Foster Care Development, Education Coordinator

Melody was born in Gadsden, AL, and has lived in the Birmingham area for the past twenty years. She received her A.A.S Business Finance Degree from Jefferson State Junior College in 2005 and her BSSW with honors from the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 2018.

She is currently the Graduate Research Assistant for the BEAMS (Bringing Exploitation of Alabama Minor to a Stop) project funded by the Department of Justice Grant awarded to the School of Social Work at the University of Alabama and is working on her MSW. Melody is married and has seven children. She and her husband have been foster parents for the past nine years and adopted four of their children through foster care. She is a licensed Trauma Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence-Model Approach to Partnership in Parenting trainer and works part-time as a case manager for therapeutic foster care. Melody also trains and volunteers with Blanket Fort Hope working with children that have been victims of human trafficking. Melody has devoted her life to working with children in foster care and educating about human trafficking at home and abroad, supporting and advocating for all those who are oppressed. Melody is the Developer and Trainer of Foster Care Human Trafficking, a training program for social workers and foster parents who work with victims of human trafficking