Brenda Plante

Brenda Plante is a family leader from New Hampshire and a national parent partner with the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance. While Brenda’s early professional career in management with a national utility did not lead directly to family engagement work, her personal lived experience ultimately became the foundation for her advocacy and leadership.

In 2011, Brenda attended a Better Together workshop. The experience inspired her to explore opportunities to engage with families involved in the child welfare system and to use her voice and lived experience to help strengthen partnerships between families and professionals.

At the state level, Brenda has been a champion for family voice and played an important role in helping New Hampshire’s Division for Children, Youth and Families develop and strengthen its parent partner program. As a consultant, she guided policies and procedures designed to meaningfully integrate individuals with lived experience in the child welfare system as peer mentors and practice advisors.

A key part of Brenda’s work has been creating opportunities for parents, foster parents, former youth in care, community partners, and child welfare professionals to come together, build empathy, develop shared understanding, and transform practice. Brenda is a state and national facilitator of the Better Together and Strategic Sharing workshops, both Casey Family Programs curricula. Through Better Together workshops and roundtables, Brenda has helped foster authentic dialogue and strengthen relationships across the child welfare system. Her work also supports individuals and organizations in understanding the power of lived experience, sharing stories with intention, and creating stronger partnerships with families.

Brenda looks forward to continuing her work in New Hampshire and nationally to elevate parent voice; strengthen family–professional partnerships; and promote meaningful change through communication, collaboration, and shared leadership.