Board of Directors – Building Future Families

Denise Blakney

Founder & CEO

Ms. Denise Blakney is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Building Future Families (BFF), a Texas-based advocacy organization dedicated to elevating the collective voice of foster parents, adoptive parents, and kinship caregivers. Through BFF, Ms. Blakney leads a statewide movement focused on strengthening collaboration with governing agencies and improving outcomes within the Child Welfare System.

A seasoned caregiver, Ms. Blakney has fostered twelve (12) children and adopted four (4). She currently serves as an appointed member of the Partners for Children and Family Committee (PCFC), contributing her expertise to statewide efforts aimed at reform, innovation, and family-centered policy development.

Ms. Blakney earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Rutgers University and later completed her master’s degree in Organizational Development with a focus on classroom instruction from the University of Phoenix.

Her professional career began at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she worked as an Epidemiologist supporting local health departments across the United States. Her work centered on preventing the spread of communicable diseases through sensitive interviewing, data collection, and laboratory collaboration.

Ms. Blakney later transitioned to the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS) in New Jersey, serving for more than a decade in multiple roles including child abuse investigations, placement coordination, and ongoing case management. After relocating to Texas, she continued her child welfare service as a licensed social worker with Child Protective Services (CPS).

Her career expanded into public health when she shifted her focus to HIV Pediatrics and infant mortality. During this time, she authored the first Healthy Start grant for Catholic Charities, building the program from the ground up into a robust initiative staffed by six paraprofessionals and supported by transportation services for pregnant mothers and their children.

Ms. Blakney later joined the Tarrant County Health Department, where she worked to address chronic disease disparities in minority communities. During this period, she founded FACES of SURVIVORS, an African American cancer survivors support organization. Its signature program, Putting a Face to Survivorship, grew into a national movement and earned recognition from President Bill Clinton.

Following a nationwide search, Ms. Blakney was recruited by the Clinton Foundation to help develop the President’s national initiative to combat childhood obesity in schools across the United States.

She continued to expand her leadership portfolio as the Senior Program Officer at the OBICI Healthcare Foundation, where she managed and grew a $6.2 million investment portfolio dedicated to improving community health outcomes.

Above all her professional accomplishments, Ms. Blakney treasures her role as grandmother to her seven grandchildren, who remain her greatest joy and inspiration.

Nathan Klick

Secretary

Nathan Klick is a Senior Engineering Manager bringing to his role a career built across some of the DFW Metroplex’s most innovative organizations. Over the years, Nathan has held technology leadership roles at the Chronic Disease Fund — a Frisco-based nonprofit now rebranded as Good Days, which helps patients with chronic and rare diseases afford life-saving treatments — as well as DiseaseTrak, American Property Guard, and b2DataStream, developing a wide-ranging expertise in engineering, infrastructure, and data-driven solutions. A Mississippi native who grew up in the Jackson area, Nathan made the DFW Metroplex his home and began his academic journey at Collin County Community College District before building a career at the forefront of the technology industry.

At home, Nathan is a dedicated father of two — one biological child and one adopted. His heart for children in need runs deep. From 2014 until retiring from foster care in 2020, Nathan served as a licensed foster parent providing specialized level of care, opening his home to over 10 foster children — including emergency placements — and providing respite care for more than 15 children. In 2019, he welcomed one of those children permanently into his family through adoption, a milestone that reflects the profound bonds that can grow from a willingness to show up for a child in need.

Outside of work and family, Nathan is a passionate PADI-certified scuba diver, holding an impressive array of certifications including Advanced Open Water, Deep Diver, Enriched Air Diver, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Equipment Specialist, VIP Inspector, and TecRec Gas Blender — a testament to his love of exploration and commitment to mastering whatever he pursues.

Nathan’s years of hands-on experience navigating the foster care system — its triumphs, its heartbreaks, and everything in between — give him a perspective that cannot be taught. He joins the Building Future Families board not just as a supporter, but as someone who has lived the mission, and he is deeply committed to ensuring every child in the DFW Metroplex has the loving, stable home they deserve.

Debra Curry

Treasurer

Debra Curry is a seasoned engineering and program management leader with more than two decades of experience guiding complex aerospace, defense, automotive, and medical device programs. Known for her systems-level thinking and steady leadership, she has managed major technical portfolios, strengthened organizational execution, and mentored teams across multiple industries.

