2023 Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award Winner Announced
Congratulations to El Dorado County's Leah Brown!
Presented each spring by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services, the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award honors one of Northern California’s outstanding social workers and seeks to highlight additional child welfare line social workers who reflect Duncan’s passion, skill and tireless commitment to working to improve outcomes for children and families. This is the second year the award has been presented.
This year’s nominees were...
- Angela Benson, Trinity County
- Leah Brown, El Dorado County
- Shayla Dabney, Mendocino County
- Nick Gancayco, Lake County
- Wendy Greene, Trinity County
- Diana Mulina, Placer County
- Huy Nguyen, Yolo County
- Mariela Ramirez, Placer County
- Amara Robles, Trinity County
- Heidi Seddon, Mendocino County
- Elsa Thrower, Sacramento County
- Laura Uribe, Sacramento County
- Nicole Walters, Sutter County
- Andrew Wilkenson, Inyo County
We wanted to thank everyone who took the time to nominate one of their valuable colleagues for this very special award. It's so encouraging to read so many stories about child welfare professionals going above and beyond to improve outcomes for the children and families they serve.
And the winner is…
Leah Brown, El Dorado County Health and Human Services, Child Welfare!
Leah has dedicated nearly 20 years to El Dorado County Child Welfare, supporting her community of South Lake Tahoe as an investigating social worker. Widely recognized throughout the community for helping children and families, she holds herself to extremely high standards and sets an example for her colleagues, clients and community to do the same.
"It is not unusual for Leah to run into clients at the grocery store or baseball games and hear success stories about how well they are doing even years after her intervention with the family," her nominating colleague shared.
A champion of Safety Organized Practice who supports preventative practices, Leah is known as an extremely skilled interviewer and is certified to complete forensic multidisciplinary interviews for the Child Advocacy Center. Her nominating colleague shared that during a particularly challenging investigation, Leah was able to build rapport with the family and help them develop insight into the safety concerns. She has continued to support this family by advocating in a town that has minimal resources, and was ultimately able to help them achieve safety and stability without Court intervention.
"Leah is a true example of a team player," her colleague added, "always willing to lend a hand to her team, and is viewed as a leader not only by her colleagues, but in the community in which she serves.”
Please join us in congratulating Leah Brown on being the winner of the 2nd annual Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award, and in thanking her for her outstanding service to El Dorado County and the field.
About the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award
Named in honor of one of California’s outstanding social workers, the Sarah Duncan Award recognizes one Northern California child welfare line social worker who reflects Duncan’s passion, skill and tireless commitment to working to improve outcomes for children and families. It is awarded by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services each year. Nominations are accepted year-round. Nominees are also highlighted via the UC Davis Human Services website, and on its Facebook and LinkedIn networks.
Nominations Accepted Year-Round
We have begun accepting submissions for next year’s award.
More on this Year’s Nominees, and Past Winners
To learn more about everyone who was nominated for this year’s award as well as nominees/winners from previous years, please visit our dedicated website.
We’ll also be sharing more over the coming weeks via the UC Davis Human Services Facebook and LinkedIn pages, so be sure to “like” and “follow” us there!
About Sarah Duncan
To learn more about the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award and the outstanding social worker it is named after, please visit this page.