the NACC.
Kennedy McGhee
Kennedy McGhee joined NACC in April of 2024 as the National Law School Student Organizer. Currently, Kennedy is a second-year law student at the University of Missouri. After her first year of law school, Kennedy clerked at the Children’s Law Center of California in Los Angeles. While working, she interviewed minors and non-minors involved in the juvenile dependency court to assess their safety and express wishes. Kennedy gained invaluable experience observing the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) courtroom everyday.
During her second year and second semester of law school, Kennedy extended her jurisdictional knowledge of child welfare through an internship with the Office of the Child’s Representatives of Denver, Colorado. While working for OCR she analyzed forty court appearances of attorney’s to ensure each attorney was meeting professional standards. Kennedy also connected with youth, parents, and caregivers to listen and catalog their experience with their attorneys.
Prior to law school, Kennedy attended the University of Missouri where she obtained her Bachelors of Arts in Communication and minors in Social Justice and Criminal/Juvenile Justice. As an undergraduate, Kennedy participated as a conversation partner with the Asian Affairs Center to expand Asian government officials’ English and cultural understandings. Kennedy also served as Vice President to Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity and worked to increase and improve membership.
Since starting law school, Kennedy has competed in two marathons, but is happiest on a walk with her dog, Cujo, or eating a good meal with her friends.
Breanna Smith, MSW
Breanna Smith joined NACC in April of 2024. Breanna supports the communications and policy work of NACC. She also helps to develop and maintain resources for NACC’s Counsel for Kids campaign to guarantee youth the right to counsel in child welfare cases.
Before getting her Masters of Social Work at Pacific University, Breanna worked as a Recreational Therapist serving youth in or at risk of entering the child welfare system. Breanna then moved onto supporting child welfare lived experience leaders as they advocated in front of policymakers. Breanna also volunteers with Kindred Matters to help siblings separated by the child welfare system maintain strong sibling relationships. In her spare time, Breanna enjoys reading, hiking with her dog, and encouraging her new tea garden to flourish.
Shannon Felder, JD, CWLS
Shannon Felder joined NACC in February of 2024. Shannon works to ensure legal professionals have the resources they need to provide high-quality representation of children, parents, and agencies, and manages NACC’s training department.
Shannon previously served as a Managing Attorney for the South Carolina Department of Social Services for ten years. In this role Shannon collaborated with child welfare stakeholders, ensured high-quality legal presentations in abuse and neglect actions, provided case consultations to social work team members in complex cases, provided timely, frequent, and responsive training and supervised over 40 legal professionals. Shannon is also a member of the South Carolina Bar Children’s Law Committee and the South Carolina Black Lawyer’s Association.
Shannon became involved in the child welfare legal system serving as a volunteer Guardian ad Litem for CASA while in law school. After a judicial clerkship, Shannon entered private practice as a civil litigator focusing on personal injury, including nursing home abuse and neglect. While in private practice, she served as a contract attorney for the Guardian ad Litem program in South Carolina. After fourteen years in litigation, Shannon joined the South Carolina Department of Social Services.
Shannon earned her law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law where she was a Carolina Legal Scholar, member of the South Carolina Law Review and President of the Black Law Students Association. Shannon is certified by NACC as a Child Welfare Law Specialist. She is currently licensed to practice law in South Carolina.
Josephine C. Vanderhorst, MFP, JD, CWLS
Josephine C. Vanderhorst, MFP, JD, CWLS, joined NACC in February 2024, bringing eight years of dedicated experience in child welfare. A graduate of Tulane University Law School, Josephine contributes invaluable legal insights to her role. Holding a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Tuskegee University and a master’s degree in forensic psychology from Argosy University, she approaches advocacy with a holistic perspective. This multidisciplinary foundation enhances her ability to understand and address the complex needs of children and families within the child welfare system.
Certified as a Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner, Josephine adeptly addresses the intricate needs and trauma of children and families in the child welfare system. Passionate about promoting wellness, she advocates for a healthy work-life balance and prioritizes self-care practices, reflecting her commitment to comprehensive well-being.
Josephine’s journey began in 2015 at Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, where she started as one of the unit’s first Lutz Fellows. In 2020, Josephine became the Managing Attorney. During her tenure, she not only doubled the unit’s size but also created a transformative multidisciplinary program, hiring the first peer advocate at a children’s representation program in Louisiana and a social worker to provide comprehensive support.
Licensed to practice law in Louisiana, Josephine has presented at both national and local conferences, sharing her expertise and insights to contribute to the advancement of child welfare practices and self- care. Deeply committed to youth engagement, she intertwines her legal expertise with a passion for empowering young voices. This commitment extends beyond professional pursuits, emphasizing values aligned with promoting a balanced life for all. Josephine’s advocacy for the voiceless has fueled her commitment to the child welfare field.
Kim Dvorchak, JD
Kim Dvorchak, JD, has led NACC since May of 2017. Ms. Dvorchak is responsible for the overall leadership of policy, operations, programs, fundraising, and the strategic development of the organization. Ms. Dvorchak has nearly 30 years of experience in direct representation, policy advocacy, and nonprofit management to advance the rights of children and youth. Under Ms. Dvorchak’s leadership, the National Association of Counsel for Children vastly expanded its programs and services, tripled its budget and staff, and was selected to receive a major multi-year grant to launch a national right to counsel campaign for children and youth in the child welfare system.
