Linda Spears, head of Massachusetts’ child welfare system, has been tapped to take over as executive director and president of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA). She is set to succeed Christine James-Brown, who is retiring from the role in October.
Spears is a longtime veteran of the national advocacy organization, working there for 22 years, from 1992 to 2015, and serving as the vice president of policy, programs and public affairs for the last three years of that tenure.
She was appointed by Gov. Charlie Baker to lead the Massachusetts Department of Children & Families (DCF) in 2015 and has been the longest-serving commissioner in the department’s history.
CWLA leadership called Spears’ experience in child welfare “unparalleled,” and noted how important it is to have a seasoned leader taking over the organization during this era of sweeping systems reforms, laser focus on racial disparities and an advocacy movement to abolish the child welfare system entirely.
“At this critical inflection point in the history of the field, we are delighted to have someone committed to continuing to build the network of coordinated partnerships and urgent advocacy initiatives needed to address racial and social inequities while promoting true well-being for children, parents, their families, and communities,” Vicky Kelly, CWLA board chair, said in a press release.
While at the helm of Massachusetts’ child welfare system, Spears oversaw 4,200 employees and a $1.2 billion budget. The department saw huge increases in kinship care and adoption, and the number of children in state care dropped by 20%, according to the CWLA press release.
“I am grateful to the staff of the Department who partnered with me on this tremendous journey and deeply honored to have the opportunity to return to CWLA in this leadership role to address the unprecedented challenges facing children and families at the national level,” Spears said in a press release.
CWLA was founded in 1920 and has members in all 50 states. It is one of the best-known advocacy groups in the country, developing industry standards and policy recommendations for the front-line workers who serve the nation’s most vulnerable youth and families.
Outgoing president James-Brown has led the organization since 2007. Amid heightened conversations about systemic racism that gained steam during the coronavirus pandemic and in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, James-Brown pushed for the child welfare system to address its racist roots.
In a 2020 interview with The Imprint, James-Brown said her organization would promote racial equity among its members by developing trainings, regularly addressing it in its in-house academic journal and making it a central point in policy agendas.
“We are a standards-setting and advocacy organization, so we have an opportunity to promote new practice and policies,” James-Brown said of CWLA. “Nobody is required to follow them, but peer pressure can create change in any field of service.”
Equity concerns plagued Spears’ time in Massachusetts, as they do in many child welfare systems. In 2020, federal authorities determined that the state agency had discriminated against parents with disabilities, and local advocates told The Boston Globe that the department had struggled to appropriately serve children of color, immigrant families and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Still, the state’s Office of the Child Advocate applauded the strides made under Spears’ watch, in a statement provided to the Globe: “She has completely reshaped DCF, always with a mind on improving policy and continuously improving the quality of services children receive in Massachusetts.”