Board Of Directors
Jody Bittrich, BSW, President
Denver, CO.
Jody has been working in the field of Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchanges since 1997. From 1997 to 2007, Jody directed Rainbow Bridge Safe Exchange and Visitation Center which works with low-income families striving for self sufficiency in the areas surrounding Moorhead, MN, and Fargo, ND. As the Program Director, she oversaw numerous staff and a volunteer base of 50-75. All program staff was involved in grant writing, fundraising, marketing, and program activity.
Jody was active in the SVN-Minnesota Chapter from 2000 to 2007 and served as the co-chair for three years. In those eight years, the Chapter originated the Orange Ribbon Campaign to promote awareness of visitations centers around Minnesota and was adopted around the world. Jody was also the co-creator of the Orange Ribbon Campaign. The Chapter was also active in facilitating statewide trainings for members and partners. Jody was also active with the SVN – North Dakota Chapter assisting in the creation of the state standards.
In 2007, Jody moved to Denver, Colorado, and is currently the Director of Parenting Time at Family Tree, Inc. Again, she is overseeing program operations of the Parenting Time program which includes supervised parenting time and safe exchanges. The Parenting Time program at Karlis Family Center, which opened in 1995, focuses on keeping both the children and the at-risk parent safe while maintaining a fair and respectful environment for everyone who walks through the doors.
Over the past 12 years, Jody has provided services in nearly every area in the field of visitation. She has provided on-site, off-site and in-home supervised visitation, therapeutic visitation, phone monitoring, satellite site services, parent education classes, facilitated support groups for adults and children of divorce and co-founded a fatherhood group in Fargo-Moorhead.
However, in 2001, her most accomplished undertaking was being one of the first visitation centers in the upper Midwest to contract with the local county social services and child protection teams to provide supervised visitation for children placed in foster care. Again in 2008 in Denver, Colorado, Jody brings that expertise and passion to the field of supervised visitation as she begins offering supervised visitation and parent coaching to local county social services and child protection teams.
On the Supervised Visitation Network Board of Directors since 2003, Jody has been active as the chair of the Marketing and Public Relations Committee Chair for three years and Membership and Chapter Committee Chair for two years.
Aaron Wimmer, Vice President
Sioux Falls, SD
Aaron has been with the Family Visitation Center since 2004 and currently serves as the Director. He possesses his Master of Science Degree in Administration and brings over twelve years experience in working with children and families. As an active community member, Aaron has also served several community committees and has served two terms as the president of the SVN-SD Chapter.As the largest visitation center in the state the Sioux Falls Center provides on-site supervised visitation and assisted Connection services to children and families referred through the Court System, Child Protection Services, and other local agencies. In addition to visitation and exchange services, FVC also has a contract with South Dakota Child Protection Services providing over 300 hours a month of transportation for children in the custody of the state.
Aaron has overseen a 61 percent growth in service hours in the last three years and is currently working to transition the agency from a program of regional healthcare provider to an independent 501c(3) non-profit entity.
Aaron's family remains the focal point of his life with his wife Rebecca, sons — Seth and Micah, and daughter Lauren continuing to keep things active and interesting.
Valya Roberts, Immediete Past President
Brantford, Ontario, Canada
In addition to serving as the former President of the board, Valya is the Executive Director of two access Centres in Ontario, Canada, and former co-chair of the Ontario, Canada, Chapter of SVN. She is a graduate of the University of Waterloo and Mohawk College where she studied Social Work and Child Abuse Studies. For the past 20 years she has been involved with helping families and children/youth.
Valya is a recognized trainer and workshop presenter and teaches Social Work at the College level. Valya has expertise in developing community based programs, program evaluations and grant reviews/writing. Valya has also worked as a consultant with the U.S. Justice Department – Violence Against Women Office and was also a member of the National Advisory Board for the Safe Havens Grant.
For the past few years she worked closely with the Provincial Government in the expansion of access Centres to other areas of the province and also developing "best practices" and a "peer review process." Valya and her partner Steve are also proud parents of Hayley, who is a National Athlete in the sport of Speed Skating and hopes to be in Olympics.
Dorie Twist, Treasurer
Alexandria, MN
As Executive Director of Wings Family Supportive Services, her many accomplishments have included:
Created and implemented the agency's first advanced statistical database for collecting victim services. Database has been in place since 1999. Worked with other crisis centers in Minnesota helping them incorporate our statistical tracking and database system for their own use.
