June 3, 2009
STATE BAR ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES 2009 LEVINE AWARDEES
FOR EXCELLENCE IN JUVENILE JUSTICE AND CHILD WELFARE
Awards presented to
Gladys Carrión,
commissioner of NYS Office of Children and Family Services and Karen J.
Freedman, founder of the non-profit, Lawyers for
Children
ALBANY—Gladys Carrión, commissioner of the
New York State Office of Children & Family Services and Karen J.
Freedman, founder and executive director of the New York City-based
non-profit advocacy group, Lawyers for Children, have been awarded the
prestigious Howard A. Levine Award for
Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare for 2009. The
honors were presented last evening in Albany by the New
YorkState Bar Association’s
Committee on Children and the Law. The award is
presented annually to individuals who demonstrate outstanding work
protecting and promoting the rights of children in New York. The
award is named for retired Court of Appeals Judge Howard A. Levine
(Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP), a strong proponent and leader in
the effort to improve New
York’s child welfare and juvenile
justice.
“While often unrecognized, the work of child
advocates gives a voice to the most vulnerable members of our
society,” said State Bar President Michael E. Getnick of Utica(Getnick
Livingston Atkinson & Priore, LLP). “This year’s
winners, Commissioner Carrión and Karen Freedman, follow in the
footsteps of Judge Levine in their selfless dedication and tireless
advocacy on behalf of children.”
“The work of child advocate attorneys is vital
to our future citizens,” said Committee Chair Professor Merrill
Sobie of White
Plains(Pace University School of Law). “On behalf of the
committee, I am proud to honor these extraordinary individuals who
represent the very best in the government and not-for-profit sectors.
They embody our profession’s deep commitment to provide effective
legal representation to the most defenseless among us.”
Carrión, from the Bronx, was appointed commissioner of the New York
State Office of Children & Family Services (OCFS) in January 2007.
At OCFS, she oversees such areas as foster care and adoption assistance;
child protective services; preventive services for children and
families; childcare services; and protective programs for vulnerable
adults. Carrión also is responsible for the administration and
management of specialized programs for juvenile delinquents and juvenile
offenders, as well as residential facilities for youth placed in the
custody of OCFS by the family and criminal courts. She is a graduate of
Fordham Universityand New York University
School of Law.
Freedman, from Palisades, is the
founder and executive director of Lawyers For Children Inc.(LFC), a
not-for-profit legal corporation that provides free legal and social
work services for children in foster care, abused or neglected children
and other issues involving the termination of parental rights, custody
and adoption proceedings in New York. Since founding LFC 25 years ago,
Freedman has created numerous projects to serve particularly vulnerable
young people in the foster care system including initiatives on behalf
of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth; young
people who have been sexually abused; children living in homes where
domestic violence is present; youth in foster care with mental health
challenges; youth without adequate access to appropriate educational
services; and immigrant youth in foster care.
In addition, LFC has participated in
several important class action cases on behalf of children in foster
care and maintains a division devoted exclusively to impact litigation
and child welfare policy. Before establishing LFC, Freedman was a
staff attorney with the Juvenile Rights Division of the Legal Aid
Society and a law clerk in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit. Freedman is a graduate of Wesleyan Universityand New York University
School of Law, where she was a Root Tilden Scholar and a Hays Civil
Liberties Fellow.
Past winners of the Howard A. Levine Award for
Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare include Columbia
University Law School Professor Jane M. Spinak; Hon. Eugene F. Pigott,
Jr., Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals;
Assemblywoman Helene E. Weinstein; Hon. Judith S. Kaye, retired Chief
Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals; and Matilda Cuomo, the
former First Lady of New York.
The 76,000 member New York State Bar Association is
the official statewide organization of lawyers in New Yorkand the
largest voluntary state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876,
State Bar programs and activities have continuously served the public
and improved the justice system for more than 130 years.
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