Olga Desamper Regional Director, Rochester

With a B.A. degree in social work and an M.E. in counseling, Olga is also a certified school psychologist with extensive experience in counseling multicultural individuals, families, and groups regarding communication, child development, and parenting issues. Before joining CDHS, Olga worked for a variety of agencies in the greater Rochester area as a caseworker, counselor, supervisor, administrator, and program director, and she has been responsible for the recruitment, supervision, and evaluation of caseworkers working with multi-problem families in the areas of preventive services, foster care, and developmental disabilities.

In 1985 Olga began working for CDHS as a consultant contributing her expertise in conjunction with curriculum offerings involving cross-racial adoptions and culturally competent casework. She joined CDHS as a full-time child welfare trainer in 1989, and in 1990 she assumed her current post as Rochester regional administrator when CDHS opened its Rochester Regional Office. In the intervening years she has proudly seen the regional office grow into successively new, more spacious and modern quarters in order to meet the increasing need for training facilities in the Rochester area. In addition to her administrative duties, Olga also continues her work as trainer and delivers many of the CDHS Spanish language training offerings statewide. During her 22-year tenure she has been involved in a total of 30 different courses. She has developed curriculum in both English and Spanish versions, and she also continues to conduct basic and advanced train-the-trainer offerings.