Child protection and safety stakeholders in both the United States and around the world have long hungered for an easy and clear way to stay up to date on child welfare policy, improve their outcomes, enhance their businesses, train their staff members, and above all, provide the best possible care to vulnerable children and caregivers.
That’s why we created Child Welfare & Justice Transformation (CWJT).
Born from diverse and deep legal experience, and boots-on-the-ground, data-driven, creative problem-solving, CWTJ blends crucial information with effective delivery to help our clients meet the demands of a complex and ever-changing world. Our team of trainers, evaluators, investigators, and policy, practice, and communication experts stand ready to help you advance your programs and improve the outcomes we all seek for children and families.
Tom Rawlings, CEO and President
Tom Rawlings brings his long career in juvenile justice, child protection, and capacity-building to the needs of ministries and organizations serving children in the US and around the world. Tom has served the State of Georgia (US) as an attorney, juvenile court judge, child rights ombudsman, and director of the State Division of Family and Children Services for more than 30 years.
He holds a law degree from the University of Georgia and a Masters’ degree in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University (UK). Certified by the National Association of Counsel for Children as Child Welfare Law Specialist, he understands how to implement best practices in child protection. He formerly served as an abogado consultor for the Mexican government and worked to protect children of Mexican citizens living in the US.
In addition to his work in the US, Tom served as the Guatemala country director for International Justice Mission, where he built and led a team of Guatemalan professionals who worked with government prosecutors and courts to protect and treat child sexual abuse victims, prosecute offenders, and train child abuse professionals. He has trained child welfare, justice, and human rights professionals across the US as well as in Armenia, Romania, and Thailand.
“I realized long ago, when I was a newly-minted juvenile court judge, that the issues facing abused, neglected, delinquent, and traumatized children and their families are complex. To protect children from abuse and neglect and build strong families requires a multidisciplinary approach, combining the talents and experience of many professions: law, psychology, medicine, child development, education, and law enforcement. The problems may differ in degree between developing and developed nations, but the approach to solving them is based on universal principles and accepted best practices. Leading those efforts requires an exercise in humility: you must build bridges across professions, empower those who are doing the work, and build a collaborative culture that creates good outcomes for children and families. Helping to bring together these talents, equip them for success, and build a collaborative culture that produces good outcomes for children and families who face personal and environmental challenges is what excites my passion and drives my work.”
—Tom Rawlings, CWJT President and CEO
