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Center for Child Advocacy

Faculty

Professors

Susan Esquilin, Ph.D
Professor
Center for Child Advocacy

Education:

Office:
Legge House
RM 12A,
1st Floor

Phone:
973-655-7929

E mail: Esquilin

Hours:
M 12-3 pm
W 12-3 pm
and
By appointment		 Biographical sketch: Dr. Esquilin is a licensed psychologist in NJ and NY, a certified school psychologist in NJ and NY, and has a diplomate in Clinical Psychology granted by the American Board of Professional Psychology.  She has served on the faculty of the NJ Medical School (UMDNJ) and Rutgers-Newark, prior to coming to Montclair State University.  Dr. Esquilin has thirty-five years of professional experience working with children and families, with a specialization in child abuse and child trauma.  She has served as an expert witness in criminal, civil, and family court matters, has lectured widely, and has published articles in professional journals.  

She is the recipient of a variety of service grants.  Dr. Esquilin has served as President of the NJ chapter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, as a member of the Ethics Committee of the NJ Psychological Association, and as a member of the committee appointed by the NJ Board of Psychological Examiners that drafted guidelines for psychologists conducting custody evaluations. She has been instrumental in a project funded by DYFS that trains psychologists in conducting evaluations and testifying in child welfare cases.

Susan Curcio, JD
Professor
Center for Child Advocacy

Education: JD, The Delaware Law School of Weidener University; BA, Rutgers University
Office:
Legge House
RM 24
2nd floor

Phone:
973-655-4089

E mail: Curcio

Hours:
T 3-5 pm
and
W By appointment		 Biographical Sketch:Ms. Curcio is an attorney with law offices in Hammonton, NJ. She works in the superior and municipal courts of New Jersey's southern counties. Ms. Curcio is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Criminal Trial Attorney and handles legal matters for children and for crime victims.

Admitted to the New Jersey Bar in December of 1976, Ms. Curcio joined the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office in January of 1977. She left the prosecutor's (Ret.) office in March of 2004 as a Chief Assistant Prosecutor. While in the Prosecutor’s office, Ms. Curcio worked in all areas of criminal law. For sixteen years she supervised the investigation and prosecution of crimes against children and of vehicular homicide and tried cases developed by those investigative units.

She joined the protection subcommittee of the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect in 1988, co-chaired that subcommittee from 1993 to 2005, and still serves as a committee member. She also was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to serve as a member of that Court's Committee on Character, reviewing the applications of candidates to the state bar. In June of 2008 she was named to the statewide, executive panel of the committee. She is also a trustee of the Criminal Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Ms. Curcio has been a member of the faculty of “Childproof”, an advanced course in the prosecution of crimes against children sponsored by the National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse and Neglect and "Finding Words, NJ", an advanced interviewing course for professionals. She also served as an adjunct instructor at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey where she taught criminal law and criminal procedure and was a guest lecturer on child abuse and interviewing of the child victim. She joined Montclair's faculty in September, 2007.

Pauline Garcia - Reid, Ph.D.
Professor

Education: Ph.D., Fordham University; MSW, BA, Rutgers University

Office: University Hall, RM 4186

Phone:
973-655-6846

E mail: Garcia-Reid

Hours:
W 2 - 4 pm
and
By appointment

 

 Biographical Sketch: Dr. Garcia-Reid is an Assistant Professor at Montclair State University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Family and the Child Studies and the Center for Child Advocacy.   She is a N.J. State Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 10 years of clinical experience in inpatient, outpatient, partial care, and community-based programs. In both her research and clinical work, she has demonstrated a commitment to working with at-risk children and families.  Her recent publications, which have appeared in Education and Urban Society and the Journal of Primary Prevention, focus on ways of improving school outcomes for Latino youth and preventing risky behaviors among urban minority adolescents.  In April of 2007, Dr. Garcia-Reid was appointed to the New Jersey Crime Plan Task Force, Prevention Coordinating Sub-Committee, by Lisa Thorton, Chief of Staff, The State of New Jersey, Department of Law & Public Safety, Office of the Attorney General to develop a statewide strategy focused on ways to deter at-risk youth from becoming gang involved.


