Tiffany A. McDonald, LISW-S, TRCC

I am an independently licensed social worker with supervision designation (LISW-S). In 2019, I obtained specialized certification in Trauma-Responsive Care (Level II). As a Social Worker III in the CHECK Foster Care Clinic, my practice areas include foster care and adoption, crisis intervention, education and training, psychosocial intervention, case management and trauma-responsive care. I am also an Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) certified foster and adoption home assessor.

My career began in 1998 as an ongoing children’s services caseworker at Hamilton County Job and Family Services (HCJFS). After three years, I transitioned to the Foster Care Unit before leaving HCJFS in 2006 and starting employment at the Mercy Hospital Child and Adolescent Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit. I've always known that I wanted to work with children, and it was during my employment at HCJFS that I discovered I was good at it. I didn’t always know that I wanted to be a social worker, but while working at Mercy, I decided to obtain a master’s degree in social work. I later worked in foster care through Lighthouse Youth Services and The Bair Foundation. I have been with the CHECK Foster Care Clinic since 2012, and it was this position that solidified that the foster care system (including foster youth, foster parents and kinship caregivers) is where I do my best work.

I firmly believe that brief moments with patients and families can have a significant impact. Although I’m a seasoned social worker, there is always the opportunity for improvement and growth, and I like to think of myself as a life-long learner. I often refer to a quote by Edward Everett Hale: “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.”