Betsy R. Ruslander, Esq., the Director of this Court's Office of Attorneys for Children, was recently honored with the 2018 Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare by the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Children and the Law

Betsy R. Ruslander, Esq., the Director of this Court's Office of Attorneys for Children, was recently honored with the 2018 Howard A. Levine Award for Excellence in Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare by the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Children and the Law. The Levine Award, which is named for a former Associate Justice of this Court and Associate Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals, recognizes those who have done outstanding work to improve New York's child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Prior to serving as Director of the Office of Attorneys for Children, Ms. Ruslander was the Assistant Director from 1994 to 2010, primarily in charge of coordinating training for the panel attorneys in the 28 counties of the Third Judicial Department. A graduate of Gettysburg College and Pace University School of Law, she was admitted to the practice of law in the State of New York in January 1987 and began her legal career as an associate with the law firm of Ainsworth, Sullivan, Tracy & Knauf where she practiced civil defense litigation for almost eight years, and served as a law guardian in Albany County Family Court. She is a longtime member of the New York State Bar Association's Committee on Children, and former Chair of that Committee. She was a member of this Court's Character and Fitness Committee for 24 years, and currently serves as a member of the Statewide Advisory Committee on Attorneys for Children, the New York State Children's Justice Task Force, the Office of Child and Family Services Child Welfare Court Improvement Project Statewide Multidisciplinary Child Welfare Workgroup and the Commission on Parental Legal Representation.