Mary McKinnon

Mary is the Executive Director Practice and Quality at Life Without Barriers. With more than thirty years’ of senior experience in a wide range of areas including disability, child, youth and family services, Mary is an experienced leader focused on driving practice improvement through the implementation of evidence based practices and programs into people focused service delivery.

As the former Director of Statutory and Forensic Services Design in the Victorian Department of Human Services, Mary was responsible for the design of child protection, youth justice and disability forensic services in Victoria. Mary has also held senior positions including as Director, Regional Operations Performance; Director, Child Protection, Placement and Family Services; Director, Child and Family System Advice (Cummins Inquiry); and Director, Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Strategy Unit.

Mary has a deep commitment to improving the immediate and long-term outcomes of children in out-of-home care and has a passion for relevant research and demonstrable impact measurement that can be shared across the sector.