Florence Racine, MSW, LSW

Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Belonging
New Jersey Department of Children and Families

Florence Racine, MSW, LSW, is the Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Belonging at the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, and has nearly 30 years of experience in government and child welfare. She is a licensed social worker with expertise in direct practice and supervision in child protective service investigations and permanency, analyzing quality of service and developing and implementing effective strategies for improvement on a state level. Florence has been with DCF since 1996, working in a host of positions, including Performance Management, Case Practice Model Implementation, Quality Improvement, IAIU and child protection.

Her work in Race Equity began over 15 years ago while collaborating on a project with the State of Michigan to study overrepresentation of children of color in their child welfare system. She learned that at every point along the child welfare continuum, there are disparate outcomes based on race, gender identity and sexual orientation. As a contributing member of the ChildStat/Qualitative Review process and DCF’s Race Equity Steering Committee, she has shared her research, insight, and passion for change.

In the Office of Diversity, Equity and Belonging, Florence coordinates the work of the department’s Race Equity Steering Committee, develops and implements initiatives that promote equitable outcomes for children and families of color, builds the capacity of staff to respond effectively to structural racism, individual and implicit bias, and promotes culturally competent policy and practice within DCF and among our contracted services.