Developed and coordinated Hope Connection Safety Center in 2000. Instrumental in writing the United Way, Initiative Foundation, and Blanden Foundation start up grants. Managed the center through very limited funding and developed it into a very well known, full to capacity, visitation center program in center rural Minnesota.
Prepared budget proposal and assist with writing of the federal grant, "Arrest Program, How to Hold Offenders Accountable." Hands of Hope Resource Center was one of two grant recipients in Minnesota to receive this OVW (Office of Violence against Women) federal grant. Attended and Certified at the Office of Justice Financial Management Training in Washington D.C.
Active participant in perusing legislative funding changes for Visitation Centers across Minnesota. Recently testified on behalf of Hope Connection Safety Center at the House of Representatives hearing on the importance of visitation centers being funded.
Judy Newman, Secretary
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Judy Newman MSW, RSW from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the manager of the Supervised Access Program, Ministry of the Attorney General which has 74 site locations across the province. Judy oversees funding contracts with service providers and works with them to develop policies and procedures and training. Judy is a registered professional social worker who previously worked at the Office of the Children's Lawyer working with children and families involved in high conflict custody and access disputes conducting investigations and assisting children's counsel to represent the interests of children before the court. Judy is a field instructor for the Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto. She is a recipient of the Judith Wallach President's Award from the Supervised Visitation Network recognizing her contribution to the profession. Judy is a member of the SVN Board and Executive acting as Board secretary and chair of the Standards and Guidelines Committee as well as a member of the Training Committee. Judy is a member of the SVN Board and Executive Committee as the Member at large, having served previously as the Secretary Vice President of the Board. She is also chair of the Standards and Guidelines Committee as well as a member of the Training Committee. She is a frequent workshop presenter at SVN Conferences.
Sunni Ball
Colorado Springs, CO
Sunni began work in the domestic relations field approximately 17 years ago. She workled in private practice where she performed Custody Evaluations, Therapeutic Supervised Visitation, Counseling and Adoption Case work. She has been classified by the Fourth Judicial District as an expert witness in the field of family systems and child development. Sunni is in her sixth year with CASA as the Domestic Relations (DR) Program and Development Manager.>/p>
She has helped develop standards for supervised visitation in Colorado, as well as organizing the state level training for the standards. She serves as the co-chair of the Colorado Chapter. She has completed various publications regarding Supervised Visitation, including developmental recommendations, and recommendations regarding children with special needs. She serves as a trainer for SVN and has presented at the last three SVN annual conferences.
Ona Foster, LMSW
Dallas, TX
Ms. Foster is the director of Faith and Liberty's Place Supervised Visitation Center in Dallas, Texas. Previously she spent four years working with domestic violence and child abuse cases in the Dallas County District Attorney's Office in the Family Violence Unit.
Prior to working at the DA's Office, she facilitated counseling groups at 3 different family violence agencies, and also has worked in a women's shelter. She publicly speaks about family violence and the effects of violence on children, and trains law enforcement and community groups across the state of Texas for the DA's office.
Ona has served on two committees for the Supervised Visitation Network. She is a licensed social worker who holds a master's in social work from the University of Texas, and a bachelor's in sociology and criminal justice from Colorado State University.
Joanne Karolzak
Tuscon, AZ
Joanne Karolzak is a founding and continuous member of the Supervised Visitation Network. She served seven years on the Board including serving as the network's third President. She is the Director of Community Education and Family Support at Casa de los Niños in Tucson, AZ. Joanne has been a practitioner of services for over 20 years and has worked extensively in the field. She hosted the first SVN conference and co-hosted it again in 2005. Joanne was one of the U.S. delegates to the first International Conference on Access Programs in France in 1997. She has provided training and consultation to programs throughout the United States. Joanne currently oversees the two different access programs provided by her agency serving both domestic cases and paternity actions and dependency visitation cases.
Pat Kelleher
Brockton, MA
Pat is the founder and former director of the first supervised visitation program in Massachusetts. As the Executive Director of Brockton Family and Community Resources, Inc.(BFCR), a non-profit community based victim service agency, Pat has been successful in expanding visitation services to 45 cities and towns in Southeastern Massachusetts with four scattered site locations. Pat's long history of advocacy for victims of trauma, with a specialization in services for victims of domestic violence and their children, has culminated in the growth of BFCR as one of the state's largest providers of comprehensive community based victim services. Recognizing the need to provide extended services for non-custodial fathers who were re-establishing relationships with their biological children, or who were parenting their partners children, Pat oversaw the addition of "Responsible Fatherhood" programs to the visitation services. Pat is a founding member of the Massachusetts Chapter of SVN and provides consultation to providers both locally and nationally.
