Department of Human Services

DHS Commissioner Harris Names Colleen Maguire
to Oversee Department Children's Services

New Special Deputy Commissioner also will oversee
creation of new child protection division

Department of Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris today named Colleen Maguire to oversee a sweeping reorganization of children's services in the Department and to create a new, more focused, child protection division to replace the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).

Maguire, 53, a nearly 30-year social services veteran, will serve as Special Deputy Commissioner in charge of children's services and will be paid $120,000 annually. She resides in Monmouth County.

“I chose Colleen because she has integrity, passion for the job, compassion for the state’s children, and experience in the system. Also, she is tough enough to tackle this very difficult job,” said Harris, who told a legislative panel last week that a number of children's services currently housed throughout the Department will be consolidated under the aegis of the new Special Deputy.

In addition, Maguire will be asked to shepherd the creation of a new Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP) -- which will focus solely on child protection, adoption and foster care.

She will also be asked to investigate the possibility of creating another division to administer services for children with emotional and behavioral disturbances. Such a move would likely consolidate children's services functions -- like residential treatment and community-based children's mental health services -- that are currently housed in several other divisions, including DYFS and the Division of Mental Health Services.

"I really believe that my fundamental commitment to children and families combined with the skills, knowledge and experience I have gained over the years, will allow me to help Commissioner Harris advance her goal of effecting real change in the systems that serve children," said Maguire, who will be leaving her position as partner in the Hopewell-based human services consulting firm, Janus Solutions. "I am very excited about the prospect of being part of that change process. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

When Maguire last worked for the Department she served as Director of Operations Support, overseeing the Department's capital budget as well as the provision of support services to the state's psychiatric hospitals and developmental centers. In that capacity, she was also the administrator responsible for the implementation of the department's Youth Incentive Program (YIP), the first statewide children’s initiative for severely emotionally disturbed youth and their families. Prior to joining the department, she also served as Regional Children’s Coordinator for the Division of Mental Health Services for two years from 1992 to 1993.

A graduate of Saint Joseph's University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Government, Maguire worked her way up through the ranks at DYFS starting out as a caseworker in Middlesex County in 1974. During her tenure in the Middlesex office she also worked as: a litigation supervisor, a unit supervisor and a senior management assistant.

In 1983 she was promoted to Operations Director over the three Passaic County DYFS District Offices and, in 1986, became Director of Organizational Development for the entire Division. In this capacity, she headed a special management team that conducted a comprehensive system-wide assessment of the DYFS operations in the six Essex County Offices. From 1989 to 1992 she served as Regional Administrator of the DYFS Central Region.