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Office of Children & Family Services |
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The Bureau of Training is responsible for the training and development of all employees of the Office of Children and Family Services and the 58 local social services districts. Training for state staff includes management and supervisory training, computer raining, employee development and tuition reimbursement programs as well as all statewide initiatives for OCFS staff. These include Sexual Harassment Prevention, Labor Relations and other specific topics. The Bureau is also responsible for administering the New Employee Orientation Program and the new Management Development Program to help prepare the next cadre of OCFS managers.
The Bureau maintains regional training centers in Western New York, Central New York and Tryon Center and has a satellite office in New York City. The Bureau also maintains the Parker Training Academy in Red Hook, New York, which provides training to new staff employed in OCFS facilities. The regional centers and the Parker Training Academy provide training, curriculum development, training consultation and support in a wide variety of specialties needed by OCFS staff in the juvenile justice, child welfare and administrative areas.
The Bureau is also responsible for providing training and training support for all local social services districts in all of the programs administered by OCFS as well as those administered by DOH and DOL. These include child protective services, foster care, adoption, day care, adult services, and medical assistance. In addition, the Bureau provides training to day care providers as well as staff of residential childcare facilities and foster and adoptive parents. It also provides training services to select staff of other State agencies including the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, the Department of Health and the Department of Labor.
In support of both State and local training, the Bureau operates an extensive distance-learning program including satellite teleconferencing, video production, web-based learning and other computer-assisted instruction. The Bureau also operates a Library and Resource Center staffed by a professional research librarian.