JoAnne Pedro-Carroll, director of programs for Families in Transition at the Children's Institute and associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Rochester, has been appointed to the New York State Parent Education Advisory Board.
The advisory board, which was established by Chief Judge Judith Kaye in her State of the Judiciary Address last month, will consist of 19 members and will work to ensure that separating parents have information on how to help children adjust to divorce. The material will include such topics as how to reduce the stress of a marital break-up, how to protect children from ongoing conflict, and ways to foster healthy development in children. The board also plans to work closely with parent education programs around the state to monitor quality and effectiveness, develop curricula, and create a successful statewide network.
As director of programs for Families in Transition at the Children's Institute (formerly known as the Primary Mental Health Project), Pedro-Carroll oversees such projects as the school-based Children of Divorce Intervention Program and A.C.T. - For the Children (Assisting Children through Transition). A preventive intervention program for parents to assist children with the difficulties of divorce, A.C.T. - For the Children is a joint effort of the Children's Institute of the University of Rochester and the Seventh Judicial District of New York, as well as the mental health, legal, judicial and mediation communities. Pedro-Carroll recently co-authored an article on the program in the New York Law Journal with fellow state advisory board appointee State Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Frazee.
Frazee, elected as a justice of the Supreme Court for the Seventh Judicial District in 1993, was chosen to be the chair of the state advisory board. A third area professional, Dr. Sanford Mayer, a clinical associate professor at Strong Memorial Hospital and a pediatrician at Twelve Corners Pediatrics in Brighton, also was appointed to the board.