Janet F. Rosenzweig, Ph.D.
Professor

Education: Ph.D in Social Work, Rutgers University; Master's in Public Administration, Harvard's Kennedy School; BS in Individual and Family Studies, Penn State

Office:
Legge House
RM 25
2nd Floor

Phone:
973-655-7845

E mail: Rosenzweig

Hours:
T 2 - 5 pm
and
By appointment

 Biographical Sketch: Janet began her career in services to children and families as an adolescent volunteer in a Philadelphia day care center; the social workers, counselors and teachers who dedicated their careers to helping troubled families were an early inspiration and set a foundation that has remained. . She attended the Pennsylvania State University, earning a BS in Individual and Family Studies. While a student in a required class, the Biology of Sex, she answered a call for peer educators to work for University Health Services, then struggling to serve the large number of young women seeking the newly available oral contraceptives. She became a critical member of the UHS team and was invited to complete a MS in Health Education. Her assistantship included teaching Health Aspects of Human Sexuality and continuing her work at UHS.  She earned AASECT certification as a sex educator in 1978.  After graduation, Janet joined friends in Knoxville Tennessee and was recruited to work on a child sexual abuse program funded in the first round of grants from the newly established National Center for Child Abuse and Neglect. She ultimately became the director of a successful,  comprehensive sexual abuse program,   which included a  regional treatment program, a research grant,   and a national training center.  Janet traveled nationally bringing specialized training in human sexuality to members of the many professions involved with the newly emerging field of child sexual abuse.

Working with child sexual abuse drew Janet into the public systems for services to children and families.    She went on to earn a PhD, in Social Work from Rutgers University and held positions of increasing leadership in NJ state and local government.  With a Mercer County Freeholder, she established the first NJ County  Commission on Child Abuse in  1985.  She has enjoyed meaningful participation on transition teams for Governors of both political parties.  As a cabinet member in Mercer County, NJ government, her academic preparation in public administration, and reputation for hard work earned her the lead role on major projects for the full County administration. In that role, managing a staff of more than three hundred public servants, she was privileged to provide tax dollars to struggling non-profit start-ups with great missions, qualified staff and dedicated board members.  She is proudest of supervising the design and construction of a new, modern functional juvenile detention center, described as a ‘jail designed by a social worker’. Her leadership skills were recognized by peers, who elected Janet to serve as the Chair of the New Jersey Association of County Human Service Directors, a position she held for eight years.

Janet has worked for affiliates of Child Welfare League of America, Family Services America, Girls Clubs of America and Prevent Child Abuse America, and participated in national program development and policy setting.

Teaching has always held a prominent position in Janet’s career. While teaching Research Methods to earn her way through the doctoral program in social work at Rutgers University, her students’ project was good enough to be published in a peer reviewed journal. While on faculty at the Graduate School of Education and Human Services at Rider University, Janet taught courses on non-profit management and fiscal management for educational administrators.  Her continuing education classes on Program Evaluation for Rutgers School of Social Work are have earned Janet a reputation for being able to make quantitative evaluation accessible to math-phobic students.

Janet was in demand as a speaker on child and family issues throughout New Jersey, and a frequent media guest. She has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America and numerous local outlets.   

After completing the Midcareer Masters in Public Administration program at Harvard’s Kennedy School in June, 2008 Janet served as the Acting  Executive Director of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (www.sexscience.org), publishers of the Journal of Sex Research,  and completed various other public health and welfare consulting projects.  Janet intends to continue her deep commitment to service  to support the health and well-being of children and families served by public and non-profit institutions.

 

Nydia Monagas, PsyD
Professor

Office:
Legge House
RM 25
2nd Floor

Phone:
973-655-7826

E mail: Monagas

Hours:
W 10 - 11 am
TH 11:30 - 12:30 am
and
By appointment

 Biographical Sketch: Dr. Monagas completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology.  She also has a Post-Bachelor’s Certificate in Child Advocacy from Montclair State University and has completed the NJ Child Sexual Abuse Case Consultation Project.  Dr. Monagas previously worked at the St. Clare’s Center for the Protection of Children and at the Dorothy B. Hersch Regional Diagnostic Center where she conducted psychological evaluations and treatment for children and families involved with the Division of Youth and Family Services.  She also served on the Board of The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) from 2001-2009. 

 

Adjuncts

Joe Del Russo, JD
Adjunct Professor
E mail:Del Russo

Hours:
By appointment		 Biographical Sketch: Mr. Joseph A. Del Russo is an attorney and Chief Assistant Prosecutor with the Passaic County Prosecutor’s office. He supervises a team of attorneys, investigators, social workers and paralegals in the Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit and Megan’s Law Unit. He is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law. He was also a Board Member and Past‐President of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children – New Jersey (APSAC‐NJ). Mr. Del Russo presently is a Visiting Lecturer and a member of the adjunct faculty at the Montclair State University Graduate School’s Center for Child Advocacy. He teaches courses relating to prevention, identification and prosecution of child abuse cases. He also has served in a similar capacity as an adjunct professor in the Rutgers University Graduate School of Social Work.

Mr. Del Russo has helped develop and is Co‐Director of the Finding Words—New Jersey Forensic Interview Training Project. Established in 2002 in collaboration with the National District Attorneys Association and Minnesota’s CornerHouse Child Abuse Evaluation and Training Center – the Project has trained scores of New Jersey child maltreatment professionals on forensic interviewing.

