Office of the Governor: DHR Commissioner Resigning to Accept Position with Casey Family Programs

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR

July 29, 2008

MONTGOMERY - Governor Bob Riley announced today that Alabama Department of Human Resources Commissioner Page Walley is resigning to take a position with a national non-profit foundation that works to improve foster care. His resignation is effective September 1.

Walley will assume the position of Managing Director with Casey Family Programs, a multi-billion dollar foundation headquartered in Seattle, Washington. His new responsibilities will involve leading Casey’s expansion into the Southeast to provide the technical and financial support needed to enhance state and local efforts to achieve safe, permanent homes for children.

According to Walley, Casey Family Programs was so impressed with Alabama’s child welfare work and community collaboration that it decided to base the foundation’s southeastern hub in Birmingham.

“Commissioner Walley has done a fantastic job leading DHR as a member of my Cabinet. After years of court oversight and turmoil, Alabama’s DHR is today recognized as a national leader in child services. Other states are now looking to copy our programs because they are considered a model for the rest of the country,” said Governor Riley.

“Thanks to Governor Riley’s leadership and the dedicated work of employees at DHR, I’m confident DHR will continue making progress,” Walley said. “In particular, I am looking forward to the opportunity to continue to support the mission of Alabama’s child welfare system with the resources that Casey offers. Casey has rightly recognized Alabama as a leader in this field and hopes to replicate our work in other states.”

During Walley’s tenure, DHR became the only state under federal oversight of its child welfare program to successfully implement system changes which met - and exceeded - the high standards expected by the court. Alabama was released from federal court oversight in January 2007 and was affirmed in their release by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year.

In addition to the child welfare services, DHR’s responsibilities include child support, food assistance, child care, welfare-to-work, and adult protective services. During Walley’s tenure, the Department has seen child support collections rise annually, the food stamp program expand and receive financial awards for its performance, the welfare roles reduced to their lowest in decades, and the number of children in families obtaining affordable subsidized child care increase to over 30,000.

In addition, the information and computer technologies necessary to support department programs have been radically modernized. “This has allowed us to move toward an evidence-based management system, and I have been really pleased with how our workforce has embraced this accountability, which helps them to do their jobs better,” said Walley.

Casey Family Programs provides direct services and support to foster families and promotes improvements in child welfare practice and policy. The Seattle-based foundation was established in 1966 and has a current endowment of $2.5 billion, according to information on its website (www.casey.org).