Penny Michel - mpen300@uw.edu

Penny Michel began her social work career in 1998 as a Child Care Licensor (Social Worker III) for the Office of Child Care Policy (OCCP). She worked two part-time licensor positions at the same time, one in Vancouver (Region 6) and one in Bremerton (Region 5). The following year, she was hired fulltime in Region 6 to license In-Home Childcare providers in the Mason and Gray’s Harbor areas. In 2001, Penny transferred to a social work position with the Office of Foster Care Licensing (OFCL) and worked as a Foster Care Licensor in Thurston Co. for 10 years. While in her position as a Licensor with OFCL, she was accepted into the University of Washington (UW) School of Social Work/Child Welfare Training and Advancement Program (CWTAP) and completed her Master of Social Work (MSW) in 2007.

In 2014, Penny accepted a position with the Alliance for Child Welfare Excellence as a Continuing Education Specialist. She is responsible for the development and monitoring of pre-licensing training for potential foster parents and for continuing education trainings for licensed foster parents, kinship care providers and community members.