Shrounda Selivanoff

Parent Consultant

Shrounda Selivanoff is a strong and passionate advocate for parents involved with the child welfare system. She, herself, was previously involved with the system due to a severe drug and alcohol addiction that lasted about 8 years. In 2007, when she gave birth to her third child, child protective services got involved and removed her daughter from her.

Shrounda was able to successfully turn her life around and she reunified with her daughter 10 years ago. She shared that changing her life took years of hard work that continued after she reunited with her daughter. But her daughter gave her a reason to follow that path. “I feel joy in my heart for her,” she said. “I feel proud of the woman that I’ve become. I feel proud to be her mother.” It’s something she tells her daughter whenever she can.

Shrounda has extensive work experience with the King County Parents for Parents Program, where she provided peer support and hope to birth parents. She has worked with other programs such as the Perinatal Treatment Services and the University of Washington Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit, Parent-Child Assistance Program. She was previously employed as a contracted social services worker with the Washington State Office of Public Defense’s Parent Representation Program in King County. Today, she is employed as the policy director at Children’s Home Society of Washington State. She is a member of the Washington State Parent Ally Committee, a founding member of the Birth Parent National Network (BPNN) and a committee member of the Washington State Racial Disproportionality Advisory Committee. She is also leading the efforts in Washington State to establish a true partnership among parents, kinship caregivers and foster parents on behalf of youth and children.

Shrounda is currently a kinship caregiver and is raising her three-year-old grandchild.