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 Linda S. Spears
Vice President, Policy and Public Affairs, Child Welfare League of America
Linda Spears has worked on the front line of child protection and in senior management in child welfare services for nearly 30 years. Recently appointed Vice President for Policy and Public Affairs, Linda spearheads all of CWLA's national public policy work and its media and public relations efforts. Central to this work is CWLA's Campaign for a 2010 White House Conference for Children, which will identify and advance the next generation of policy, program and best practice work to improve outcomes for abused, neglected, and vulnerable children.
Linda recently served as Acting Senior Vice President during CWLA's recent transition and also served as Vice President for Corporate Communications and Development, leading public relations, foundation, corporate, and individual development activities. Throughout her tenure at CWLA, she has also served as Associate Vice President for Programs, guiding CWLA's research, consultation, training, and best practice activities in program areas, including foster care, adoption, and domestic violence.
She has also served as Director of Child Protection and began her work at CWLA as Senior Consultant, charged with working with numerous state and local jurisdictions to assist with program and practice improvement, agency management, and accountability. She has facilitated communitywide children's services needs assessment and planning in local and state jurisdictions. Linda has authored several works on domestic violence and child protection, and she has received numerous awards for her tireless advocacy on behalf of abused and neglected women and children.
Because of her depth of knowledge and breadth of experience, Linda has emerged as a key national spokesperson on today's core child welfare issues. Selected examples of Ms. Spears' media appearances and interviews include:
Print:
The Detroit Free Press (July 7, 2003): Adults, Better Get Those Grades Up
Ms. Spears was asked to comment on the fifth annual release of the Uhlich Teen Report Card on Adults. The 2003 Report card, created by the Uhlich Children's Home of Chicago with research and evaluation performed by CWLA, included responses from 1,000 randomly-selected young people ranging in ages from 12-19.
Linda Spears: "The Uhlich Report Card shows us that teens are judging us just as much as we are judging them."
The Record (June 25, 2003): New York Panel is Model for DYFS Reforms
In New Jersey, a lawsuit on behalf of thousands of foster children led to the formation of an expert panel that will hopefully help guide the overhaul of the state's ailing child welfare system.
Comments Linda Spears, "You bring outside experts to the table that weren't involved in the legal battles. They see the world through clear eyes and can guide everybody on how to compromise...Success often depends on who is on the panel and whether the agency believes the settlement is truly in its best interest."
The Bradenton Herald (April 21, 2003): Time Will Tell if DCF Overhaul Proves Effective
On April 25, 2003, officials in the state of Florida discovered that five-year-old Rilya had disappeared from DCF's care for at least fifteen months before anyone noticed. The shocking realization led to a storm of controversies and reforms within the Department, including the appointment by Governor Jeb Bush of Secretary Jerry Regier.
Linda Spears: "Good starts are not the end of the question. There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done. They have resource challenges."
The Kansas City Star (April 13, 2003): States Seek Best Ways to Keep Children From Abuse, Neglect at Homes
After a wave of child deaths in out-of-home care in Missouri and Kansas, the public-whose confidence in the child welfare system had been shaken-is demanding action and reform. A poll found that 80% of Kansas City area residents think that the states' child welfare systems need improvement and better risk assessment measures.
Linda Spears: "But risk assessment has its shortcomings. It does not take into account caseloads, financial resources, or political pressures that can affect workers. A foster home shortage could prompt a worker to downgrade a risk assessment. Or a recent child-abuse death could sway a worker to upgrade the risk level to prevent even the slightest possibility of another death."
The Record (January 19, 2003): Missing Children Can Want to Vanish
Ms. Spears spoke with the Bergen County, NJ, Record on the frustration that DYFS workers often experience when they are tasked with the duty to search for missing children-who oftentimes do not want to be found.
"This is an extraordinarily unstable and transient population. Poverty, mental health issues, and substance abuse all mean that sometimes parents don't stay in one place very long. Sometimes the kids move with them, sometimes they stay with grandma, sometimes the kids stay with friends. It all makes them harder to find."
