POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Community and Family Services Case Manager Linda Orlando has received the Permanency Champion Award from the Redich Horwitz Foundation for her work in the social services field.
Orlando, a county Community and Family Services employee since 2003, collaborates with staff in the department’s Children’s Services Division and volunteered to participate in the department’s Adoption LEAN Project, which streamlined the adoption process for children in protective services from an average of 403 days to an average of 130 days.
“Every child deserves a safe and loving home, and I feel it’s extremely important to find children environments in which they’ll be nurtured, allowing them to fully develop into successful individuals,” Orlando said.
Between May 2016 and November 2017, Orlando facilitates 35 adopts through the county agency, as well as two private adoptions. She also assists adoption attorneys in completing the adoption process, and she provides training in the “Caring for Our Own” program, a nine-week, 27-hours support group that helps kinship caregivers work in partnership with the county, foster children and their birth parents.
“Every child needs a family,” said County Community and Family Services Commissioner Sabrina Jaar Marzouka. “Linda has demonstrated passion and commitment to our mission, ensuring that children freed from adoption are welcomed into a living home where they can thrive.”
Marzouka said Orlando has made “a remarkable impact on the lives of so many Dutchess County children, and we are proud of her achievements.”
