By Dave Collins
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- When state Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz was announced as the governor-elect's nominee to lead the Department of Children and Families, one of the first questions she faced was: Why?
Katz, after all, was trading her seat atop the state's legal hierarchy for a highly scrutinized commissioner's job at a troubled agency, one that federal officials say has been failing children in its care for two decades.
Questioned by reporters at the time of the Nov. 30 announcement, she acknowledged that her acceptance of the nomination may seem odd.
"You mean, have I seen my psychiatrist this morning?" the 57-year-old Fairfield resident joked.
Katz said later in an interview with The Associated Press that her main motivation to take the job was an opportunity to help children, and she is at a point in her life where she wants a new challenge.
"It's about the kids. What do they need and are they getting it," she said. "And that's really the bottom line."
DCF has about 3,500 full-time employees and investigates more than 20,000 reports of child abuse and neglect annually. It has about 5,000 children in its custody because of abuse and neglect.
The agency has been under a federal oversight consent decree since 1991, as a result of a 1989 class-action lawsuit that alleged DCF was not adequately investigating reported abuse, was leaving children in dangerous situations and was failing to move children quickly into adoptive homes, among other claims.
Agency officials, including current Commissioner Susan Hamilton, said they have made several improvements, but a federal judge ruled in September that DCF hadn't made enough progress to end the oversight. The decision followed a court monitor's report that the agency was meeting the health needs of children in its care in just over half of reviewed cases.
"Fifty percent is very scary," Katz said. "What I need to really evaluate is, what does that really mean?"
Katz, a Democrat who must be confirmed by state lawmakers, said she is familiarizing herself with the DCF and won't have any concrete plans until she completes her review. She is expected to step down from the court and start as commissioner next month.
She has already set one goal: She vows to get the DCF out from under the federal oversight during her four-year term.
"Some people like the idea of the consent decree because they think it's what's insuring (budget) money," she said. "I think they're afraid that things won't happen if the federal consent decree isn't still on the table.
"But here's the other thing. That consent decree is costing a fortune," Katz said, referring to spending on lawyers and other expenses. "I'd rather be spending the money on the kids."
Katz has faced questions about whether she has the experience to run the agency.
She was only 39 when she was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1992 by Gov. Lowell Weicker, the youngest person ever named to the high court. After beginning her law career in 1977 with a Shelton firm she moved to the state public defenders' office in 1978 and was nominated to the Superior Court in 1989.
Katz noted that she has overseen the state's appellate system for several years as an administrative judge and was chief of legal services for the state public defenders' office in the 1980s. She also has written rulings involving DCF.
"I'm not a social worker. I understand that," said Katz, who is married with two grown children and mentors four kids in a New Haven foster family. "But I do know something about the animal."
Gov.-elect Dan Malloy, a Democrat, said he was confident of Katz's abilities.
"I think that she has a great intellect," he said. "She has played a role in managing the court, and I believe she has the necessary experience to do an outstanding job."
Katz's colleagues and state officials say she is a passionate, hardworking judge who does not shy away from controversy.
State Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein, a DCF critic, said she believes Katz will be the commissioner who turns the agency around.
"She will hold people accountable," Milstein said.
Fellow Justice Richard Palmer said Katz isn't afraid to "ruffle feathers." One example of that was the majority opinion she wrote against one of her own colleagues, Chief Court Administrator Aaron Ment, in 1998 when the court refused to throw out a DCF-related lawsuit against the court system.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of parents whose children were taken into DCF custody alleged the courts were violating the parents' rights by taking months to hold hearings on temporary custody orders. Katz wrote that Ment and other state officials weren't shielded from the lawsuit because of sovereign immunity and that Ment could take steps to fix the problem.
Katz said she may be criticized for receiving her pension benefits after retiring from the court while also receiving the DCF commissioner's salary of about $160,000. But she insists the job change is not about the money.
"As a public defender, I never did anything for the money," Katz said. "I think whenever you do anything for money it's a big mistake. I think you do things that are going to make you happy and fulfilled."
Published: Tue, Dec 14, 2010
