CWOP Staff

Executive Director Michael Arsham is a social worker and a life-long New Yorker with close to 30 years of child welfare experience.  He served Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families (now known as the Harlem Children’s Zone) for thirteen years, staffing, developing, and directing Preventive Service programs in Central Harlem, Manhattan Valley, and Hell’s Kitchen.  Mr. Arsham became Director of Social Service Policy for the New York State Council of Family and Child-Caring Agencies (COFCCA) in 1994.  He represented Preventive Service providers throughout the city and state, and played a key role in organizing to avert massive proposed budget cuts to these services in 1994 and ’95.  He was hired to direct CWOP in November 1998.

Parent Organizer Teresa Bachiller began work at CWOP in July 2002.  A June 2002 graduate of CWOP’s first East Harlem Parent Leadership curriculum, Teresa has a wide range of experience with the child welfare system as a former group home resident, a Preventive Service client, a mother who regained custody of a child placed in foster care, and a grandmother who had custody of a grandchild.  She also has computer and managerial training and experience.  CWOP’s only full-time Parent Organizer, Teresa manages our East Harlem office, has successfully coordinated two annual cycles of the East Harlem Parent Leadership curriculum, and serves as CWOP’s liaison to the Center for Family Representation.  She is studying towards a human services BA at the College of New Rochelle.

Parent Organizer Bernadette Blount graduated CWOP’s original Bushwick Parent Leadership initiative in January 2001, and then helped to bring the curriculum to East Harlem.  Bernadette’s two-year struggle to reunite her own family was documented in a front-page June 3, 2004 New York Times article:  “Birth Parents Retaining a Voice in New York Foster Care Model.”   Bernadette was a keynote panelist at the Fordham Interdisciplinary Center Spring 2001 conference, and has guest lectured at virtually every area school of law and social work.  She has written for a variety of publications, including co-authorship of CWOP’s parents’ rights manual.  She serves on a national Casey Family Services / Center for the Study of Social Policy steering committee addressing disproportionate representation of families of color in child welfare.

Carlos Boyet is a Highbridge resident and an April 2005 graduate of CWOP’s first Highbridge Parent Leadership Curriculum.  Carlos spent three years fighting for the return of his son, who was removed from his mother’s custody by ACS.  During this time, his son went through nine different foster care placements and suffered from an overdose of psychotropic medication.  In 2004, Carlos was introduced to the Highbridge Community Life Center, and CWOP, by a neighbor.  He credits these organizations with providing him with the tools and knowledge to regain full custody of his son, which he accomplished on March 31, 2005.

Tracey Carter is a June 2004 graduate of CWOP’s Parent Leadership Curriculum who began work as a Highbridge Parent Organizer in July 2004.  She is a Highbridge resident, mother of eleven children, and parent leader in the local public schools.  She has extensive personal experience with the child welfare and related systems, including the Department of Homeless Services. Tracey is a co-chairperson of the Delegate Agency Policy Committee at Mid-Bronx Headstart, where she also volunteers as a Teacher’s Assistant.  Tracey is enrolled in Bronx Community College where she is majoring in computers.

Sabra Jackson is a graduate of CWOP's 2005 East Harlem Parent Leadership Curriculum. She is very active with Voices of Women a self-help and advocacy organization for survivors of domestic violence, who she represents on the ACS Parent Advisory Work Group. She is a member of the ACS City-Wide Headstart Policy Council. She has an understanding of child welfare policy and practice as both a client and a service provider.

Teresa Marrero was born and raised in Highbridge. As a young mother of two, she had the experience of using Preventive Services to avert the foster care placement of her children, graduating from the New York Foundling Pathway program in 2003. Teresa graduated our second Highbridge Parent Leadership Curriculum in June 2006. Teresa has experience staffing Family Team Conferences in the ACS Bronx Field Office. She is also very active in the Highbridge public schools.

Gemma Pujadas Ribeiro joined CWOP in January 2008 as Program Coordinator for Road2Success, an educational support program for ACS-affected parents seeking higher education.  Gemma has a B.A. in Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a M.A. in Social Policy from SUNY Empire State College.  While pursuing higher education, she worked at the Kings County District Attorney's Office in the Domestic Violence, Sex Crimes/Crimes Against Children, and Community Relations Divisions.  Prior to joining CWOP, Gemma was a Research Assistant with the Vera Institute of Justice and worked on their HIV+/AIDS Clinical Trails Project.

Rosa Rosado, CWOP Assistant Director / Highbridge Coordinator, joined our staff in March 2004.  Born and raised in the South Bronx, bilingual and bicultural, Rosa is a fifteen-year veteran of the NYC child welfare system.  She has an undergraduate degree in Social Work from Lehman College and a Masters in Social Work from Yeshiva University.  She was a Senior Social Worker with the Jewish Child Care Association Foster Care Division, and, most recently, Program Director of Safe Horizon’s Washington Heights Preventive Service Program.

Jeanette Vega is also a young mother of two with personal experience and insight on the foster care and Family Court systems. She is also a graduate of CWOP’s second Highbridge Parent Leadership Curriculum, and has staffed Family Team Conferences in the ACS Bronx Field Office. Jeanette is a college student earning an Associates Degree in Office Technology.

Youshell Williams is a mother and Bedford Stuyvesant resident who has been active in the CRADLE since its inception. Ms. Williams writes for Rise magazine. She is also a member of the parent work group advising ACS Research + Evaluation on the development of a family interview instrument to assess the performance of preventive service providers. She has personal experience with both foster care and preventive services.