Tonia McClanahan is the Parent Voice Advocacy Manager and contract Manager with the Washington State Office of Public Defense Parent Representation Programs and was formerly a contracted Social Service Worker before that the Parent4Parent Program

Director for Thurston, Mason, and Lewis Counties. She has been working collaboratively with attorneys, parents, and community partners to help parents navigate the Children's Justice Systems and come to a resolution in the Dependency Court process.

Tonia also sits on various committees and boards at the state and local levels. She mentored parents in the Dependency process from 2005 to 2023 and has testified to help support Legislative work to improve child welfare systems since 2006. She is the first Birth Parent who sits on the Washington State Supreme Court Commission on Children in Foster Care since 2013.

She sat on Family Recovery Drug Court teams in 2 counties. A member of the State SafeBabies Design Team as on the local teams, is a member of a local Executive Dependency Advisory Group, a member of a local Drug Court Foundation named after the Founding Father Judge Strophy, a member of the State Background Check Workgroup, on the Statewide ReUnification Steering Committee, A champion of the Protein for All program and Hangry Carts at the State level and in two counties,

A champion of the Mockingbird, an active member of our local Alumni Group on the State Alumni Association, The State Crime Victims Services Workgroup, and The OPD Racial Justice Team, amongst a few more.

If nothing else Tonia believes in helping parents regain hope in rebuilding their families.