A state Supreme Court Justice plans to give up her seat on the bench to take on one of the most challenging jobs in state government.
Governor-Elect Dan Malloy has chosen Judge Joette Katz to run the Department of Children and Families, a department that has been under court supervision since 1991, according to the CT Mirror.
The General Assembly must approve the appointment.
Katz, of Fairfield, served as chief of legal services for the Office of the Chief Public Defender and assistant public defender before joining the Superior Court and then the state Supreme Court.
Malloy said Katz is “tough enough to manage what has been, at times, an unwieldy bureaucracy that is too insular,” and one that often failed to protect children.
“I am honored by this appointment. I can think of few things more important than the mission of this agency,” Katz said. “There are obviously a number of challenges in the agency that pre-date this administration, but we cannot allow the care, health and welfare of our state’s children to languish.”
Jamey Bell, the executive director of Connecticut Voices for Children, told the Mirror that Katz is a “brilliant choice” to lead DCF.
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“It takes the precisely right person, and I think this choice is the best shot we’ve had in a long time to bring this agency up to where it should be,” Bell told the Web site.
Katz is a married mother of two adult children.
