Biography     

Laurie Cunningham directs FMHI’s Child Welfare Training Academy/Training Consortium. She has worked in the field of human services for more than 30 years and has held a variety of positions providing direct services, administration, and training and consulting on child welfare issues.  Prior experiences include working with the Child Welfare League of America in Washington, DC for over a decade as a project coordinator, master trainer, and senior consultant. More recently Ms. Cunningham was a Senior Vice President with Kids Hope United. In this capacity she held responsibility under Florida’s privatized child welfare system for ensuring the safety and well-being of approximately 900 abused/neglected children in a three county area.  Ms. Cunningham credits much of her success as a human services professional to her “hands-on” experience as a residential care houseparent, group home director and foster parent, early in her career. She is currently an adoptive parent and relative caregiver.

As Academy/Consortium Director, Ms. Cunningham is responsible for overall operations, including serving as Principal Investigator (PI) for several grants, managing numerous contracts, negotiating and overseeing multiple budgets, and representing the Academy/Consortium to a wide range of stakeholders. A primary focus currently is broadening the consumer base to include a range of  human services professionals in addition to those in child welfare, and bringing the Academy/Consortium to the national forefront for training and consultation.