Naketa R. Thigpen
Naketa R. Thigpen, MSS, LSW
Director of Outcomes in Behavioral Health Project

The Support Center for Child Advocates welcomes Naketa R. Thigpen as the new Director of Outcomes in Behavioral Health Project.

When Naketa Thigpen says that she is a child advocate, she means it.

As a little girl, Naketa wanted to be a pediatrician and psychologist. At age 12, she left her grandmother’s home to help her mother raise her youngest brother for two years. And when she began her undergraduate work at Drexel University, she focused on pre-med classes to help fulfill her dream of helping kids. Though she graduated with a triple major in psychology, sociology and anthropology, her purpose never changed. For Naketa, life has always been about helping children.

At age 24, she entered the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, ready to help those in need.  With school, an intensive internship at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and her own growing family, Naketa had her hands full. At CHOP, she counseled children with sickle-cell anemia and provided crisis counseling in the emergency room. She later returned to work at the Neo-Natal Intensive Care and Special Delivery Unit where she built long-term relationships with families dealing with unborn children and babies with life-threatening disabilities.

But she was never daunted. 

Naketa loved the quick-thinking and critical analysis that was necessary in her positions at CHOP. “I think I earned my stripes there,” she said.

Naketa is now three years into her Doctorate in Public Health at Walden University with a focus on Community Health Education. She joined Child Advocates in September 2010 as the new Director of Outcomes in Behavioral Health Project, supported by a major grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts.

“I decided to enhance my skills and flex my administrative muscles,” she said. “I’m definitely a challenge chaser.”

Naketa is excited about this new position. She wants to help create safe options for kids and assist volunteers, families and staff in establishing the best environment for children served by Child Advocates. She looks forward to partnering with all child advocacy agencies to improve practices in the field.

Naketa is also enjoying more time with her family. She married her teenage sweetheart when she was 22-years-old and has a son and daughter who keep her running from soccer practice to dance lessons in the evenings.

Naketa’s commitment to her family, faith and work stems from all of her life experiences, as she reflects on her growth as a child advocate.

“I could have been one of the children we protect,” she said of her childhood in the city.

Naketa’s experiences within the field have given her an amazing perspective on the importance of her work, both for children and for families.

When a mother arrived at CHOP with a baby who had died of sudden infant death syndrome, the whole unit was shaken. Naketa sat with the baby’s mother for 12 hours while she told Naketa her life story of drugs, abuse, prostitution and redemption as she tried to clean herself up for her child.

“I still wonder about that mom,” Naketa said. “I pray that she’s still an amazing person.”

Naketa remembers working with that mother as the turning point in her career. “This is what you do,” she said, thinking back to that night. “This is why you do it.”