VISION, MISSION, GUIDING PRINCIPLES
LETTER FROM ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
VISION, MISSION, GUIDING PRINCIPLES PROTECT. PREVENT. ADVOCATE.
LETTER FROM ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Dear colleagues, advocates, and members of the legislature: THE JUSTICE CENTER’S PROMISE
OUR VISION People with special needs shall be protected from abuse, neglect, and mistreatment. This will be accomplished by assuring that New York State maintains the nation’s highest standards of health, safety, and dignity, and by supporting the dedicated people who provide services.
OUR MISSION The Justice Center is committed to supporting and protecting the health, safety, and dignity of all people with special needs and disabilities through advocacy of their civil rights, prevention of mistreatment, and investigation of all allegations of abuse and neglect so that appropriate actions are taken.
During the last year, my priority as Acting Executive Director of the NYS Justice Center was to listen, learn, and identify new ways to advance the agency’s mission.
Working directly with fellow State agencies, Advisory Council members, providers, people receiving services, their families, and, of course, my own staff, our goals for 2025 became clear: ¡ Prioritize process improvement and data sharing;
¡ Increase engagement and collaboration; and ¡ Heighten our focus on prevention and quality.
Thanks to the efforts of our staff, the Justice Center found powerful ways to adjust our work. Simple changes like implementing updates to our online reporting form and piloting new options for video interviewing helped us dramatically reduce administrative burdens. With quality and efficiency in mind, we also advanced larger initiatives like modifying our office structure and launching a new Quality Management Dashboard. These changes led to big results – helping us close 1,600 more cases in 2025. This is especially meaningful as each case closed represents not only resolution for people in care and their families, but also support for the provider communities who rely on our efficiencies to maintain a quality care workforce. To support the direct care workforce, we also launched new training programs in 2025. We expanded our law enforcement and first responder training offerings to include district attorneys’ offices and created a new trauma-informed investigations training. And, finally, to expand our broader abuse-prevention efforts, we launched a workgroup that leverages internal and external expertise to prevent abuse and neglect before they happen. I would like to thank the dedicated Justice Center team for moving this agency forward; the many agency, provider, advocate, and family groups that inform our direction; and Governor Hochul for her continued investment in our nation-leading protections. I am pleased to share the following summary of our work from 2025.
OUR VALUES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Integrity The Justice Center believes that all people with special needs deserve to be treated with respect and that people’s rights should be protected.
Quality The Justice Center is committed to providing superior services and to ensuring that people with special needs receive quality care.
Accountability The Justice Center understands that accountability to the people we serve is paramount.
Education The Justice Center believes that outreach, training, and the promotion of best practices are critical to effect systems change.
Safeguarding people with special needs is a shared responsibility, and the Justice Center is successful because it works with agencies, providers, people who provide direct services, and people with special needs to prevent abuse and neglect.
Collaboration
Sincerely,
Maria Lisi-Murray, Esq. Acting Executive Director
2025 Annual Report 5
2025 Annual Report 4
NYS JUSTICE CENTER
NYS JUSTICE CENTER
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