DPSS Annual Report 24_25 FLIP v16_compressed

Children’s Services Division

Claudia Zarate has spent her career as a social worker stepping into the hardest moments in a family’s life and offering something simple but powerful: hope. Zarate, who serves the Southwest Re gion, was chosen as the Children’s Ser vices 2025 Social Worker of the Year, a recognition that colleagues say reflects her steadiness, compassion and com mitment to children and families. She often meets children and parents in the middle of fear, crisis and uncertainty. Her work centers on calming chaos, building trust and helping families find a safe path forward. She has been a social worker since 2016 and has served with CSD for almost 10 years. Social workers in Children’s Services car ry out a wide range of responsibilities that require skill, empathy and resilience. They investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect. They support par ents working toward reunification. They help children who cannot return home find stable, loving families through adop tion and foster placement. They conduct home assessments, background checks and family evaluations, and they guide youth as they prepare to age out of care. Zarate also supports families through Family Maintenance Voluntary, a preven tive program that keeps children safe ly at home without court involvement. FMV focuses on early intervention, safe ty planning and voluntary services that strengthen families and improve their situations before concerns escalate and court intervention is required. Zarate has worked with parents facing housing in stability, families struggling with untreat Claudia Zarate Brings Hope in Families’ Hardest Moments CSD Social Worker of the Year

embody that professionalism every day.”

For Zarate, the calling to serve others be gan as a child. “I helped my grandmother with her volunteer work at church. That is when I first saw the need in families,” she said. That awareness became personal years later when her husband was hospi talized and doctors were unsure whether he would survive. “I was lost and I did not know how I was going to navigate that difficult time,” she said. “But then a social worker at the hospital came to help me. She explained what to expect and connected me to re sources that made all the difference for my family.” Zarate said she has never forgotten the woman who stood beside her. “She was there, helping us through the hardest time in our lives.” The experience shaped Zarate’s future. “As soon as my husband recovered, I went to school and decided to become a social worker. I wanted to be that bridge for people. To help families so they can help their children.” Today, she brings that focus to her work. “I have always been involved in serving my community, starting as a child with my grandmother at church,” she said. “It feels like I have come full circle.”

ed mental health needs and caregivers who required help creating safer routines at home. Through FMV, she has helped parents build safety plans, connect to community resources and regain confi dence in their ability and skills to care for their children. “Social workers walk into situations that would overwhelm many people, yet they show up with empathy, patience and a belief in each child and family’s poten tial,” said Bridgette Hernandez, assistant director of Children’s Services. “What they bring to communities cannot be ful ly measured, because so much of their work happens quietly and with deep hu manity. Claudia and our social workers

CSD Region Social Workers of the Year Courtney Otto..............................................................Central Intake Center Lindsae Payton...................................................................... Court Services Lesha Townsend....................................................................Command Post Brenda Machuca............................................................................... Desert Zalia Garcia...........................................................................Diamond Valley Brittany Ledbetter................................................................Harmony Haven Jennifer Zurmuehlen. .......................... Multidisciplinary Child Advocacy Team Tanishia Morris....................................................................................Metro Maria Barrios..............................................................................Mid-County Karen Cazares........................................................Resource Family Approval Tanya Luke.......................................... Specialized Operations and Adoptions Raelyn Calderon...............................................................................Training Nicole Hernandez................................................................................Valley Nereida “Nori” Velasquez.........................................................West Corridor Noemi Estrada........................................... Youth and Community Resources

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Riverside County Department of Public Social Services | Annual Report 2024 - 2025