Joel has served 32 years in public child welfare. During this time, he’s held several positions such as volunteer, clerk/typist, Social Work Supervisor, Area Administrator, Deputy Regional Administrator, Deputy Director of Field Operations, and Regional Administrator. Joel briefly served as deputy director at Casey Family Programs, Seattle Field Office. In his current role as Director of Child Welfare Workforce Support, Joel is responsible for leading child welfare workforce retention and support initiatives.
Over the years, Joel has led county, regional, and statewide efforts to address disproportionality, strengthen state-tribal relations, systems collaboration, accountability, and outcomes in child welfare. Many of Joel’s visionary initiatives and efforts have informed practice improvements in public child welfare; court collaborations; partnerships with private agencies and providers; parent-partners; caregivers; child-serving organizations; and community.
Joel served 14 years as human services and criminal justice faculty at the University of Phoenix; and as guest lecturer at the University of Washington, Tacoma. He served four years as member of the advisory committee, University of Washington, Tacoma; seven years as practicum instructor for University of Washington Seattle and Tacoma campuses; and provided consultation to Seattle University’s development of the MSW program. He is currently serving as a member of the human services advisory board at Clover Park Technical College. Joel earned his B.A. from Central Washington University, Ellensburg; M.S.W. from University of Washington, Seattle; and Ph.D. from Capella University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2022, Joel was inducted as Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.