Director of Community Engagement
Leslie Wilmot joined the Butler Institute for Families in 2012 as the Director of Community Engagement. Ms. Wilmot is project director of the New York Family Assessment Response Initiative, a partnership with the New York Office of Child and Family Services, New York counties, and Casey Family Programs. Her responsibilities include the design, development, and implementation of New York’s statewide rollout of differential response, which includes annual quality assurance case reviews, and the first disproportionate minority representation (DMR) case review of family assessment response. Other current projects under her leadership include the development and delivery of curriculum and training on family group decision making (FGDM) for Kids Central, Inc., and its partner, Devereux Kids, in Florida. Ms. Wilmot also provides leadership and consultation to communities in the implementation of a community-based child abuse prevention initiative.
Previously, Ms. Wilmot was the training director and lead curriculum developer for the federal Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers’ Bringing Back the Dads: A Model Program Curriculum for Non-Resident Father Engagement. She was also the lead curriculum developer and trainer tor Colorado Supervision Training: Leading the Way in Child Protection. She has supervised and developed multiple specialized curricula on family group decision making and other family engagement practices, differential response, child welfare supervision, child and youth involvement in decision making and planning, and child abuse and neglect prevention. Ms. Wilmot has provided technical assistance, coaching, and consultation in over 25 states, Bermuda, Canada, England, and a number of tribal communities.
Ms. Wilmot has over 30 years of direct practice, supervision, and other professional experience in child welfare, mental health services, and developmental disabilities in public and community-based organizations. She received her undergraduate degree with a double major in community leadership and development and psychology from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a Master of Science in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ms. Wilmot is a licensed social worker in the states of Wisconsin and Rhode Island. She is also a member of the National Association of Social Workers, the National Staff Development and Training Association (an affiliate of American Public Human Service Association), and New York State’s Building a Sustainable Support System in Child Welfare Supervision (BASSICS) work group.
