DePelchin’s Director of Child Welfare Services to Serve on Texas Adoption Review Committee
DePelchin Children’s Center is proud to announce the appointment of DeJuana Jernigan to the Texas Adoption Review Committee. Of the committee’s nine members, she is one of four appointed by the executive commissioner of Health and Human Services.
The committee, created under House Bill 2225 of the 81st legislative session, will work with the Department of Family and Protective Services to conduct an extensive review of the Texas foster care system. The purpose of the review is to identify obstacles to finding permanent placements for children and to develop ways to improve the foster care system.
“Jernigan brings great experience to the committee, having served with both private and public agencies,” says Robert L. Hartman, executive vice president and chief operating officer at DePelchin. “She also has a passion to help improve the child welfare system.”
Jernigan, who joined DePelchin in 2006, is the director of Child Welfare Services, where she oversees operation of the foster care, adoption, and post adoption programs and serves as the agency’s licensed child-placing agency administrator. Prior to DePelchin, Jernigan worked for almost 10 years with Child Protective Services, where she last served as a regional program administrator for Region 6 (Harris County and the 12 surrounding counties). Jernigan received her Master of Social Work from the University of Houston in 1998 and her Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994.
About DePelchin Children’s Center
DePelchin Children's Center is a non-profit organization providing comprehensive counseling and parent education programs to children, adolescents, and families, as well as adoption, foster care and residential treatment services. The agency has served the Houston-area community since 1892. For more information on the many programs and services offered by DePelchin Children’s Center, please call 713-730-2335 or visit www.depelchin.org.
