NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gov.-elect Marsha Blackburn is starting her term with a hard look at one of the state agencies that has drawn the most complaints, naming a four-person advisory committee to study the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services.
The panel is charged with examining how the department operates, how it is organized and the problems it faces, then offering ideas the incoming administration can use to set its priorities for the agency. In her announcement, Blackburn said the state owes it to children to make sure the department runs as well as it can.
Jim Henry, who led DCS while Bill Haslam was governor, will chair the group, and three other appointees round it out. Henry said in a statement that the committee will collect information, go over the facts and send recommendations to Blackburn. Stuart McWhorter, who chairs the Blackburn transition, said his team will coordinate with the panel as it gathers information.
DCS has a wide portfolio. It looks into reports of child abuse and neglect, runs the foster care system and tries to place children in its custody in permanent homes.
The department has struggled for years. A state audit released last year found some progress but also pointed to deep problems, including abuse and neglect investigations that were too thin or too slow, late reporting when children died or nearly died, children kept in temporary housing for long stretches, late medical and dental checkups for kids in custody, and too little supervision of youth detention centers and other residential programs.
Several questions remain open. The announcement did not lay out a schedule for the review, did not say whether the committee will meet in public or release its findings, and did not say whether the group will weigh in on who should lead the department.
Section: More Nashville TN politics news
Filed under: Nashville TN Politics News
