The "founder" I would say is a now retired lawyer in Shoreline named Ed Campbell, who was elected the first president when it was just a little group of angry victims of CPS. Early meetings were monthly at the Burien Library. Gary Preble attended occasionally. Adam Simpson was among the most active and became the second president. This was some ten or twelve years ago, not too long after the shocking Post-Intelligencer series about Wenatchee. Campbell was deeply embroiled in the worst case I have known, in Snohomish County, where the judge actually forbid his client from talking with anyone, including his own senator, Val Stevens. That's how secretive things were in those days. By far the most important achievement has been our opening up the courts. Suzy Nickel came along at some point and sort of merged us with AFRA, a mistake because legislators I was trying to influence came to think of us as wild-eyed revolutionaries. That's what the system needed and deserved, most of us thought, but we had to tone down our tactics to get anywhere. We began to become a formal organization, finally, when Stella Farias joined in as a paid intern from the UW-Tacoma. Stella did a tremendous amount of work, including all the IRS documentation to become a 501 (c) 3. We now concentrate too much time and energy on individual casework (but how can we say no?) instead of overall systems change. Political action is crucial to our future success, in my opinion, but neither funds nor volunteers seem available for that. Dave
Elaine Wolcott-Ehrhardt has been a resident of Washington State for more than 30 years. I have five biological children and six step children. I am now blessed with a dozen grandchildren.
I attended school in California. I continued my education after moving to Washington, as a Paralegal in 1984 at Metropolitan School of Business. In 2003 I completed Management school for ARCO and became a certified manager. I currently manage two stores and oversee about 24 employees and all operational needs.
I became involved with Washington Families after my parental rights were terminated for my three youngest children in 2003. Ultimately my twin sons left foster care and came home. My youngest daughter was adopted to strangers even though there was family willing to take her. We were told that was not an option because she was in a different program.
In 2007 HB1624 was passed allowing my sons to petition the courts for reinstatement of parental rights. Representative Ruth Kagi apologized for the amount of time that had elapsed until this became law. Senator Phil Rockefeller was the one to get the ball rolling. I am grateful for his help. Timothy has been legally returned. Jesse is currently in Washington's prison for kids. We will adopt him as an adult.
I continue to stay involved and advocate for families because I know what anyone that has CPS involved in their lives is going through. I always say if I had known then what I know now, there is no way my children would have suffered the terror they have. I had no idea where to go for help. I did not know that being a constituent gave me the right to seek help from our Government.
Through all of this I have been able to assist in the return of children to their families.
I never want anyone to endure what my family endured. Children belong with their family. My belief is that if a social worker is really diligently doing their job helping families, there would rarely be any reason to terminate parental rights. We need to keep families together.
CC Tillett brings with her 35 years of extreme experience in the field of customer service relations and customer satisfaction. Handling customer dis-satisfaction with services rendered by her airline is my field of expertise. I handle up to 30 staff members in any one given day before the aircraft departs from the blocks. Then the real job begins. Problem solving issues with staff members, the cockpit, operational problems with the aircraft and customers, making sure that everyone has a good experience and receives the product that they paid for. Communication with everyone is essential as well as the delegation of certain tasks. Coming into contact with Washington Families United is another story all unto itself. 2003 was a major turning point in my life. My 5 year old nephew was placed with me. I used to be under the impression that if CPS took away your children, you must have done something wrong. I was quickly to learn otherwise. When my families rights were terminated as to this child, I realized I had to do something more to help. To prevent this from happening to others. I contacted Elaine Wolcott-Ehrhardt, who is now our acting president. Everything happens for a reason..so the story goes. I then Met Mr. Dave Wood, ironically he was a lobbyist for my airline and there was much common ground there. I was asked if I would be willing to serve as Vice-President of this organization and I did not even blink with a yes. I have learned much along the way. How to operate within the confines of DSHS It does not in itself come with an instruction manual. The old saying of "Fake it till you make it" definitely applied here. When I am not flying, my phone will ring from 7 in the morning until almost mid-night. That is what I offer families. My time, my ear, and a devotion to families and making sure that their questions are answered as soon as possible. I communicate for them if they feel that they cannot do so. I attend court, staffing meetings and periodically meet with families and legal staff for the purpose of support. We are able to provide families many areas to search for resources and many are added from time to time. I attended Olympic Jr. College for 2 years and majored in law..but to date no degree. It does not take a village to raise a child..only their family.
Linda Harris was a licensed insurance agent until I was forced to retire because of a neck injury. I am a single mother of two daughters; I also am a grandmother of two beautiful grandchildren.
I went to the department for help with my teenagers; my girl’s counselor thought that Developmental Disability Services would be the best thing for them. It turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened to my girls, they labeled them mentally retarded and didn’t give us the kind of help that we needed. I was having medical problems and couldn’t take care of both my girls so I was forced to kick my oldest daughter out at 17, of course, she turned to drugs and I couldn’t help her. I didn’t have a relationship with her for two years, which was extremely difficult for me. One day she showed up on my door step and told me that she was quitting the drugs and wanted to know if I would help her. “I knew that she must have been pregnant.” I had so many people tell me that they are so surprised that I would help my daughter because most parents would not help their girls if they where doing drugs and came home pregnant.
“I told them that I love my daughter and she made a mistake as long as she stays off drugs I will always be here for her no matter what”
How I found out about Washington Families United:
I never had any contact with Child Protective Services until my grandson was born. I always wanted to get involved to help families deal with the system but I had no idea that it would be because of cps that I finally would have the opportunity to get involved. When cps got involved with my daughter I never thought I would lose my grandson. CPS would not allow me to have him because I went to the system for help with my children and so now I have a cps history.
"It is a shame that grandparents can raise their children but when they become grandparents they are not qualified."
I didn’t know what a dependency was but I knew enough about the system to educate myself and because of that we were able to get him back in two months. I found out about WFU because of an article in the Spokesman Review that was written about Bob Apple helping a family.
It takes people like us that have experienced the system to make a difference.
“Knowledge is power”
Dave Wood holds a B.A. in Journalism from the
