Leading Child Welfare Advocate to Get Lifetime Achievement Award

One of the country's leading child welfare advocates gets lifetime achievement award.

WASHINGTON (PRWEB) July 18, 2004 -- One of the countrys most creative child welfare proponents will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Child Welfare from the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators, an affiliate of the American Public Human Services Association.

Jess McDonald, director of the University-State Agency Consortium at the Children and Family Research Center at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, will receive the award at the Summer Meeting of the APHSA in Washington, to be held July 17-20.

McDonald, who is also a senior fellow and clinical professor at the School of Social Work at the same university, has a long history of distinguished public service. He was director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services during 1994-2003, and was instrumental in negotiating with the U.S. Justice Department the consent decree that would turn around what was widely considered as a broken child welfare system in Illinois.

Jess walked into a broken system and managed to get it into shape," said Mary Shahbazian, president of the Allendale Association, a children welfare agency in Lake Villa, Ill. He redesigned the system, and that resulted in a dramatic decrease in residential placement."

John Goad, who retired as deputy director of child protective services from the Illinois DCFS the same day as McDonald did -- April 30, 2002 -- said McDonald joined one of the worst child welfare agencies in the country and left it as one of the best.

I had spent my time at the agency attaining mediocrity until Jess arrived," Goad said. He changed the entire culture there, and wouldnt accept any standard other than excellence."

During his tenure, McDonald was regarded as one of the countrys most effective and innovative administrators in turning around the performance of the $1.4 billion Cabinet-level child welfare agency. One of most outstanding qualities is his ability to be innovative," said Julie Tye, president of Cradle, a private adoption agency in Evanston, Ill.
   
He is one of the fastest studies Ive ever known, and he always has an open mind for new ideas."

McDonald has been repeatedly recognized for outstanding contributions to the field of public service. He received the Motorola Award for Excellence in Public Service and the 1996 Award of Excellence in Public Child Welfare Administration from the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognized him and DCFS with the Adoption 2002 Excellence Award for securing permanent homes for more than 25,000 children through adoption and private guardianship.

He has a keen sense of politics and is sensitive to the reality that the end game is the health and well being of children and families," said Richard Calica, executive director of the Juvenile Protective Association in Chicago. It has been a pleasure to watch Jess tack and veer in his plan to change the culture of a huge government agency and to get better outcomes for children.

He is neither power hungry nor impervious to new input. He is a man who is dedicated to accomplishment and his dedication has paid off," Calica said.

During his long history in public service, McDonald also worked as a caseworker for DCFS, legislative analyst in the Illinois House of Representatives, executive deputy director of DCFS, chief of the Health and Social Services Division in the Illinois Bureau of Budget, governors assistant for human services and director of the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

McDonald will be honored at a reception scheduled for 5-7:30 p.m., Sunday, July 18, at the 2004 Summer Meeting of the National Association of Public Child Welfare at the Grant Hyatt Hotel in Washington. Barbara Pryor, legislative aide to U.S. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., will be one of the speakers at the event.

The American Public Human Services Association is a nonprofit, bipartisan organization of individuals and agencies concerned with human services. Its members include all state and territorial human services agencies, more than 150 local agencies, and several thousand individuals who work in or otherwise have an interest in human service programs. Its mission is to develop, promote and implement public human service policies and practices that improve the health and well-being of families, children and adults.
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