Amy is the Director of Family Support Services. In her role as Director, Amy provides oversight to the agency’s Family Education Programs in Ulster and Orange Counties as well as the Supervised Visitation Program located at Dutchess County Family Court. In partnership with the Ulster County Department of Social Services, Amy has secured funding in 2018 to develop a supervised visitation component to the Ulster Family Education Program, providing parent coaching and support to families who’ve been court ordered to have supervised visits with their children . Through oversight of these vital programs, Amy provides professional leadership to staff, holds responsibility for the development and monitoring of program initiatives and serves as a member of Family Services’ Leadership Team. Amy brings significant experience to this leadership role having worked over 20 years in the field of child abuse prevention and family education. Amy holds a Master of Social Work degree from Adelphi University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology with a concentration in social services from SUNY New Paltz. In addition, Amy is a national trainer/consultant for Nurturing Parent Programs, a certified Parenting Journey facilitator, and is considered an expert among her peers in the field of strengths based family work.
Family Education and Supervised Visitation Programs provide vital supports to families in the Hudson Valley. The Family Education Program provides intensive home and group based parent education and intervention services to the highest need families in Ulster and Orange Counties. The program works with families where there has been abuse or neglect in order to strengthen the family unit and prevent further abuse thereby avoiding the human and taxpayer costs associated with out of home placement. Supervised Visitation provides professional monitors observing interactions between non-custodial parents and their children in a setting where safe and healthy interactions can take place. Observation reports are provided to the court to assist Judges in making custody and visitation decisions.