Katheryn Lotsos, LCSW
New York, NY
As the Director of Clinical Services at The New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Katheryn Lotsos, LCSW oversees the largest Supervised Visitation Program in New York City. Specializing in treating children who have experienced trauma, Ms. Lotsos has over 10 years of experience with children and their families in a variety of outpatient settings.
Ms. Lotsos' expertise in the area of trauma serves to inform the best-practice supervised visitation model that The NYSPCC utilizes. She teaches and trains nationally on The NYSPCC's Supervised Visitation and Trauma Recovery Programs.
Ms. Lotsos holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Maryland's School of Social Work.
Gillian Mason-Johnson
Biloela, Australia
Gillian is a Social Worker and Advocate of over 30 years experience, and has been involved with Children’s Rights Issues since the 1970s when she became actively involved with research into Aboriginal Children in Institutional Care many of who were members of the Infamous Stolen Generation. She was responsible for establishing the first Australian Children’s Access Service in Toowoomba in 1981, along with the first Rural Community Legal Service. From the mid 1980s until 1994 she lobbied for the recognition and funding of Children’s Access Services in her country. Gillian was the cofounder of the Australian and New Zealand Assoc of Children’s Access Service (now known as ACCSA) with Judy Harrison in 1994. She has been involved with SVN as an International member since 1994/5. Gillian is currently the Director of the Wynnum/Manly/Western Downs Advocacy and Counseling Service and is the Chair of the Tom Burns Foundation. She is a current board member of the Youth Affairs Network of Queensland.
Jeff Puster
Murfreesboro, TN
Jeff has served as Program Manager for the Exchange Club Family Centers, Supervised Visitation program since April of 2008. Jeff has a Master’s degree in Education from Southern Illinois University and has most recently served as Administrative Director for Volunteers of America and as a behavior specialist for the TN Department of Mental Retardation. Jeff serves as Chair of the Knowledge and Resources Committee, which overseas the website and the distribution of "Sitting In" the SVN newsletter.
Jeff wantrs to encourage more opportunities for training of professional monitors to help increase the credibility of supervised visitation programs.
Jeff currently resides in the middle-Tennessee area with his wife, Dawn and two sons, Reilly and Jake.
Sharon Rogers
Shalimar, FL
My education and background are in the areas of law and teaching. My first undergraduate program was Education and I eventually added a BA in Legal Administration. Prior to becoming involved with the Visitation Center, I worked with Legal Services and the Guardian Ad Litem program. I was a founding board member of the Judge Ben Gordon, Jr. Family Visitation Center, and moved from that position into the Center’s first paid position as the Executive Director. Over the last thirteen years I have assisted in moving this program from a small one-woman show by opening three Visitation Centers that now serve two counties in Northwest Florida.
I am a longtime member of SVN, hosted the 2002 annual conference and served for two years on the board of directors. I have also actively participated in the FL Chapter over the years, serving on the board in every capacity, including three terms as President.
In the state of Florida, I have served on numerous committees and participated in a variety of projects over the years. These include the creation of the Florida State Data Base, and the recent Report to the Florida Legislature with Recommendations of the Supervised Visitation Standards Committee. I additionally provided review and case examples for A Training Manual for Florida’s Supervised Visitation Programs, and Child Sexual Abuse Referrals; A Curriculum for Supervised Visitation Providers.
Robert B. Straus, DMH, JD
Cambridge, MA
A psychologist and lawyer was Senior Psychologist of the Family Service Clinic from 1982 to 1988, conducting custody and visitation evaluations for the Middlesex County Family Court. From 1988, he served frequently as Guardian ad Litem in high-conflict custody and access disputes.
In 1991, Dr. Straus started Meeting Place: Supervised Child Access Service, a program of The Guidance Center, Inc. in Cambridge, MA, providing a safe setting in which children in high-risk situations can visit parents with whom they are not living.
He is a founder of the Supervised Visitation Network. He was President of the Network in 1993-94, helped draft the Network's Standards and Guidelines for practice, and has served several terms on the Board of Directors.
