PAParent@pitt.edu

Felicia Matriccino is the Parent Ambassador at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Child Welfare Resource Center (PA CWRC).

Felicia Matriccino has been a Parent Ambassador at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center (Resource Center) since 2018. Her commitment to child welfare is deeply personal, rooted in her own experiences a decade ago when her daughter was three years old. During that challenging period, Felicia navigated both in-home and out-of-home services for two years. With the support and guidance of others, she learned to advocate effectively for her family. She continues to apply these skills in her personal life and now in her professional role as a Parent Ambassador.

Felicia’s work at the Resource Center focuses on two primary areas. First, Felicia collaborates closely with the Department of Human Services to enhance providers family engagement at the case management level by supporting culture shifts in agencies where families are recognized as experts regarding their needs. Second, Felicia engages other Pennsylvania parents who have navigated the county-administered child welfare system to ultimately support birth parents to be leaders and strategic partners in prevention and child welfare systems reform.

To support the broader work of engaging parents as leaders to support her own skill development, Felicia actively participates in the Birth Parent National Network and the Birth and Foster Parent Partnership. Her national contributions were recently recognized, leading to her selection for the Birth Parent Advisory Council for Casey Family Programs. Since joining in the summer of 2024, Felicia is now part of a respected group of 12 parents from throughout the country. This small group of parents with lived experience is dedicated to shaping programs, policies, and strategies to achieve better outcomes for children and families.

In 2023, Felicia was also a major contributor to the development and implementation of Pennsylvania’s Meaningful Engagement Toolkit. An on-line collection of resources for family engagement practitioners which include two sections dedicated to supporting parents. One containing general resources and the other containing parent leadership resources. In addition to everything noted above, Felicia contributes to various workgroups and committees where she provides feedback from the parent perspective to improve child welfare products, services, policies, and procedures to better serve families. Notable groups she is involved with include Pennsylvania’s Children’s Justice Act Task Force, the Diversity Task Force, the Family Group Decision Making Leadership Team, the Strengthening Families Leadership Team, and regional Citizen Review Panels.