Natalia Giordano, licensed clinical social worker and assistant clinical professor at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, is the 2025-2026 Vice Chair of the Miami-Dade County Community-Based Care (CBC) Alliance.
Formed by community leaders in 2000, the CBC Alliance engages the child welfare community, system stakeholders and community partners to identify and address challenges that impact outcomes for children and families across Miami-Dade County.
At FIU, Professor Giordano teaches practice courses and child welfare electives for undergraduate and graduate students. Her work is grounded in developing empowering and healing-centered relationships with students, colleagues and interns through her training in motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care and restorative practices.
Professor Giordano spoke with FIU Stempel College about her journey in the social work field and her new role at the CBC Alliance.
What inspired you to pursue a career in social work?
I entered the social work field because I wanted to support young people. I started my career working in the child welfare system in New York City as a case manager. It was one of my favorite jobs and one of the more challenging ones that I got to do. I worked with 14- to 21-year-olds who were getting ready to age out of the foster care system. They hadn’t been adopted or reunited with their families. We worked with them to make sure that they had at least a high school/GED diploma or vocational training. We prepared them to enter college and the workforce. We also made sure that they were taking care of their physical and mental health, and that they had a stable place to live. We even went with them to the DMV and to doctors’ appointments; it was a little bit of everything.
How did you get involved with the CBC Alliance, and what is it like being part of their leadership team?
When I moved to Miami from New York, I started working at Casa Valentina, a supportive housing program for youth transitioning from foster care and homeless youth. I started going to the CBC Alliance as a representative for Casa Valentina. When I came to FIU, Dr. Mary Helen Hayden (director of the School of Social Work) asked me to represent the school as a board member.
At CBC Alliance, community members, stakeholders, providers, and individuals from the regional office of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and the local Community-Based Care Agency (Citrus Family Care Network) work together to invest in the well-being of children and families across the state of Florida. As the newly appointed vice chair for the Miami-Dade County section, I ensure that we are upholding the mission of the CBC Alliance and bringing new resources to the table.
How has your experience in the field shaped you as a professor and as a board member of the CBC Alliance?
My experience working in child welfare greatly informs my teaching. I get to teach students the importance of the various systems that they’ll work with and how policy impacts the daily practice of social workers, families and individuals. I also invite social work professionals to speak with our students and share their experiences in the field. It’s one thing to read about the field from a textbook, but it’s another thing to hear it from someone who is working in it. The students love it; some have gotten jobs out of it and others have made new connections within the field.
What advice do you have for individuals who want to pursue a career in social work?
I always encourage students to think about the impact that they’ll have, who they are and how they’ll show up in their relationship with their clients. Are you doing it from a place of love and care? Are you interested in helping people thrive instead of just surviving? It’s all about empathy, putting yourself in their shoes and making sure that they have everything that they need to feel successful in life. The hope is that we can be the people who support families, helping them stay together and thrive together.