Ms. Dvorchak has served as the leader of three nonprofit organizations since 2010. Previously, Ms. Dvorchak was the Executive Director of the National Juvenile Defender Center (now The Gault Center), where she lead the launch of the Gault at 50 Campaign to commemorate the US Supreme Court case establishing children’s right to counsel. Prior to this position, Ms. Dvorchak was the founding Executive Director of the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center, an attorney training and policy center which accomplished monumental reforms to ensure children’s right to counsel, reduce the prosecution of youth in adult court, and build a community of lawyers committed to zealous advocacy for children.
In her legal career, Ms. Dvorchak represented children and youth in delinquency court, criminal court, and on appeal; she has run her own law firm, and served as a public defender in two states. A recognized national expert on juvenile law, Ms. Dvorchak has published multiple policy reports and is a frequent lecturer at policy conferences and continuing legal education seminars. Ms. Dvorchak continues to serve as an expert witness in juvenile law and policy.
In recognition of her advocacy work on behalf of children, Ms. Dvorchak received the Kutak-Dodds Prize for equal justice by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Champions of Children Advocate by the Sewall Child Development Center, the Robert E. Shepherd Jr. Leadership Award for Excellence in Juvenile Defense by the National Juvenile Defender Center, and was named a Colorado Woman of Influence by the Denver Post. Ms. Dvorchak also received the Gideon Award from the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar for her work on an amicus brief in a Colorado Supreme Court case establishing the right to effective assistance of counsel in post-conviction matters.
Ms. Dvorchak received her J.D. from the City University of New York College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Colorado at Boulder. See Kim Dvorchak’s CV for additional information.
After spending six years in the Washington, DC area, Ms. Dvorchak returned to Colorado in 2021 to lead NACC’s expanded operations team in NACC’s Denver headquarters. When she is not working, Kim enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, skiing, and roller skating.
Ginger Burton
Ginger Burton joined the NACC team in May of 2016. Ginger is the Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) Certification Program Administrator and is responsible for day-to-day operations and administrative functions of the program including online platform management; the development of program materials and preparation of documentation for committee review; NACC’s national and state accreditations and compliance; and monitoring the certification program budget and statistics. Ginger also administers NACC’s continuing legal education operations including preparation and submission of CLE accreditation applications, tracking attendance, and reporting credits to applicable jurisdictions.
Prior to joining Team NACC, Ginger managed Medicaid reproductive health benefit policy at the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing and served as that agency’s liaison to the governments of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes of Colorado. Ginger has a bachelor’s degree in political science with a law studies minor from the University of Colorado at Denver. She was born in Oakland, California, but has called Denver home since age 4. Ginger is driven by a passion for social justice through informed public policy. When she’s not working, Ginger likes to spend time practicing martial arts, doing origami and other paper crafts, listening to music, and appreciating the humor in life as much as possible.
Allison Green, JD, CWLS
Allison Green, JD, CWLS joined Team NACC in 2019. She manages the organization’s policy advocacy, oversees amicus work, and provides training and technical assistance to child welfare practitioners nationwide. Allison previously served as a Foster America Fellow at Missouri’s Children’s Division and as Senior Supervising Attorney at the Children’s Law Center of Washington, D.C. Allison started her career as a Jesuit Volunteer at Legal Services for Children in San Francisco and also worked as a counselor at a youth shelter. She earned her law degree at Georgetown, where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar and recipient of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Student Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic Public Service Awards. She is a certified Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) and has volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate. She is currently licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C.
Publications:
“Core Competencies.” Chapter D.1 of Children’s Law Office Guidebook, 2nd Edition. National Association of Counsel for Children, 2023.
“Lawyers for Children.” Co-authored with K. Pisani-Jacques and C. Ramirez. Chapter 31 of Child Welfare Law and Practice: Representing Children, Parents, and Agencies in Neglect, Abuse, and Dependency Cases (4th Edition). National Association of Counsel for Children, 2022.
“Rx Law: Can Medical-Legal Partnerships Help Vulnerable Children?” childRIGHT, Pg. 22-25, May 2009.
“Policy and Practice Reform to Engage Non-Resident Fathers in Child Welfare Proceedings.” Child CourtWorks, American Bar Association, Volume 10, Issues 5 & 6. Aug/Sept. 2008.
“Permanency Through Collaboration Between Delinquency and Dependency Courts,” Co-authored with R. Pendleton, Child CourtWorks, American Bar Association, Vol. 10, Issue 2. May 2008.
Evan Molinari
Evan Molinari joined NACC in June of 2021. Evan develops and coordinates internal and external communications, including NACC’s web content, media relations, marketing, and social media. He also contributes to NACC’s national right to counsel campaign to guarantee legal representation for youth experiencing the child welfare system and provides technical assistance to advocates at the state level.
Prior to joining NACC, Evan worked for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, where he amplified the voices of low-income residents in need of legal help and contributed to a team that increased state funding for civil legal aid. He earned a degree in history from Bates College and interned for Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine. Evan lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Daniel Trujillo
Daniel joined the NACC staff in 2003 and has served in a variety of roles. He is currently the Director of Certification, Sales, and Technology. He oversees the Child Welfare Law Certification program, collaborates with CIP/CJA and states on live and virtual trainings, and manages NACC’s tech delivery platforms. He truly enjoys serving the hardworking child welfare community to deliver the best services that NACC has to offer.
