The former Founder and Executive Director of You Gotta Believe! The Older Child Adoption & Permanency Movement, Pat was also previously Board President of the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York. Other work experience includes seven years directing another adoption agency’s New York Regional program that placed older youth for adoption and working as a Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiter in Connecticut where he found homes for a caseload of youth on the verge of aging out of the foster care system. Pat also served as a consultant to Spaulding for Children’s Federal cooperative grant with the Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Permanency (AIC-AG).
Pat currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of the North American Council on Adoptable Children as its Secretary. He produced and hosted a radio broadcast called “The Adopting Teens and Tweens Radio forum” for 13 years on WGBB, Long Island’s oldest radio station. Pat also serves as a community board member of Brooklyn’s Community Board 13 a position he was appointed to by the Brooklyn Borough President. He is an honorary board member of Voices for Adoption, an organization which is the adoption advocacy arm in Washington DC. Pat is also on the Advisory Board of Foster Families Today and the Treehouse Foundation.
Pat has received numerous honors in his career for his work in adoption including The Angels in Adoption award by the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, the Adoption Excellence Award from the US Department of Health & Human Service’s Children’s Bureau, and The Child Advocate of the Year award from the North American Council on Adoptable Children.
Pat has his BA in Criminal Justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice where he graduated as his class’s co-valedictorian. He has his M.S. in Social Work from Columbia University. Pat has a certificate in Adoption Therapy that he received from Hunter College in 2007 and he recently completed a course of study in the Training in Adoption Competency, an evidence based curriculum created by Center for Adoption Support & Education (C.A.S.E.)
Pat is an adoptive father who lives in the Coney Island community of Brooklyn, New York.
https://www.facebook.com/pat.obrien
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-o-brien-0071ab6/
The Coalition unites foster, adoptive and kinship care families, giving them a voice and providing support, information and advocacy. By fostering communication and collaboration between families, agencies and concerned citizens, we seek to ensure the stability, well-being and permanency of all children.
No foster, adoptive or kinship care family in New York State will feel alone or unsupported and that all such families will have the tools, support and community they need to nurture their children and be role models for others. Goal:
• Educate and support foster/kinship care/adoptive parents and the professionals who serve them by utilizing information-sharing, services, peer support and referral.
• Improve services available to children and families.
• Increase citizen involvement in local service planning and delivery.
• Educate leaders and stakeholders about the realities, challenges and rewards of foster/kinship care/adoptive parenting.
• Advocate for greater support of foster/kinship care/adoptive families by federal, state and local agencies.
To learn more, read our history (https://affcny.org/about-us/history/) , learn about our current programs (https://affcny.org/programs/) , join us at an event (https://affcny.org/category/trainings-and-events/) and meet our team. (https://affcny.org/about-us/staff/)
https://affcny.org (https://affcny.org/)
https://www.facebook.com/affcny/
https://twitter.com/AFFCNY
https://www.instagram.com/affcny/
Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.
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