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, joined the NACC team as Executive Director in 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 more than 25 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 in Executive Director roles since 2010. Previously, Ms. Dvorchak was the Executive Director of the National Juvenile Defender 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.
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.
Emily Dufour
Emily joined NACC in June of 2021 with 5+ years of experience in nonprofit management, specializing in membership. At NACC, Emily is the direct line of support for members and any membership questions for both individual and organizational members. She supports the state coordinator program, and can also be found on the other side of the Zoom screen during NACC’s annual virtual conference. In partnership with the National Law School Student Organizer, Emily aims to support and connect the child welfare community.
Prior to NACC, Emily worked for an association management company where she oversaw membership for five state and national nonprofits. Emily received her Bachelor’s in Marketing Management from Thomas College in 2018. She is working towards getting her Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification.
Out of the office, Emily enjoys knitting, growing herbs, fruits, and veggies in the summer, and attending live music.
Leyda Garcia-Greenawalt
Leyda Garcia-Greenawalt joined the team in January of 2022 as NACC’s inaugural National Law School Student Organizer. Currently, Leyda is a Civitas Child Law Fellow and first-year student at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Her first law school internship was at the Cook County Office of the Public Guardian where she observed child protection and juvenile justice hearings and conducted research on the Indian Child Welfare Act and its implementation across the United States.
In March of 2021, Ms. Garcia-Greenawalt was published in the Columbia Journal of Race and Law: Guilty: How Immigrating to the United States Became a Life Sentence to Child Welfare. The article was part of the Symposium: Strengthened Bonds: Abolishing the Child Welfare System and Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being, where Leyda was a speaker and responder to the opening panel.
Previously, Leyda served as President of the Foster Care Alumni of America – Illinois Chapter. In that time, she assisted with policy and legislative initiatives alongside other county-wide, statewide, and national organizations. She advocated for the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, IL HB 5122, which allows students with lived experience in child welfare to attend in-state colleges tuition-free.
Prior to law school, Leyda attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. As a student she conducted and published research on the intersection of the child welfare system and intimate partner violence, as well as juvenile justice reform. Ms. Garcia-Greenawalt also served as the Undergraduate Representative for the Illinois chpater of the National Association of Social Workers.
When she is not working or studying, Leyda enjoys spending time with her family, watching movies, and cooking.
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.
Jonathan Green, JD
Jonathan Green, JD, joined the NACC team in October 2022. He is a member of the senior management team and provides leadership and accountability in the areas of finance, operations, and human resources. A key aspect of his work is to support the organization’s continued growth and sustainability. As a member of the senior management team, Jonathan is involved in strategic planning, program evaluation, and professional development initiatives.
Jonathan has years of experience managing complex nonprofits with national and international reach. Before joining NACC, Jonathan served as vice president and director of finance and operations for the Yale-China Association at Yale University. He was a member of the executive team and worked to ensure the success of a wide programmatic portfolio in the areas of health, education, arts, and public service. Prior to Yale-China, Jonathan served as an associate director of Kidsave. There he oversaw the fiscal and administrative functions for offices in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Moscow, and Bogotá. Before his work at Kidsave, Jonathan served as a divisional accountant at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and as a financial and legal compliance auditor for the State of Tennessee. Jonathan holds a degree in accounting from the University of Memphis and a degree in law from Northeastern University. He studied as a Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow at the University of Michigan Law School.
In his free time, Jonathan enjoys building LEGO sets, studying World War II history, and hiking wooded trails. He has served on several boards, including as treasurer and secretary of the Memphis Crisis Center and as a founding officer and treasurer of the Family and Youth Initiative in Washington, D.C.
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.
Cristal Ramirez, MS
Cristal Ramirez, MS, joined the team at NACC in June 2020 as our first Youth Coordinator, now Youth Engagement Manager. Cristal is originally from Bakersfield, CA and moved to San Diego, CA to attend school at San Diego State University. She obtained her BS in Interdisciplinary Studies in Three Departments and a minor in Cultural Proficiency in May 2018 and her MS in Multicultural Counseling with an emphasis in Social Justice education in May 2020. Cristal is a person with lived experience in the foster care system and is passionate about advocating for better policies and best practices for youth and families. Cristal enjoys spending time with her puppy, reading, going for walks, dancing, and listening to music.
