With over 18 years’ experience in the area of Social Work and Social Services delivery, Mrs. La Toya Tracey has functioned in several Supervisory and Managerial roles during her career. Her profession as a Social Worker began at the Family Court of Trinidad and Tobago where she functioned as a social worker whose primary role was that of counsellor, broker and advocate for both children and adults before the Court. Another component of her work involved workshop development and delivery to the customers serviced by the Court. This role afforded her the opportunity to work closely with Judicial Officers and external service providers in addressing the needs of the Court’s clients.

After 7 years in the Court system, Mrs. Tracey transitioned into the area of child protection at the Children’s Authority of Trinidad and Tobago where she was instrumental in the development of the Policies, Procedures and Processes necessary for the delivery of services to children in need of care and protection during the Authority’s startup phase. Following this, she was quickly promoted to Manager of the Child and Family Services, Foster Care and Adoption Units at the Authority, with responsibility for ensuring the efficient delivery of services and the operationalization of the Authority’s policies.

One main part of Mrs. Tracey’s portfolio involves working with children in conflict with the Law. Her experience in this area began at the Family Court and continued in a more strategic way at the Children’s Authority where she was responsible for the Juvenile Justice Unit, and the development of plans of action that included, for the first time, the administration of formal assessments to children deemed ‘Beyond Control’ (the phrase used in the Legislation at that time), to determine their needs and the appropriate interventions to address same. Such assessments are still used to date. As a result of Mrs. Tracey’s extensive strategic and operational experience in these areas, she was engaged by the UNDP Juvenile Court Project in 2018 as an Individual Contractor to develop an operational Manual for the Social Services Unit of the Children Court of Trinidad and Tobago.

This involved the development of forms, policies, and process flows necessary for the operationalization of the Unit.

Her experience also afforded her the opportunity to be contracted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on two community based projects from 2019 to 2020. As Project Lead, this involved assessing youth from ‘at risk’ communities, identifying needs and developing workshops to address such needs. One of the tools used to develop the individual strategies was the Juvenile Inventory for Functioning (JIFF) Assessment. The success of phase one of the Program led to the initiation of a second phase and the further rollout of a similar Program at the Youth Training and Rehabilitation Centre (YTRC).

In addition to her Social Work experience, Mrs. Tracey attained her Masters in Marriage. Couple and Family Therapy and operates her own private practice addressing the needs of families by engaging in targeted interventions. Facilitating workshops and engaging in individual and group therapy is a significant part of her work, and is in keeping with her desire to continuously make a difference in the lives of others whether through strategic management or direct intervention.

Within recent times she was contracted by the UNDP as the lead consultant to manage one of their projects at the St Jude’s Home for Girls.