Name: Macy Putka
Social Justice Group: Child Welfare, Foster Care and Adoption
Date of Fieldwork: February 7, 2022
Name of Organization and person (people) with whom you met and their title(s):New Alternatives for Children (NAC) Staff: Arlene Goldsmith, Bobbi Nathanson, Carola Haberly, Carla Riccobono, and Paris Robins
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did and what I learned about my topic, activism, social justice work or civil and human rights work from this fieldwork?[:: :
On Monday, February 7th, 2022, our Social Justice group met with some amazing staff at New Alternatives for Children (NAC). The people we interviewed included Arlene Goldsmith (Executive Director), Bobbi Nathanson (Director of Volunteers, Student Internships, & Community Relations), Carola Haberly (Senior Director of Prevention Services), Carla Riccobono (Senior Director of Foster Care & Adoption Services), and Paris Robins (Foster Parent Recruitment Supervisor). NAC (New Alternatives for Children) is a great organization that helps kids with special needs and disabilities find homes in the child welfare system. The organization mostly helps kids that may have, but are not limited to autism, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, cerebral palsy, asthma palsy, brittle bone disease, and many more. NAC’s initial goal is to reunite families, but sometimes that does not happen. All NAC wants is to find these wonderful kids’ homes with parents that will help them thrive.
NAC has two locations in New York. One is in the Bronx in and they have one in Manhattan in the south midtown area. Arlene Goldsmith, the executive director at NAC. Founded the company in 1981. She has been helping children find homes for 80 years! A really important quote that was super powerful that Arlene said was, “a child’s history does not define their destiny.” This quote spoke to me because it really represents how the foster care system can’t change kids’ past but they can try to create a better future for them. Some of the other staff at NAC that we talked to have been there for quite a while as well. Paris Robins who is the Foster Parent Recruitment Supervisor at NAC told us some of the things they look for in foster parents.
After an hour interview with NAC, I learned so much about NAC and what they do. We also expanded our knowledge of the child welfare system in New York City. NAC also gave us an idea to do a school supplies drive to donate so kids can have school supplies until the end of the year.
