Dani Paminto is the Director of Pathways to Permanency at Stanford Sierra Youth & Families, where she oversees foster care, kinship care and adoption, family finding, and post-adoption services. She brings over a decade of experience in child welfare and has served in a variety of roles at Stanford Sierra Youth & Families since 2015, including Social Worker, Program Coordinator, and Program Manager. Her background also includes work as a County Social Worker, teaching workforce development, and serving as a medical social worker—experiences that broadened her perspective on the needs of individuals across different systems of care.

Dani holds dual master’s degrees in Social Work and Justice Studies and is a certified instructor for Therapeutic Crisis Intervention. She is especially passionate about kinship care and reunification, believing children thrive when they can remain safely connected to their families and communities. Her leadership is rooted in inclusion, collaboration, and transparency, with a focus on making sure youth, birth families, kin, resource families, and adoptive families all feel seen, valued, and supported as they navigate the challenges and hopes of permanency.

When she’s not working, Dani enjoys the simple things—getting lost in a good book, binging a TV show that pulls her in, or a competitive game night. She also loves camping, catching a baseball game, and heading to Pismo Beach whenever she needs to recharge.