March is Women's History Month - Regina Calcaterra

Smithtown Matters celebrates the women who made history and those who are making history. Regina Calcaterra is a Long Island girl who overcame many obstacles in her life. She has never given up on herself or on those who depend on her.

Regina Calcaterra – Suffolk County’s first female Chief Deputy Executive – Founding Partner of the New York office of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at CUNY. Candidate for NYS Senate in 2010

Regina is a board member of You Gotta Believe, the older foster children adoption agency. Every year at least 40,000 foster children age out of care at ages 18 or 21 to no one but themselves, thus exposing them to the perils of homelessness, incarceration or worse. Her advocacy for YGB rises from Regina’s own experience in the Suffolk County, New York foster care system, where she also aged out parentless. While growing up in Suffolk County with her four siblings, she was evicted from every home her family ever lived in and also lived in numerous foster homes, homeless shelters and on the streets. Despite the odds she began college at SUNY Stony Brook at 17 and later transferred to SUNY New Paltz and graduated college at age 21. Then at age 25 she began attending Seton Hall University School of Law and graduated by the age of 29.  Less than 2% of the US foster care population actually get a college degree and no statistics are kept for those who obtain advanced degrees, so Regina knows how fortunate she is to have beat the odds and credits the hardworking and committed public servants who ensured not only her survival, but her ability to thrive.

Regina is also a pioneer in family law, as the plaintiff In Re Parentage Regina M. Calcaterra, she brought the first case of its kind in the United States that allowed an adult child to determine their true parentage via DNA.  While Regina’s case was pending and thereafter, eight states adopted a child’s right to seek their biological parentage regardless of age, the other forty-two still have not. Thus, Regina’s case of first impression serves as guidance to jurisdictions that do not expressly permit an adult child to obtain DNA from their putative parents.

Regina, an aunt of fifteen nieces and nephews, lives in New Suffolk, NY, on the North Fork of Long Island