Child Welfare Reform Council

Governor Nathan Deal named the council Wednesday, which will study the state’s child welfare system. Stephanie Blank, a child advocate, will lead the panel. The other members are:

Bob Bruder-Mattson, chief executive officer, The United Methodist Children’s Home

Lamar Burkett, foster parent and advocate

Melissa Carter, director, Barton Child Law and Policy Center

Valerie Clark, state representative, R-Lawrenceville

Valerie Condit, social worker, Fulton County Schools

Cheryl Dozier, president, Savannah State University

Duaine Hathaway, executive director, Georgia CASA

Carolyn Hugley, state representative, D-Columbus

Donna Hyland, president and CEO, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

Burt Jones, state senator, R-Jackson

Fran Millar, state senator, R-Atlanta

Meredith Ramaley, detective, Smyrna Police Department

Heather Rowles, executive director, Multi-Agency Alliance for Children

Freddie Powell Sims, state senator, D-Dawson

Steve Teske, chief judge, Juvenile Court of Clayton County

Peggy Walker, judge, Juvenile Court of Douglas County

Tyra Walker, WinShape Homes director, Chick-fil-A

Wendell Willard, state representative, R-Sandy Springs

Ashley Willcott, executive director, Office of the Child Advocate

Crystal Williams, founding member, EmpowerMEnt & Former Foster Youth

Gov. Nathan Deal’s picks to lead a council charged with rethinking the state’s child welfare system is notable for two well-known advocates who were left off the list.

Rick Jackson, the well-connected executive and philanthropist who is one of the most powerful voices behind an effort to privatize the foster care system, wasn’t appointed to the panel. Neither was state Sen. Renee Unterman, the proposal’s legislative sponsor who rankled some when she pushed ahead with the effort despite Deal’s misgivings.

Deal announced he would form the commission a week before the legislative session ended in an attempt to delay an overhaul until at least 2015. It was a surprising move by Deal, who endorsed privatization in January after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution uncovered widespread failings by the state child welfare system.

Unterman, a Republican from Buford, and other Senate leaders pressed on, though, believing they could strike a compromise in the last hours of the legislative session to launch a three-year pilot program overseen by a separate commission tapped by the governor and Senate and House leaders. It was scuttled amid broader infighting between the two Republican-led chambers.

The governor has hinted he could roll out a pilot program through an executive order. The panel is led by Stephanie Blank, a children's advocate who is the ex-wife of the Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank. Panelists include two juvenile court judges, six state legislators and several academics and nonprofit workers.

When asked whether he considered putting Unterman on the panel, the governor said, “we think the ones that we picked are good people.”

Unterman, for her part, took solace that Deal tapped her ally, Republican state Sen. Fran Millar, to sit on the panel. She said the two are “interchangeable” on child welfare issues and that she expects to sit in on some of the meetings.

Said Unterman, “I have a lot of confidence in the group.”