Tonia McClanahan

Tonia McClanahan is currently the Parent Voice Advocacy Manager and one of the Social Services Contract Managers with the Washington State Office of Public Defense Parent Representation Program (OPD). Before becoming the Parent Voice Advocacy Manager, Tonia spent nine years as a contracted Social Service Worker with OPD. She is the former director of the Parent4Parent Program for Thurston, Mason, and Lewis Counties. She has spent over 20 years using her lived experience to mentor parents involved in the dependency process and advocate for improvements to the child welfare system, including testifying before the state legislature since 2006.

Tonia is the first Birth Parent to sit on the Washington State Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care. She is a member of multiple state and local committees and boards including OPD Racial and Social Justice Agency Movements; she manages the contract for the Statewide Incarcerated Parents Liaison, she supports Family Recovery Court teams in multiple counties and at the State level; she is on the State Early Childhood Court Team; Dependency Advisory Groups, the Strophy Therapeutic Court Foundation, the State Background Check Workgroup; Vice President of the WA State Alumni Association and the local Thurston and Mason County Associations; the Opioid Response Teams (state and local); the Treatment Sales Tax Advisory Board, and The Children’s Justice Task Force to name a few. She co-chairs the Supreme Court Statewide Reunification Committee and is a champion of the Mockingbird Society, as well as a champion for the Protein for All program and Hangry Carts.

Tonia has been recognized as a ReUnification Hero, a Unification Hero, and an Unsung Hero. She is committed to supporting and empowering parents to keep their families together and their relationships strong.