November 2013Vol. 14, No. 8Children's Bureau Welcomes New Associate Commissioner
President Obama has appointed JooYeun Chang to head the Children's Bureau as the new Associate Commissioner. Ms. Chang started at the Bureau on September 23. Joe Bock, who had served as Deputy Associate Commissioner of the Bureau from 2002 to 2009, will once again assume that role.
Recently celebrating its centennial, the Children's Bureau was the first Federal agency in the world to focus exclusively on improving the lives of children and families. As the Associate Commissioner, Ms. Chang administers over $7 billion in Federal programming to support the nation's child protection, foster care, guardianship, and adoption programs.
Prior to her appointment to the Children's Bureau, Ms. Chang was the Senior Director of Public Policy at Casey Family Programs. In this position, she worked closely with State and county child welfare leaders to improve and enhance child welfare practice. She also worked with Congress on opportunities to improve national child welfare policy. Prior to Casey Family Programs, Ms. Chang served as Senior Staff Attorney for the Children's Defense Fund (CDF).
Her areas of expertise in Federal and State policy include child abuse and neglect, foster care and adoption, children's mental health, child welfare financing, and kinship care. She has authored several publications, worked to educate congressional staff about child welfare policies designed to protect children and support families, and identified and promoted best practices in child welfare and related issues. Ms. Chang is a member of the Maryland State Bar; a former board member for the National Foster Care Coalition; Chair for the Policy Committee of the National Foster Care Coalition; and a former member of the Generations United Policy Committee. She received her J.D. from University of Miami School of Law where she was a Harvey T. Reid Scholar. She received her undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University.
Children's Bureau staff look forward to working with Ms. Chang as the Bureau remains committed to its mission of partnering with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies to improve the lives of children and families.
For more information on the Children's Bureau and its work, visit its website: