NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services will get an outside look before the next governor takes office, after Gov.-elect Marsha Blackburn appointed a four-member advisory committee on Tuesday to study the agency.
The group will look at how the department runs, how it is organized and the problems it faces, then give recommendations to the incoming administration. Jim Henry will lead it. Henry was the first commissioner of the department when it became a stand-alone agency in 2013 under Gov. Bill Haslam, and he later served as Haslam’s chief of staff.
Maggie McNally Kimball, Cleo Griffin and Cameron Smith round out the four-person panel. Kimball is the daughter of retiring Lt. Gov. Randy McNally.
The department handles reports of child abuse and neglect, runs the foster care system and works to place children in permanent homes. Blackburn’s announcement did not set a deadline for the review, did not say whether the committee will meet in public or release its findings, and did not address whether it will weigh a leadership change at the agency.
Deputy Gov. Stuart McWhorter, who chairs the transition, said his team will work with the committee as it collects information. Henry said the panel will report its recommendations directly to Blackburn.
The same day, Blackburn said Michael Hendrix will be her chief of staff. Hendrix is currently policy director for Gov. Bill Lee.
Her transition also launched a website taking applications for jobs in the new administration. It invites people from in and outside Tennessee to apply and says both public-sector experience and private-sector expertise are welcome, so applicants do not need a background in government.
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