Katz Says She Will Make DCF Less Centralized

 By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD (AP) — Former Connecticut Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz, who is Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s nominee to oversee the Department of Children and Families, told state lawmakers January 18 that she wants the agency to be less centralized and have regional hubs to service families.

Katz appeared before the General Assembly’s Executive and Legislative Committee, the first step in the confirmation process. Senate members approved her nomination on a 4-0 vote, with three absent.

The nomination now moves to the full Senate and House of Representatives for a vote.

Katz, who stepped down from the state’s highest court earlier this month after serving 19 years to accept Malloy’s appointment, said, “Some may question my experience in child welfare as well as administering a large organization.’’

But Katz said she brings a fresh eye to the challenges facing the agency, which has been under a federal court oversight for nearly 20 years.

Being a DCF outsider, she said, “is not a liability’’ for a new commissioner. She has spent the past six weeks speaking with people who work at the department and has convened a team of experts who will report back to her on the agency’s strengths and weaknesses. She said there is a consensus that the child welfare agency “can turn the corner with the right kind of leadership’’ and restructuring.

Katz said she wants the agency to work better with families, saying it has become too adversarial in its approach. A mentor to four children in foster care, she said she has learned firsthand that DCF needs to listen more to families and children.

Katz said she believes DCF’s central office can be smaller and two upper levels of management can be eliminated. She said the department, under her leadership, “will be flatter, less hierarchical, and less centralized’’ and regional offices should provide families with all the services they need.

Besides the DCF commissioner, legislators on Tuesday approved Malloy’s nominees for several other positions. The list includes two of former governor M. Jodi Rell’s old appointees, Banking Commissioner Howard Pitkin and Veterans Affairs Commissioner Linda Schwartz.

Both still need approval from the full General Assembly.