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Eric Brettschneider

Part-time Faculty
eb14@nyu.edu
431 - 1 Wash Pl

B.A., Psychology, Colgate University, 1968
M.A., Psychology, New School for Social Research, 1971
J.D., Hofstra University, 1979

ERIC BRETTSCHNEIDER : Entered the child welfare and human services field in 1967 as a family court  intake worker and child care worker. He spent 10 years as Director of The Queens Society for the  Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a non-profit agency, where he concentrated his efforts on  complementing foster care and child protective services with preventive strategies. In 1980, he joined  the New York State Department of Social Services, where he was responsible for overseeing the  implementation of the Child Welfare Reform Act. During his tenure as Deputy Commissioner for the New  York City Human Resources Administration (HRA), Eric promoted his progressive vision of  comprehensive, preventive services and was instrumental in: creating The Child Protective Training  Academy; advocating for the avoidance of sibling separation in foster care; starting minority controlled  child welfare agencies; and beginning the movement toward decentralized community driven, and  integrated social services. As Executive Director of the Agenda for Children Tomorrow, working there for  17 years in a public-private partnership during the tenure of three mayors. Eric continued this work on  behalf of New York City children and their families, and established the partnership with the agency and  ACS beginning in 1990. Eric later served the United Way of New York City as Interim Senior Vice  President. Then he became Chief of Staff to Commissioner Gladys Carrión at OCFS and on February 4th,  2014 joined her as Deputy Commissioner at NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and later  First Deputy Commissioner (FDC). He continues to serve as FDC under Commissioner David Hansell. 

Mr. Brettschneider holds a B.A. and an M.A. degree in Psychology from Colgate University and the  Graduate Faculty of New School University, respectively, as well as a law degree from Hofstra University.  He teaches in NYU’s Department of Metropolitan Studies, Gallatin School and NYU School of Social  Work. He was awarded an Outstanding Teacher Award by NYU. He was also awarded the New Yorkers  For Children Nicholas Scoppetta Child Welfare Award, September 2017 

Eric is the former President and current board member of New Yorkers for Children as well as a Doris  Duke Foundation advisory board member. He was appointed co-chair of the New York State Office of  Court Administration’s Advisory Committee on Court Interpreting in 2015 by Administrative Chief Judge  Lawrence Marks. Eric is a recipient of the 2005 Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowship from Harvard Law  School. In 2015 Hofstra University awarded Eric the Public Justice Foundation Award. 

His publications include contributions to Making a Leadership  Change (1988) and the textbook Education and Psychology (WMC Brown  Company Publishers, 1977), as well as Bottom Up Planning in a Top Down  World in Devolution (Fordham University Press, 2001) and Leadership  Reflections (Information Age Publishing,2022). 

Eric retired from ACS in April of 2021 and now serves as a Senior Fellow at City University’s Institute for State and Local Governance.



Teaching and Research Interests

child welfare  community building  advocacy  the law and social welfare  parent involvement  and service integration 

Recent News

AWARDS AND HONORS

Lead on a Study with CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance :
Barriers to Inclusion of BIPOC People in the Helping Professions and Recommendations to Address Them

Eric Brettschneider is the recipient of the 2017 New Yorkers For Children (NYFC) Nicholas Scoppetta Child Welfare Award for his life-long dedication to New York City's children. NYFC selects a recipient for the Nicholas Scoppetta Child Welfare Award every year at the Fall Gala. Previous recipients include Mary J. Blige, Kevin Liles, Russell Simmons, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Reverend Alfonso Wyatt, Marian Wright Edelman, Hugh Jackman, Marcus Samuelsson and Maya Haile, Geoffrey Canada, and Laura Baudo Sillerman.

 

Eric Brettschneider