PAParent@pitt.edu

Kim Hine is the Family Engagement Specialist for the University of Pittsburgh's, Pennsylvania Child Welfare Resource Center (PA CWRC).

As a Family Engagement Specialist, Kim works to ensure that the voices of parents with lived experience are heard at all levels of Pennsylvania’s child welfare system and that parents are empowered to act as partners for system change. She also supports Family Group Decision Making (FGDM) efforts across the state through her work on the FGDM Leadership Team and the Family Engagement Region Meetings. Kim previously worked for PA CWRC as the coordinator for the Citizen Review Panels and Pennsylvania’s Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Task Force.

Kim’s career in child welfare and child abuse investigations began in 1997 when she accepted a position in one of Pennsylvania’s county children and youth agencies where she remained for ten years. The first five years she was an investigative caseworker primarily assigned to sexual abuse cases. She then became a casework supervisor providing management and support to the caseworkers doing the investigations. The bulk of Kim’s career has been devoted to working within children’s advocacy centers both at the direct service level and at the state level. In these roles, she has conducted forensic interviews, provided family advocacy services and training for both professionals and community members, assisted in the coordination of the multidisciplinary team, and overseen grant and program development.

Kim currently provides training to mandated reporters as a contractual trainer for the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance. She also continues to support children who are victims of abuse as an expert witness on child victim behavior in criminal court.