Assistant Commissioner

City of New York•New York City, NY

20h

About The Position

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services and provides subsidized childcare vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement, and programs for youth in the community. The Family Services Division (FSD) and its network of contracted providers deliver one of the largest and most diverse continuums of community-based child welfare prevention services in the nation to improve the safety, well-being, and permanency for thousands of families and children each year. FSD focuses on systems improvement, innovation, and strategic initiatives that require collaboration with major community partners to address urgent or emerging provider and family needs, city or state mandates, and high-priority strategic goals of ACS leadership. The Office of Service Matching (OSM) encompasses two teams; Referral Management (RM), and Family Home Care (FHC). The Family Home Care team works to provide homemaking, house attendant, and housekeeping, services to assist parents in enhancing family functioning and promoting positive outcomes for children in their communities. The Referral Management Office is charged with timely matching high-risk families with the most appropriate preventive program model and processes approximately 15,000 referrals a year. Reporting to senior leadership and exercising broad independent judgment, the Assistant Commissioner will lead Referral Management within the Office of Service Matching in the Family Services Division. To strengthen accountability, transparency, and service impact, ACS tracks system utilization and performance targets across preventive, foster care, and juvenile justice programs. The implementation of IT solutions is central to advancing these goals. Modernized systems enable real-time tracking of case activity, provider performance, and cross-system coordination to enhance service delivery and accountability. Through coordinated planning, stakeholder engagement, and shared accountability, IT initiatives strengthen decision-making, improve system utilization, and drive measurable improvements in outcomes for children and families. The NYC Administration for Children’s Services is seeking an outstanding candidate to serve as Assistant Commissioner of Referral Management within the Office of Service Matching in the Family Services Division.

Requirements

Permanent (not provisional) in the Civil Service title of Administrative Director of Social Services.
A baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university and four years of progressively responsible experience, in a large governmental agency, business firm, civic or community organization operating in the area of social services, including one year at the administrative or managerial level; or Education and/or experience equivalent to the above.
Graduate education or a license may substitute for up to a maximum of three years of experience in the area of social services, but not for the one year of experience at the administrative or managerial level.
A master’s degree from an accredited college or university in accounting, business, child welfare, counseling, economics, education, finance, human resources, labor relations, management, management science, nursing, operations research, organizational behavior, personnel or public administration, political science, psychology, sociology, social work, statistics, and/or urban studies may substitute for two years of experience.
Graduate education beyond the baccalaureate degree may be substituted at the rate of 30 semester credits from an accredited college or university in the area(s) listed above for each year of experience up to a maximum of three years.
A valid New York State Registration as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or Licensed Master of Social Work (LMSW) may substitute for three years of experience.
All candidates must have a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college and one year of experience at the administrative or management level.

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership and oversight of the Referral Management team with OSM, including supervision of the Executive Director of Referral Management, to ensure timely, effective matching of families with the most appropriate preventive program models across the continuum of services, with a focus on families receiving or in need of preventive services rather than on any single referring division.
Oversee the system for referrals and service matching for families coming from multiple pathways, including referrals to Health Families New York and other evidence-based and community-based preventive programs, ensuring alignment with FSD priorities and performance expectations.
Lead and coordinate referrals that involve intra-agency collaboration with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), ensuring that families have access to public health and mental health supports that complement preventive services.
Work closely with ACS leadership across divisions and teams to develop and implement strategies that improve transitions of families into preventive services and support sustained engagement in those services.
Lead cross-divisional collaborations aimed at sustaining and maximizing utilization of preventive services capacity across the system, including monitoring trends, identifying gaps, and implementing utilization-focused strategies with internal and external partners.
Collaborate with contract management teams to align referrals practices with contract terms and program models, address utilization challenges and inform program planning and procurement related to preventive services.
Oversee the collection, assessment, and evaluation of data to inform system strengthening and measure outcomes, using data to drive continuous quality improvement in referral and matching practices.
Develop and maintain strong relationships with preventive Community based agencies, contract management, and other ACS divisions to support coordination, problem solving, and timely resolution of access barriers for families.
Establish formal procedures to move critical issues to the right level of leadership for quick resolution. Ensure referral consultant across borough offices received effective coaching, training, supervision, and clear guidance for complex cases.
Analyze and apply research and current evidence to support the development of child welfare policy and practice related to preventive services, referral pathways, and service matching.
Participate in and inform ACS policy-related workgroups and FSD strategic initiatives, ensuring that the needs and experiences of families in preventive services are reflected in policy, practice, and systems improvement efforts.