Amelia Franck Meyer, Ed.D, LISW
Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer is the Founder and Executive Officer of the national non-profit, Alia. Amelia and Team Alia are leading a nationally co-designed movement to keep children safe with, not from, their families. Amelia was named as one of People Magazine’s “25 Women Changing the World” in 2018, and in 2020, was named by AARP MN and Pollen Midwest as a 50over50 Honoree—System Reformer in the Disruptor Category. Amelia has a widely viewed TEDx Talk on the Human Need for Belonging and has also received the prestigious honors of being named a Bush Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow.
Amelia and Team Alia believe that “Families are the solution” (not the problem). Alia calls this new way of work an “UnSystem”. Team Alia believes that a key part of transformation is supporting families to safely raise their children. Working with innovative leaders, Amelia and Team Alia use best practices, evidence, and human centered design principles to operationalize concepts that produce rapid results and positive outcomes for youth and families.
Amelia has also received numerous awards from her alma maters including: 2018 Alumni Achievement Award at Illinois State University; 2015 College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) Alumni Society Award of Excellence from the University of Minnesota; 2010 Alumna of the Year Award from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota; 2010 Emerging Leader by the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota for achieving “early distinction” in her career; and 2010 Alumni of the Year, Department of Sociology, Illinois State University.
At Alia, Amelia also works to convene changemakers and partners to advance the tools and knowledge base in the field of child welfare. Amelia has co-authored and led the publication of a Social Return on Investment Study: The Unseen Costs of Foster Care; a Research Brief: Evidence Base for Avoiding Family Separation in Child Welfare Practice; Creating a Permanence Driven Organization: A Guidebook for Change in Child Welfare; and multiple reports on learnings and outcomes from the 14-county Alia UnSystem Innovation Cohort.
In addition, when no other tools existed, Amelia led the initiative to bring together academic, research and professional partners at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare to develop the Youth Connections Scale (YCS) and the Wellbeing Indicator Tool for Youth (WIT-Y), both nationally recognized, evidence-informed and widely applied tools. Amelia is also an author of many professional articles, reports, guidebooks, and co-authored the books Present Moment Parenting and The Healing Guidebook. Amelia is a sought-after thought leader, author, systems-reformer, and keynote presenter.
Before Alia, Amelia was the CEO of a treatment foster care agency serving 90 counties in Wisconsin and Minnesota. During her 16-year tenure, Amelia and her team produced nationally recognized child permanence and placement stability outcomes for children in out-of-home care and was on the leading edge of promoting and measuring wellbeing for youth and the child welfare workforce and were the winners of many local, regional, and national innovation awards.
Amelia has spent her more than 30-year career dedicated to serving children and families in the areas of out-of-home care, family-based services and disability services. In addition, Amelia holds a doctorate in Organizational Change and Leadership (University of Southern California), a Masters' Degree in Sociology/Marriage and Family (Illinois State University), a Masters’ Degree in Social Work/Human Service Management, (University of Minnesota) and graduate certificates in Disability Policy and Services (University of Minnesota), Permanence and Adoption Competency (University of Minnesota), and American Sign Language Proficiency (University of Minnesota). Her doctoral dissertation topic was “What Public Child Welfare Leaders Need to Know and Do to Prevent Undesired Turnover and Promote a Culture of Wellbeing.” Amelia is also a certified facilitator of Dr. Brené Brown’s work in shame-resilience and vulnerability.
Amelia was featured in the 2019 issue of Bush Magazine. The article highlights the story of Amelia's journey, what motivates her to do this work, and how Alia works to transform the child welfare system to one that always preserves and strengthens family connections.
In 2016, Amelia gave a TEDx Talk in Minneapolis about the human need to belong and to be claimed.
"Physical safety is not enough and I ask you to join me in reimagining a world where all children feel safe and claimed, especially those in child welfare. Where all children claim their birthright, which is to belong to someone." - AFM