Please join us for the next virtual Leadership Breakfast meeting, one in a series offered by the Harvard Kennedy School New England Alumni Association (HKSNEAA):

Speaker

Maria Mossaides (MC-MPA ‘90), Director, Office of Child Advocate. Maria Mossaides has spent almost five decades working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as both an attorney and administrator. Eight years ago, she was appointed by Governor Charlie Baker to the position of the Commonwealth’s Child Advocate, only the second person to hold the job. At the time of her appointment, Maria was the executive director of Cambridge Family and Children’s Service (now Bridges Homeward), a job she was reluctant to give up after returning to working directly for children and families after a long hiatus.  Maria started her career doing educational equity work. “Children are my soul work” she often says. However, her skills at fixing broken systems led to career assignments that did not involve human services. She decided to accept the appointment after the death of almost thirty children resulting from the poor functioning of the child protective service system.

The Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) has been transformed from an ombudsman function into a robust oversight and policy-making agency. It is a model for the 16 other child advocate offices across the nation. By focusing on data, collaboration, systems change, and transparency, the Massachusetts OCA has led successful efforts for changes in statute, policy, and practice. Many of these changes resulted from taking advantage of opportunities. The changes at the OCA have far exceeded Maria’s initial expectations. Maria will describe the steps in the OCA’s growth in size and influence and the critical role that the legislature played. Her own skills have grown dramatically which was unexpected at what she describes as her ”last job”.