Dr. Caliendo is a tireless advocate for children and families, focusing on kinship, foster, and adoptive families. She launched, funded, and currently serves as the Executive Director of Foster Kinship, a 501c3 nonprofit organization devoted to supporting kinship families in the state of Nevada.

As a nonprofit leader, she is adept at delivering from the strategic to tactical level with proven results bringing a vision for programs, fundraising, and advocacy to fruition.

Dr. Caliendo focuses her academic work on policy implications for children in nonparental care in the United States. Her research examines the impacts of child welfare legislation on the formation of nonparental family types across all 50 states and identifies key policy areas that have potentially adverse effects for children in kinship families. She also studies kinship navigator programs across the country.

As a former licensed foster and now an adoptive parent herself, Dr. Caliendo is a frequent contributor to the local, state and national conversation on kinship care, foster care, adoption, and kinship navigator programs. She is also passionate about raising awareness of and improving services for children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). 

Ali currently resides in Las Vegas with her husband Terry and their two sons.