Training Specialist
Brenda Wagner joined the Butler Institute for Families in March 2012. She began her professional career in the public child welfare system in Denver County, and then later transitioned to Garfield County on the western slope of Colorado. Ms. Wagner has focused her experience and knowledge on the implementation of best practice models within the public child welfare system with models such as Family to Family, Differential Response, and strength based family engagement techniques (including Signs of Safety and Appreciative Inquiry). Ms. Wagner has a broad scope of experience, including child and adult welfare supervision, investigative casework, family assessment response, ongoing casework, recruitment and retention of foster parents, adoptions, and group and family facilitation. Ms. Wagner has experience in grant administration, program development, and implementation. She collaborated with Colorado Department of Human Services and several counties across Colorado to build sustainable programs such as Colorado’s Rural Runaway & Homeless Youth Population and Differential Response.
Ms. Wagner has a BSW from Metropolitan State College of Denver and a MSW from Texas State University, San Marcos. She currently delivers competency-based training on child welfare practice under the Colorado Child Welfare Training System project.
