Trenton, NJ – The New Jersey State Senate yesterday confirmed Veleria N. Lawson as Executive Director of the Juvenile Justice Commission.
“I am honored by the trust Gov. Corzine, Attorney General Milgram and the Senate have placed in my ability to be the executive director of the Juvenile Justice Commission,’’ Lawson said. “I will devote all my energies to ensuring that the JJC fulfills its mission of turning around the lives of kids who have broken the law. Working with our partners in the community, we can recognize the potential of each youth and put them on a productive and lawful path.’’
The Juvenile Justice Commission is part of the Department of Law & Public Safety. Lawson’s nomination was recommended by Attorney General Anne Milgram to Governor Jon S. Corzine, who nominated Lawson on January 28, 2008.
A parole board member since January 2004, Lawson was assigned to the juvenile panel and worked directly with the Juvenile Justice Commission and its programs to rehabilitate juvenile offenders. A licensed clinical social worker, Lawson also worked during her extensive career as a school social worker in Middletown and Lakewood and at the Arthur Brisbane Child Treatment Center in Wall Township.
“I am pleased to have such a dedicated and talented leader of the Juvenile Justice Commission. Val Lawson is devoted to helping the children who come to the doors of the JJC, many with mental health and substance abuse problems,’’ Milgram said. “Her experience in dealing with troubled kids and families in crisis make her extraordinarily well prepared to lead the Juvenile Justice Commission.’’
Lawson was a school social worker for more than 19 years for the Middletown Board of Education, serving on child study teams. She had similar responsibilities as a child study team member for the Lakewood Township Board of Education for four years before working in Middletown.
Lawson started her career in New Jersey in January 1974 as a social worker at the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, providing clinical services to clients with psychosocial problems.
Lawson, who lives in Manalapan, received a bachelor of arts in sociology from Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1972, and earned a masters degree in social work in 1973 from the Howard University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C.
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