Forestdale, Inc.

Anstiss B. Agnew was appointed Executive Director of Forestdale Inc. in January 2006. Under her leadership, Forestdale has experienced a year and a half of significant growth and recognition for its quality programs and for reinvigorating its services to fragile children and families in Queens.

In 2006, Forestdale received the initial rollout funding from the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to “change the face of foster care.” Among Forestdale’s partners are the Greater Allen AME Cathedral, The New York City Housing Authority; Jamaica Hospital Medical Center; The New York City Department of Education (DOE) and the Jamaica YMCA. This community collaboration, known as the Community Partnership Initiative (CPI), ensures that NYC’s most vulnerable children and families will have immediate access to the education, medical, housing and recreation resources they need to thrive.

Through a new grant from the Department of Youth and Community Development Forestdale is poised to expand its Fatherhood program, begun in 1998, to help non-custodial fathers in Queens connect with and financially support their children. In September 2007, in addition to serving older fathers, Forestdale will now begin to address the significant needs of younger fathers 16-24 years-of-age. Ms. Agnew has identified education and housing for foster children among the top priorities for service expansion in 2007 and beyond. “When a foster child turns 18, they are legally adults and faced with the reality that they must leave foster care. By providing youth in foster care with safe housing and a solid education, we provide them with the necessary stepping stones into a self-sufficient adulthood.” Forestdale has also made adolescents’ access to reproductive health and education services an organizational priority. In response to the high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease among foster children, Forestdale is partnering with the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center to address the urgent health needs of its teen boys and girls.

Ms. Agnew is the former Executive Director of Inwood House, an organization serving the needs of high-risk teens in New York City. She has also worked at the Administration for Children’s Services, the Jewish Board of Family and Children Services and The Psychiatric Institute at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is a graduate of Goucher College, holds a Master of Sciences degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work and attended the Executive Education Program of the Harvard Business School.