Prosecutor Del Russo has served in the past as a law clerk in Family Court for the Honorable Sylvan G. Rothenberg, Judge of the Superior Court. He is a certified child interviewer through The American Prosecutor’s Research Institute. He was also part of a New Jersey Attorney General Subcommittee that developed the Megan’s Law Registrant Risk Assessment Scale to assist prosecutors in protecting the public from sex offenders. Additionally he participates on the Protection Subcommittee of the New Jersey Task Force on Abuse and Neglect.

Prosecutor Del Russo also recently finished some preliminary research with Montclair State University colleagues Dr. Anthony V. D’ Urso and Dr. Jason Dickinson examining the process of disclosure in child sexual abuse cases where the perpetrator recorded the crimes. These preliminary findings entitled: Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome and The Process of Disclosure: Data From the Front Line were recently presented at the national conference for Finding Words in Atlantic City, New Jersey during August 2007.

Mr. Del Russo has recently traveled to Hawaii to discuss the success of the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Child Advocacy Center at the Government‐Based Children's Advocacy Center Summit in Honolulu. The Summit, sponsored by the Western Regional Child Advocacy Center, is developing a technical assistance manual for Child Advocacy Centers considering this model. The Summit is was held  March 2008.

Mr. Del Russo’s work has been acknowledged by his peers at the 2003 New Jersey Child Assault Prevention Awards (CAP) in Princeton, New Jersey and at the 2000 APSAC Colloquium in Chicago, Illinois where he was received as a member of the President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. He has also published two articles involving legal issues in abuse and neglect and continues to advocate for children and adult survivors of abuse and neglect as Chief Assistant Prosecutor from his offices in Totowa, New Jersey.

Christopher Freid, JD
Adjunct Professor

 
E mail: Freid

Hours:
By appointment		 Biographical Sketch: Christopher Freid serves as a Senior Assistant Prosecutor in the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit.  He has been part of that office since 1999.  He works closely with and advises the Unit’s investigative team on child physical and sexual abuse cases.  Additionally, he prosecutes these cases in court before juries.  Prior to his service in Passaic County, Mr. Freid was an Assistant Prosecutor in the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office where he was assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit.  He is also an adjunct professor at Montclair State University’s Center for Child Advocacy and has held this position since 2005.  Mr. Freid holds a Bachelor of Arts from Fordham University in the Bronx, New York and a Juris Doctor from Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut.

 
 

Peter Herbst, MSW, LCSW
Adjunct Professor

 

E mail: Herbst

Hours:
By appointment

Biographical Sketch: Peter Herbst, MSW, LCSW, currently serves as the executive director of the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center (HCCAPC) located in Jersey City, NJ. He has held this position since 1989. HCCAPC is a private, non-profit agency with the mission to help prevent child abuse in Hudson County through parenting education, youth empowerment, professional training and community coordination and awareness. HCCAPC also operates the Hudson County Child Advocacy Center and the Kearny-Harrison-East Newark Family Success Center. Under his direction, the Center has become a leading member of the Hudson network of social service and government agencies which focus on children and families.  

Peter received an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Wilkes University (Wilkes-Barre PA) in 1972, an MSW from the Wurzweiler School of Social Work (New York NY) in 1977 and a certification in Marriage and Family Therapy from the New Jersey Center for Family Studies (Springfield NJ) in 2001. In addition, he is a trained facilitator in several parenting curricula, including Every Person Influences Children (EPIC), Effective Black Parenting and Parents Anonymous.  

Peter is active in the Hudson County social service community. He chairs the Hudson County Child Abuse Commission and is the President of Jersey City Child Development Centers/Project Head Start board of directors. He is also a member of the Prevention subcommittee of the New Jersey Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect and a member of the board of directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC). 

Peter serves as an adjunct professor at Saint Peter’s College, Jersey City, and Montclair State University.   Peter lives in Montclair with his wife, Vicki, and two now-grown children—Doug, a teacher in Massachusetts, and Roni, a senior at Tufts University.

Dave Johnston, MA, CSW
Adjunct Professor

 
E mail: Johnston

Hours:
By appointment		 Biographical Sketch: Mr. Johnston has been with the Division of Youth and Family Services since 1986, in various positions.  Currently, he is the County Service Specialist for Morris and Sussex Counties.  He has been involved in program and resource development for many years in Morris county, collaborating to create the CASA Supervised Visitation Program, as well as the Women's Anger Management Course at Hope House. e is currently an appointed member of Morris County's Youth Services Advisory, Municipal Alliance Steering, Human Services Advisory and Multidisciplinary Advisory Board Committees. He also Serves on the Sussex County Youth Advisory Committee and their Human Services Advisory Committee. Both his graduate and undergraduate degrees from Montclair State University, BA in English Education and MA in Counseling, Guidance, and Human Development with a concentration in Addiction Studies.  He holds certifications as a Social Worker and Student Assistance Counselor.
  Cathy Brown
E mail: Brown

Hours:
By appointment		 Biographical Sketch: