Governor McKee has selected Ashley Deckert to serve as the new director of the State Department of Children, Youth and Family. It is the first time in four years the department will have had a permanent director. She will replace the interim director, Kevin Aucoin.
“I am extremely honored to be considered for the position of Director for the Department of Children, Youth, and Families for the state of Rhode Island,” said Deckert. “If confirmed, I look forward to working with amazing and dedicated staff, community-based providers, the Rhode Island General Assembly, the union, and other pertinent stakeholders to impact systems change and work toward continual improvement of the child and family well-being system in Rhode Island. To do this we must center youth and family voice and look at providing services and support further upstream in order to prevent involvement in the child protection system. Furthermore, I firmly believe that a paradigm shift is needed; we must use the levers within and outside of our system in order to create solutions that acknowledge the whole parent. When parents thrive, children thrive, but it requires a shift in the way we see parents that come to our attention.”
Deckert comes to Rhode Island from Illinois where she was in the child welfare system.
(Photo Credit: Governor McKee's Office)