Elliott Wesley Carten Lecture Advances Child and Family Wellness
New York, NY – “Since its beginnings, the social work profession has prioritized the well-being of children. A desire to see children and families thrive motivates retired Associate Professor Alma J. Carten, as it did her late son Elliott Wesley Carten, LMSW, MSW ’00, who was known to family and friends as “Robby.” Inspired by Robby’s memory, Dr. Carten established the first endowed lectureship at NYU Silver to celebrate his unwavering commitment to improving lives and excellence in social work practice.
Nearly 200 practitioners, scholars, students and policy makers who share that passion attended the inaugural Elliott Wesley Carten Memorial Lectureship on March 12, 2025, at NYU’s Kimmel Center for University Life. “Explorations in Direct Practice with Children and Families” was the theme of the day-long event.
“You are here today because you understand the importance of examining and then re-envisioning the health and human service systems we trust to ensure the success of our young people,” said Dean Michael A. Lindsey, in his welcoming remarks.
“What we have to do is reconceptualize those old ways that we’ve been doing things,” added Dr. Carten. “We need to rethink those really complex systems that are not only wrong, but fly in the face of common sense. And that is what I’m hoping we’ll accomplish from this conference, that we will come away thinking that no matter how troubled our families are, we can rethink and redesign our practice interventions so that we can help them solve the problems they are dealing with.”
Centering on a Caring Society for All
Then-New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom delivered the keynote address on the challenges and inequities faced by many New Yorkers and Americans and the role of social workers in creating a society that is caring for all. Specifically, she shared examples of the work the city did during her tenure to proactively support children and families, extend New Yorkers’ life expectancy since the pandemic, and respond to the global humanitarian crisis that has brought nearly a quarter of a million people seeking asylum to New York City since 2022.
Williams-Isom urged cooperation between practitioners, policymakers and clinical social workers in order to improve outcomes for the city’s children and families.
“Government can be a force for good and is critical, but it is not the only player that can drive change,” she said. “We all have a role. We all have agency to be social justice warriors in communities and to fight for what is fair and just and equitable for all and for the causes that touch each of us.”
A Broader Lens for Working With Families
In his response to former Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, Richard J. Lally, MSW ’95, President of the Minuchin Center for the Family, focused on Structural Family Therapy. That evidence-based treatment model for families was developed by Dr. Salvador Minuchin, founder of the nonprofit center whose board Mr. Lally leads. Among the fundamental principles of the model are that people are the sum of their experiences and relationships and that everyone has the capacity to change.
“If we approach and enter and are invited by the family, we need to bring these assumptions,” he said. “‘I believe you are competent, you are unique, and I have to understand the context in which you’re coming to see me.’ And if we can do that and show families that respect, they will be motivated, and they will make the changes that they have the possibility to make.”
Mr. Lally also critiqued the deficit-focused medical model for treating children and families. “We, as social workers, need to advocate for getting away from it. We need to focus on strengths and resilience.”
Shifting From Reporting to Supporting
After a networking lunch, New York City Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) Commissioner Jess Danhausser gave an address on “Removing Systems and Policy Barriers.” He focused on changes ACS has made to move away from mandated reporting of families whose children have needs but aren’t being maltreated, and shift towards helping those families access services.
“I think the policies need to follow a real reflection on culture,” he said. “It has to start with listening to those that we serve. In our field, parents have not been listened to sufficiently for decades. And we have to continue to make sure that we are deepening our listening of young people and of the teams that are serving kids and families.”
Commissioner Danhausser underscored the stakes of ACS’ work. “We can’t leave children in danger, but we cannot make decisions out of fear … that doesn’t make any child safer.” Instead, he said, the agency has to work collectively to determine the least intrusive intervention necessary to safeguard each child. “Sometimes that’s all the way up to removal. But oftentimes, the more tools we build, the more we can protect children in ways that are supportive to families and allow them to continue to grow and develop and to have family integrity, which is so deeply important.”
Strengthening Child Welfare Workers and Preventive Services
University at Albany School of Social Welfare Instructor Dr. Mary McCarthy presented on developing the child welfare workforce for excellence in direct practice. She noted that building a workplace culture that supports strong clinical practice requires strategic, comprehensive planning that evaluates past practices.
Dr. Jacqueline Martin, Senior Advisor in the Office of the First Deputy Commissioner at ACS, spoke about the array of evidence-based models that ACS and its provider agencies deliver to support New York’s diverse families, with a focus on keeping them together and ensuring child safety. She noted that the agency has greatly increased their use of such models in recent years.
Asked to forecast emerging service needs in the day’s final presentation, Eric Brettschneider, Senior Fellow for the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance, instead asked ten questions that will impact the future of child welfare services. They covered topics ranging from workforce recruitment and retention, to pre- and post-natal supports for new mothers, initiatives to effectively engage fathers, expansion of Family Enrichment Centers and more.
In his concluding remarks, Dean Lindsey thanked Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom, Commissioner Dannhauser and all of the day’s speakers for sharing their insights. “Most of all,” he said, “I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Alma Carten, for making this lectureship possible and to Robby, for leaving a legacy that inspires us to do more and reach higher on behalf of our young people.”
About NYU Silver School of Social Work
Founded in 1960 and renowned for a strong tradition of excellence in direct social work practice and dedication to social justice, NYU Silver has provided rigorous training to more than 20,000 social work practitioners and leaders in every area of the field, making it the leading destination for students who want to become innovative practitioners at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of social work practice. The School has four campuses in the heart of New York City, Rockland County, Westchester County, and Shanghai.