Beyond the Foster Care System

Len Elmore is a sportscaster and former NBA player.  He is a basketball analyst for ESPN, CBS Sports, and ABC Sports. Elmore is an eight-year NBA veteran, having played with the Indiana Pacers, Kansas City Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks. In 2002, the fiftieth anniversary of the ACC, Elmore was chosen as one of the ACC's Top Fifty Players of all time.

Elmore graduated from Harvard Law School in 1987 and began his law career as an Assistant District Attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. Elmore is currently Senior Counsel with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae in New York City. He currently serves on The Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics Reform, the NCAA's College Basketball Partnership, the University of Maryland Foundation Board of Trustees, the Board of Sports Lawyers Association and The NBA Retired Players Association and is chair of Youth Advocacy Center’s Advisory Board. Elmore was a gubernatorial-appointed member of the state of Maryland's Tourism Development from 1994–99.

Allison Hall is an 18-year-old on the road to success. Entering her junior year of college, where she is majoring in accounting, Allison holds a two-year internship at Price Waterhouse. Allison is a top graduate of Youth Advocacy Center’s Getting Beyond the System Self-Advocacy Seminar, which she enrolled in when she was 16—and seven months pregnant. A survivor of a difficult childhood and of the NYC foster care system, Allison aims to eventually get her MBA, have a secure career, be a role model for her daughter Kelse, and demonstrate that all teens, no matter what challenges they face, can succeed.

Jeremy Christopher Kohomban, Ph.D., is the President and CEO of The Children’s Village and the Center for Child Welfare Research. Prior to Children’s Village, Kohomban was the Senior Vice President at Easter Seals New York and the President of the D.C.-based National Association for Family-Based Services. Kohomban is a noted expert in child welfare and his leadership successes have been noted by the New York Times, NPR, and industry publications. Kohomban is on the Board of the Child Welfare Watch Advisory Group and the Child Welfare Organizing Project. He successfully led two organizational turn-arounds prior to his appointment to The Children’s Village. He has earned a reputation as a leader who effectively blends human services with accountability and a pragmatic business sense. He is the author of a number of articles and a nationally recognized speaker on topics of organizational leadership, human service system reform, and family-focused service delivery.

Betsy Krebs, Esq. is Co-Founder and Executive Director, Youth Advocacy Center. Collaborating with teens, child welfare professionals, advocates, lawyers, and professionals in the private sector, Krebs has led the development of YAC’s Getting Beyond the System program to help teens succeed through self-advocacy education for over ten years. In 2005 she was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs, in recognition of her vision and work at Youth Advocacy Center. Before starting Youth Advocacy Center, she worked as an attorney representing foster care children. Krebs received her JD from Harvard Law School.

Moderator

Paul Pitcoff, Esq. is Co-Founder and Director of Education, Youth Advocacy Center. Working with teens and a range of professionals at YAC, Paul developed and oversees the implementation of the "Getting Beyond the System" self-advocacy education model. Pitcoff has thirty years of experience working with young people, as a college professor, filmmaker and attorney. Pitcoff is Professor Emeritus and founding chair of the Department of Communications at Adelphi University, where he held a tenured position for 20 years and produced dozens of award-winning documentary films. Pitcoff’s interest in self-advocacy and teens developed after he graduated from Cardozo Law School and briefly worked as an attorney representing foster care children.