Beyond her professional accomplishments, Debra is deeply committed to service. As a member of the Board of Directors, she plays an active role in Building Future Families, by supporting programs that empower youth, strengthen family stability, and expand access to essential resources. Her work reflects a strong belief that communities thrive when families are supported and are given the tools to succeed.

Debra holds an M.S. in Systems Engineering from Southern Methodist University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Prairie View A&M University. She brings a blend of technical expertise, strategic insight, and heartfelt community engagement to every space she serves.

Dawn King

Board member

Dawn is a family law attorney who offices in Fort Worth, Texas and has a lot of experience working with Child Protective Services, Child Placement Agencies, foster parents, grandparents, and children in care. Dawn has a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas A&M School of Law. She is very active in the legal community and is a member of the Tarrant County Bar Association, Tarrant County Family Law Bar Association, Texas Bar College, Texas Bar Association, Texas Young Lawyer’s Association and the Dallas Bar Association. Dawn has frequently been named “Top Attorney” by Fort Worth Magazine, “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers, “Top Attorney” by 360West, and “Best Divorce Lawyers in Fort Worth, Texas” by Forbes.com.

Dawn began the crusade to advocate for children and families in 2005 when she started working at Jonathan’s Place emergency shelter and was part of the staff when Jonathan’s Place became licensed as a child placement agency. In 2008, she left Jonathan’s Place and began working for Child Protective Services in Dallas County as a conservatorship worker. In 2012, Dawn began law school, during which she worked for Child Protective Services and as a paralegal for a local attorney. In her free time, she volunteered with Teen Court, led presentations to elementary students on laws in the community, and taught financial responsibility workshops for children aging out of foster care.

When she is not busy practicing family law, she enjoys crafting and spending time with her family which includes her husband, 8-year-old daughter, twin boys, and a goldendoodle.

Scott Ryan

Board member

Scott Ryan, PhD, MSW, MBA, is a Professor in the School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), where he previously served as Dean for 14 years. Throughout his career as a social worker, educator, researcher, and administrator, Dr. Ryan has maintained a strong commitment to improving the lives of children and families, particularly those involved with foster care, adoption, and the child welfare system.

Dr. Ryan has more than three decades of experience in social work education, research, administration, and child welfare. His scholarship has focused extensively on foster care, adoption, permanency, child welfare practice and policy, and the transition of young people from foster care to adulthood. Much of his work has examined how child welfare systems and the professionals who work within them can better support children, youth, and families.

At UTA, Dr. Ryan serves as Principal Investigator of the Title IV-E Child Welfare Partnership Project, a collaboration designed to strengthen the public child welfare workforce in Texas. He also leads UTA’s Licensed Child Care Administrator (LCCA) and Licensed Child Placing Agency Administrator (LCPA) examination project, through which he is involved in the development and administration of the state licensing examinations for professionals responsible for leading residential child care operations and child placing agencies in Texas.

Prior to joining UTA, Dr. Ryan held faculty and administrative positions at Florida State University, where he was the Jeanene M. Janes Professor of Child Welfare and served in leadership roles within the College of Social Work. His career has included extensive collaboration with public child welfare agencies, community organizations, foundations, policymakers, practitioners, foster and adoptive families, and young people with lived experience in the child welfare system.

Dr. Ryan’s research has been supported by federal and state agencies and private foundations, and his scholarship has appeared in numerous academic publications addressing child welfare, foster care, adoption, and services for vulnerable children and families. He has also served the profession through editorial, advisory, and organizational leadership roles.

His work on behalf of children and families has received national recognition. Dr. Ryan was honored with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Angels in Adoption Award, the U.S. Children’s Bureau Adoption Excellence Award, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children’s Friend of Children Award. In recognition of his broader contributions to the social work profession, he was named a National Association of Social Workers Social Work Pioneer in 2023.

In addition to his academic and professional work, Dr. Ryan has a longstanding interest in nonprofit and community-based organizations that improve opportunities for children and families. His experience in organizational leadership, research, program evaluation, child welfare policy, workforce development, and foster care and adoption provides a broad perspective on the challenges facing families who interact with the child welfare system.

Dr. Ryan brings to the Building Future Families Board both professional expertise and a deep commitment to ensuring that the voices and experiences of foster and adoptive parents, kinship caregivers, children, and families are represented in efforts to improve the child welfare system. He believes that meaningful and lasting system change requires collaboration among families, caregivers, professionals, community organizations, researchers, and public agencies.