Laurie Fortin, LCSW, has worked in the child abuse field for 30 years. She began her career as a Protective Services Worker with San Diego Child Welfare Services in 1989. She went on to specialize in the area of child sexual abuse, working initially with juvenile and adult sexual offenders providing assessment, treatment, and case management services. After 10 years of offender work, Ms. Fortin transitioned to working with alleged victims as a forensic interviewer at Chadwick Center, Rady Children’s Hospital, San Diego, in 2000 to 2015. In addition to conducting over 3,200 forensic interviews of child abuse victims and witnesses, Ms. Fortin served as Supervisor of the program, Coordinator of the County’s Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT), and board member of California State Chapter of Child Advocacy Centers.

Ms. Fortin has been qualified as an expert witness in the area of child sexual abuse in military, juvenile, family, and criminal court proceedings. Likewise, Ms. Fortin has developed training curriculum and delivered trainings in the area of child sexual abuse, trauma, and investigative interviewing at the local, state, and national level.

She was a contract trainer with the Academy for Professional Excellence from 1999-2015. In 2015, she hired on with the Academy and served as a full-time coach/consultant/trainer for San Diego Child Welfare Services leadership team.

In 2020, Ms. Fortin transitioned to a part-time forensic interviewing position with Palomar Health and continues to provide consultation and expert work in the area of child sexual abuse through her business Laurie Fortin Consulting.

Laurie was nominated by our staff for all of the incredible work she is doing training on sexual abuse and to Probation staff. Thank you for your continued hard work, Laurie!