Debbie Ausburn is a social worker turned lawyer who has worked with youth-serving organizations for more than 40 years. She jokes that she has “career ADD” that led her into a variety of professional experiences before settling into a legal practice of advising YSOs. She has served as a foster parent, juvenile court caseworker, private school teacher, camp counselor, mentor for young adults, volunteer, Board member with nonprofit youth organizations, and federal prosecutor of crimes against children. She currently serves as a civil attorney working with YSOs, defending lawsuits, assisting with internal investigations, and advising clients about best practices for child safety. She has never had biological children, but she has collected seven children and ten grandchildren. She put the lessons that her children taught her in her first book Raising Other People’s Children: What Foster Parenting Taught Me about Bringing Together a Blended Family. Her most recent book with her law partner and co-presenter, Tom Rawlings, is Protecting Other People’s Children: 120 Days to Create a Strong Child Safety Policy, and represents the best practices that they have learned from their clients over many years of legal work.
