Melissa Perry
Melissa Perry is a highly respected parent leader at the local, state and national levels with extensive expertise in parent leadership and advocacy development. Melisa recently moved from Tennessee to Utah and remains active in parent leadership activities there. While in Tennessee, she was employed as a parent leadership coordinator for Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee (PCAT) and worked closely with Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) funded programs.
Melissa serves on many advisory councils and committees such as the Birth Parent National Network (BPNN), the BPNN Parent Council, the Circle of Parents national work. She has experience training parents and practitioners across the country on how to build and engage in partnerships with parents. In addition, she trains on hosting Community Cafés and has been involved in implementing many of them. Melissa is an Alliance Certified Trainer for Bringing The Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work and an ACEs Building Strong Brains trainer. She encourages parents to take on leadership roles through policy work such as sharing their stories to educate policymakers and other key leaders about the need to expand prevention services to reduce child abuse and neglect. She has written articles for newsletters and websites to encourage parent involvement. Melissa believes that “parents need to be provided with the opportunity to take on leadership roles based on their strengths and interests and they need role models who understand what it takes to achieve their goals and ensure that their voices are heard and respected.”