Mary Jane Cotter practices in the area of child welfare and family law, and teaches the Family, Youth, and Children's Services course at CUSSW. In addition, she teaches courses on social welfare policy at NYU School of Social Work, Ehrenkranz Center. Ms. Cotter received her Bachelor of Arts in History from Canisius College, her Master of Social Work from the School of Social Policy and Community Service, State University of New York at Buffalo, and her Juris Doctorate from Brooklyn Law School.

Ms. Cotter began her career in 1975 at Community Council of Greater New York, where she collaborated with researchers and child welfare practitioners to apply findings from the CUSSW Child Welfare Research Program to improve foster care services. In the 1980s, Ms. Cotter served as the Coordinator for the Mayor's Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect, chaired by Vincent J. Fontana, M.D., and developed programs and policies at the city and state levels, to improve the assessment, reporting, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. She also served as a trial attorney in termination of parental rights proceedings and adoptions.

From 1993-2000, as Assistant Executive Director, Foster Care and Adoption Services at SCO Family of Services, Ms. Cotter oversaw participation in the Home Rebuilders Project, which tested ways to enhance the quality and quantity of family reunification services through a managed care funding procedure. She also served as the Principal Investigator for a federal grant project, Families Together, which pioneered the use of Family Group Conferencing as a core part of foster care services.

As Associate Commissioner, Division of Child Protection, NYC Children's Services, from 2002-2005, Ms. Cotter had lead responsibility for 14 neighborhood-based Family Preservation Programs, and the work carried out by child protective staff in five borough-based Field Offices, and the citywide, 24-hour, Emergency Children's Services.

Currently, Ms. Cotter serves as a mediator with the Institute for Mediation and Conflict Resolution, mediating cases that involve community and family disputes, and cases referred by the Bronx Criminal Court. In addition, Ms. Cotter is an active member of NASW-NYC, and, recently was elected to the national Delegate Assembly 2009 She also serves as a board member of the Queensboro Council for Social Welfare, Inc., and Welfare Research, Inc.

Last updated December 03, 2007.