From 1995 through 2000 he was Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Coalition for Supervised Visitation, and in that capacity worked with the Governor's Commission on Responsible Fatherhood and the Supervised Visitation Task Force of the Probate and Family Court, helping draft the Guidelines for Court Practice for Supervised Visitation.
Dr. Straus has a private psychotherapy practice, working with couples and children, and remains the Program Consultant to Meeting Place.
Georgia Thompson
Los Angeles, California
Georgia is program manager for Bienvenidos Family Services, a social services agency in West Covina, California. She has been involved in providing supervised visitation services since 1994 and an active member of SVN for many years. With master's degrees in both clinical psychology and business administration, she is uniquely qualified to address both the human services and administrative aspects of service delivery. She has developed and teaches a two-day training course for supervised visitation monitors and is an approved SVN trainer. She states that in running for the Board she hopes to contribute towards increase in membership and training. She has demonstrated her leadership abilities through her work in helping to develop a Southern California Chapter of SVN that has in the past year been successful in increasing the SVN membership in that area by about eight-fold. Her experience in working with other agencies, the court systems and professional monitors could add to the scope of work as SVN moves towards change and upgrades to the new standards, best practices, and guidelines. She says she is running for the Board to assist wherever needed, but would especially like to offer support in the areas of membership and training.
Barbara Stamper, LSW
Greene County, OH.
Barbara Stamper is the Coordinator of the Greene County Family Visitation Center. The Family Visitation Center is a program of Greene County Family and Children First Department, which assists service providers, community groups, and residents to effectively address the health, human, and social service needs of Greene County residents as well as providing supportive services for the County Courts.
Since 2000, Barbara has overseen the expansion of services at the Family Visitation Center including the development of a volunteer program to increase hours of operation, an on-site domestic violence advocacy position to support victims, and additional security procedures to enhance the safety of the Center. In addition, Barbara has experience in grant writing and management.
Barbara is a licensed social worker and has completed graduate studies in public administration and social work. Her past experience includes managing the American Red Cross satellite office at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base and working as a case manager in the "Welfare to Work" program.
Serving as the current Ohio SVN Chapter Chair, she has worked to increase Chapter sponsored training opportunities and advocacy for Ohio legislative standards for supervised visitation programs. Barbara previously served on the SVN Board of Directors and has been a Conference presenter.
Staff
Joe Nullet, E.D.
Executive Director, Supervised Visitation Network
Jacksonville, Florida
Executive Director Joe Nullet, a graduate of Harvard University, has led the Supervised Visitation Network since December 2007. He is also the Executive Director of the Family Nurturing Center of Florida, a Supervised Visitation and Parent Education program in Jacksonville, Florida.
During his tenure at FNC, he has guided the organization through an exciting growth period, helped reshape the organizational culture and design to better serve the needs of clients, and has served locally and nationally on numerous task forces, advisory boards, and collaborative partnerships as an expert in the field of supervised visitation. Joe is a former Board Member of SVN who has presented at SVN Annual Conferences, and has been a member since 2001. Joe has served on the statewide Committee that developed an innovative Supervised Visitation database and is currently a member of State of Florida Standards Committee that was formed as a result of legislation to establish statewide standards.
Joe is also a Recognized National Trainer/Consultant with the Nurturing Parenting Programs, working with organizations that wish to incorporate the Nurturing Parenting Programs by assisting with the functions of administrative support, grant writing to fund a program, development of facilitation skills, and marketing of the concept. Joe has completed Graduate Coursework at the Kennedy School of Government, a Nonprofit Executive Program at the Harvard Business School, as well as completing the Jessie Ball duPont Fund's Community Coaches Program.
At home Joe enjoys spending time with his wife Trina (also a nonprofit employee) and three boys: Joey, Luke, and Nicholas.
Deb Wellman
Administrative Assistant
Jacksonville, Florida
Deb Wellmann, a native of New York, New York (We are talking Manhattan!), relocated to Jacksonville in December 2006 and joined the SVN team in January 2008. She is an experienced administrative professional who last worked in various capacities with the City of Springfiled, Ohio, for seven-plus years. She is a graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvanuia. Deb enjoys life in Jacksonville with her husband Kevyn (a Commerical/Residential Construction Guru who you may have met at the 2008 SVN Conference while he served as our flamboyant auctioneer) and her two children, Tyler and Dylan. Deb handles the day-to-day administrative functions of the network, ensuring that everyone and everything is where it should be.