Gladys Carrion

Who is Gladys Carrion?

Gladys Carrión, Esq. was appointed Commissioner of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services in January, 2007.

The numerous responsibilities she oversees at OCFS include foster care, adoption and adoption assistance; child protective services; preventive services for children and families; child care services; and protective programs for vulnerable adults. Commissioner Carrión is also responsible for directing the oversight, administration and management of specialized programs for juvenile delinquents and juvenile offenders and residential facilities for youth placed in the custody of OCFS by the family and criminal courts. She is also responsible for directing the functions performed by the Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped and state government responses to the needs of Native Americans on reservations and in communities.

During Carrión's tenure, OCFS has earned national recognition for her initiative to transform the juvenile justice system she inherited, from a "custody and control" model with a reputation for using excessive force on children; no oversight and few resources; and an 89 percent recidivism rate, to an evidence-based, trauma-informed, community-centered therapeutic model which has significantly better outcomes for children and for maintaining community safety. States and local counties which have made similar shifts to implement nationally recognized best practices in juvenile justice have reduced their recidivism rates to as low as 30 percent. Carrión's reform of New York's juvenile justice system also has included the closing of 16 empty or underutilized, but fully staffed, residential centers in local counties which sent few or no children to OCFS for out-of-home residential placement. The New York State Bar Association in June, 2009, honored Carrión with the Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare for this initiative.