Jim Purcell is the executive director of the Council of Family and Child Caring Agencies (COFCCA). COFCCA is the principal statewide representative for nearly all the voluntary not-for-profit organizations providing foster care, adoption, and family support services to vulnerable children and families in New York. Its 120-member organizations help more than 500,000 children and their families annually.

Mr. Purcell previously worked for New York State for many years in children's services. He began his career with the state Division for Youth, and later worked at the Department of Social Services and Council on Children and Families. From 1985-1996 Jim served as the Associate Commissioner for Family and Children's Services at the Department of Social Services. His work focused on child welfare but also included efforts in day care, domestic violence, and juvenile justice. He formulated and implemented policies to meet emerging needs including the first foster boarding home programs for HIV positive foster children, a new risk assessment process for child protection, reformed the operations of the State Child Abuse Register, created cross-agency collaborative initiatives to meet complex family needs, and initiated development of outcome based child welfare training.