Paula Bibbs-Samuels, MS, LPC

For over 25 years, Paula Bibbs-Samuels has worked with and for children and families: advocating, being a voice, and supporting policy and practice that enhances the whole family, children, parents, kin, and community. She serves as a volunteer for the Lubbock Region 1 Parent Support Group and local and state church organizations in her Texas community. Paula is a passionate advocate for parents and families, supporting them in finding their voices through education and training. She speaks to and trains caseworkers and supervisors about creating better relationships with parents and families. She also assists parents in navigating the system successfully.

In addition to her work at the local level, Paula is also actively involved at the state and national levels.  She collaborates with staff at the state child welfare agency to help improve policy, practice, and procedures for the betterment of families. She was selected to provide input and advocate for families as a Parent Fellow for Texas.  Paula served as the Chair of the Statewide Parent Collaboration Group (PCG), a partnership between the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and parents who have been recipients of child welfare services. Paula also served on the Supreme Court of Texas Children’s Commission, a statewide, multi-disciplinary collaborative body with membership from the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of Texas government as well as child welfare partners in the private sector. 

Paula is often asked to speak about her own lived experiences and also to address policy and procedural issues. On a national level, she is a member of the Children’s Trust Fund Alliance’s Birth Parent National Network and the Birth and Foster Parent Partnership. Through these networks, she helps support parents and caregivers in informing policymakers about changes in policy and practice to address the needs of families. She joined the Thriving Families, Safer Children (TFSC) Phase II as a lived expert, helping to ensure the voices of families are heard and strengthen community-based prevention services for children and families. On the FRIENDS Parent Advisory Council, she works alongside other lived experts to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and families with a focus on prevention and education. She was also a former national parent consultant with the Capacity Building Center for States, a part of the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Capacity Building Collaborative.

Overall, Paula is a champion and a lived expert who ensures that the voices of lived experts are present in any kind of system change: to help decide the change needed, identify the strategies to use for change, and to enact the change. She enjoys learning but understands that learning is only the first step in enacting change. In addition to obtaining a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling, she continues to build upon the things she has learned, while continuously pushing and voicing for change. Paula believes that to learn, there must be a teacher, so she travels the United States publicly speaking, advocating, and teaching others how to authentically engage lived experts, support families and children, and create better outcomes for those involved in the child welfare system.  

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/paula-bibbs-samuels