Governor Nominates Allison Blake to Lead DCF

We are very pleased that Governor Chris Christie has nominated former NASW-NJ President, Dr. Allison Blake, to be the new Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families (DCF).

Many of you will remember Allison's tenure as NASW-NJ President from 2005 to 2007. During that period, we made major strides in our Chapter's work on key issues, such as child abuse training in cooperation with schools of social work statewide.

Now, with her nomination, we are taking another major step in our Chapter's relationship with DCF and the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).

Never has the emphasis been placed so squarely on social work as child welfare's primary discipline. Today, the direction in social work within state government is clearly toward mandated social work training and ensuring trained social workers in supervisory positions.

The leaders who have driven these changes have predominantly been social workers, such as Allison Blake, Eileen Crummy, Christine Moses, Lisa Eisenbud, and Jackie Zavaglia.

We can all take great pride that one of our own, and our former NASW-NJ President, has been selected to fill this very important Cabinet position in state government, and that we can continue to work closely with DCF and DYFS to build on our successes.

We wish Allison a speedy confirmation process and a successful tenure as Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families.