Tim Briceland Betts

Tim will present a session on Wednesday on public policy.  Tim has 20 years of experience in federal policy, the last 15 of which focused on children's policy.  Tim is co-director of Government Affairs at CWLA, where he focuses on strengthening the federal role and leadership in improving child welfare and supporting families in crisis and youth disconnected from society or transitioning out of foster care.  

He has played a central role in the development of the CWLA No Caps on Kids Campaign, focused on federal budget issues, the Congressional Platform initiative to improve child welfare services, and efforts to re-establish the White House Conference on Children and Youth.  In addition, he leads the policy efforts on juvenile justice and youth development issues.  In recent years, he has chaired or co-chaired the Washington Group of the National Collaboration for Youth and the National Juvenile Justice and Deliquency Prevention Coalition. 

Mr. Briceland Betts has been an advocate and organizer for social change throughout his professional career.  After finishing graduate school in the late 1970's, he spent a number of years working on local and state issues such as toxic waste hazards and health care reform.  He moved to Washington, D.C. in 1986 to become a field organizer for a national senior citizen organization.

In 1993, he went to work for the Children's Defense Fund to help build a national grassroots advocacy campaign.  In 1998, he took a position as a Senior Government Affairs Associate for CWLA.