Bethany Case Email & Phone Number

Washington, Dc, Us

Washington D.C. Metro Area

This position has been transformational. I have the great opportunity to work collaboratively with a range of partners and stakeholders at the national, regional, tribal, and local level to design and carry out programs that improve the lives of crime victims. My favorite part of the job is being challenged to identify strategic ways to use government resources to create solutions to complex social problems. The complexity involves analyzing relevant statutes, policies, and authorities and then methodically (yet quickly) determining practical and politically savvy solutions. I manage a portfolio of 20 diverse programs that total more than $20 million. In this role I provide support and guidance that enables the program teams to effectively translate and apply federal guidelines while implementing elaborate victim programs.

Washington D.C. Metro Area

As a Visiting Fellow at the Office for Victims of Crime, I work in Washington, DC with a team of federal staff, contractors, and fellows to support the mission of the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC). The OVC team’s overall goal is to enhance the Nation’s ability to assist crime victims and provide leadership in changing attitudes, policies, and practices to promote justice and healing for all victims of crime. My role on OVC’s team is to serve as a subject matter expert on child abuse. This involves a number of responsibilities and activities including: serving as a point of contact for OVC grantees who are developing child abuse related materials; assisting OVC staff—Victim Justice Program Specialists—in analyzing current child abuse trends and professional practices, integrating evidence-based practices into OVC programming, and ensuring OVC standards reflect the needs of the crime victims field; serving as a liaison to other DOJ and federal offices on cross agency efforts and initiatives; developing written materials such as memos, reports, briefing documents, and newsletter articles per the request of management; and developing guidance and other policy related materials to enhance victim service providers' ability to serve victims of crime. I represent OVC on the following committees and groups: the Attorney General’s Defending Childhood Initiative, the Federal Interagency Task Force on Drug Endangered Children, and the Federal Interagency Workgroup on Child Abuse and Neglect.

As a Forensic Interviewer at a Children’s Advocacy Center I conducted semi-structured, protocol based interviews with children, youth, and adults with developmental disabilities who were alleged to be abused, neglected, or witness to a crime. A forensic interview is considered a tool that investigators (law enforcement and child protection) use in the course of gathering information to determine whether and how an alleged victim was abused. The forensic interviews I conducted were recorded, entered into evidence, and later used as needed during criminal prosecutions. Conducting these sensitive and objective interviews requires extensive specialized training in forensic interviewing, dynamics of abuse, child development, criminal justice systems, and many other topics. In addition to conducting interviews with children, I also served as a Facilitator of our multidisciplinary team (MDT). This team was comprised of law enforcement, child protection workers, prosecutors, medical professionals, victim advocates, mental health providers, and forensic interviewers. Our team met on a monthly basis to receive cross-training, discuss cases, and plan for appropriate interventions based on the unique circumstances and needs of each family and case. Investigation and prosecution of child abuse can be quite lengthy, and my involvement in cases sometimes extends to court testimony in criminal proceedings. My testimony as a Forensic Interviewer typically involves describing the purpose of the interview, the role of the interviewer, and the dynamics that child victims experience. I have testified at over twenty criminal trials and have been qualified as an Expert Witness in Forensic Interviewing each time the prosecutor sought this qualification.

St Tammany Parish, Louisiana

After graduate school I was eager to hone my clinical skills, so I worked for thee school years as the Mental Health Provider (MHP) at Mandeville High School, a public high school in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, that had approximately 1,500 students. As the school’s only MHP (and working on a part-time basis), I worked with students, staff, and families to support students during crisis; conduct safety assessments (in response to threats of harm against self or others); and provide referrals to/coordination with community resources. Students under my care were referred to me from a variety of sources: parents, teachers, administrative staff, school counselors, and students. Typically my services were requested during student crises such as: death of a friend or family member, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, depression, transition, stressful life circumstances (such as displacement due to Hurricane Katrina), abuse, sexual assault, bullying, and any other situations. Depending on the individual needs of the student, I would develop a personalized plan and make referrals for educational, medical, therapeutic, and psychiatric services. As a service provider at the school, I conducted individual and group therapy sessions.In this role I also educated students, teacher, staff, and parents about the mental health issues high school student face and community service options available. This educational component of my position empowered youth and the adults in their lives to make more informed decisions about both difficult life circumstances and normal adolescent phases.

St Tammany Parish, Louisiana

This job was a great foundational learning experience that strengthened my communication skills (particularly technical writing and court testimony), crisis interventions skills, ability to multi-task under pressure, and the ability to convey a competent image to the community during the course of duties. I worked with numerous community agencies and countless professionals to make the most accurate and sound decisions possible given extenuating circumstances. This job also exposed me to working in a bureaucracy.My first job as a newly-graduated Social Worker was a Child Protection Investigator for the State of Louisiana. This job exposed me to a broad range of social conditions, family struggles, and tragic circumstances. In sum, I worked with a team of ten Investigators and two supervisors to assess child and family safety, make difficult decisions affecting people’s lives, and build relationships with community resources. Our duties included: taking reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, assessing the reports to determine risk to the children involved, responding on scene to conduct investigations (sometimes solo and sometimes jointly with colleagues and/or law enforcement) in a relatively short period of time (one day to thirty days), gathering information from collateral sources, determining the validity of allegations, continually assessing risk to all children involved, identifying resources to assist families when possible, removing children from their abusive homes when necessary, identifying safe homes for children to be placed temporarily, developing case summaries and reports for staffings and court petitions, and testifying in court proceedings. I left this position to attend graduate school but returned to assist with investigations during my semester break and for a few months after graduation.

Master Of Social Work

Bachelor Of Arts, Social Work