The Washington Times (September 29, 2002): Starved Children Victims of an Abuse that's "Common"; Cases Hard to Detect, Prosecutors Say
Though there are no national data on the incidence of cases involving children whose parents either starve them to death or keep them severely malnourished, prosecutors and child welfare experts say intentional starvation cases constitute a form of child abuse that can be hard to detect.
Linda Spears: "...These cases have been regularly out there, cases in which either from maliciousness, ignorance, mental illness, exhaustion or being overwhelmed, parents do not feed their children well."
The Tallahassee Democrat (July 26, 2002): Critics Question Managerial Skills of DCF Secretary Under Fire
Kathleen Kearney brought a lot of hope to Florida's long-troubled Department of Children and Families when Governor Jeb Bush appointed her Secretary in 1999. Yet two cases in 2002-one involving a child missing from care and one involving a child death-have led to outrage and calls for her resignation. Ms. Spears encouraged the department to patiently work through their problems, rather than demanding immediate change.
She says, "They can choose to blame a commissioner. In my view, that rarely helps."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (June 12, 2002): Red Flags Missed Before Tot's Death
Two-year-old Briyonna Jean-Noel of Miami was tragically killed by her mother's boyfriend, a young man whom her mother trusted and relied on regularly for child care.
"Typically, they have very unrealistic expectations about what children should be able to do at what age and no sense of what good discipline is like," Ms. Spears, said of boyfriends.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (June 3, 2002) Two States Lead Way to Reform
Illinois and Alabama both offer programs for children and families that Florida can emulate to improve its ailing child welfare system.
Linda Spears: "Every few years it looks like it does right now. That causes me concern, that the kinds of changes that generate out of each one of these crises isn't deep enough to hold very long. I look at Miami and I look at the governor's call for quick action and he's right, politically in terms of what the community wants, demands, and needs. But all the quick action I could give him, that's still not creating a system where this isn't going to happen again."
Newsday (May 25, 2002): Backlogs in Abuse Probes
Nearly 1,600 child abuse and neglect investigations by Suffolk and Nassau Counties in April 2002 were not completed within the 60-day period required by state law. Despite these missed deadlines, county officials maintained that no children were in danger because of the delays. Linda Spears disagrees.
Says Ms. Spears, "It (backlogs) can leave a family in limbo because they are waiting for the disposition of the case."
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (May 13, 2002): State's Response to Cases of Abuse: Create a New Panel:
A blue-ribbon panel appointed in 1995 by then-governor Lawton Chiles concluded that Florida's child welfare system is in dire need of reform. National child welfare advocates claim that Florida has historically been hampered in its efforts to reform child welfare services because each election cycle seems to bring a new sense of urgency to the problem, and with it, often an entirely new direction.
Linda Spears: "Florida seems to have a lot of these "idea du jours" happening, and in many ways, that undermines the consistency of approach. The child welfare system is a huge ship and it doesn't move on a dime. And when it gets going, changing direction requires a huge effort and a lot of follow-up."
The Washington Post (July 31, 2001): A Mother's Addiction, A Family's Recovery
After a decade lost to drug addiction, Brice, a woman from Southeast Washington, D.C. struggles to reclaim her life and her children. The Washington Post chronicles the family's story.
Linda Spears: "Such challenges (intense anger, inappropriate aggression, depression) make Brice typical of many mothers working their way back from crack hell."
The Albuquerque Journal Online (1997): Seeking a Safe Haven: Holes in a Safety Net
In the second article of her series entitled Seeking a Safe Haven, columnist Colleen Heild details how flaws in the child welfare system can oftentimes mean more trouble-instead of protection-for New Mexico's foster children.
Linda Spears provides statistics on the number of foster families nationwide that are involved in maltreatment allegations (1%).
Radio
Voices of America Radio Programs (April 2004): Child Abuse Prevention Month
Transcript Not Available.
WAMU Public Interest Radio with Kojo Nnamdi (November 2001): Adolescent Adoption
To increase adolescent adoptions, some agencies are trying controversial methods. Kojo Nnamdi hosted a lively discussion on new techniques to move older children from foster care to families with Linda Spears and Susan Orr, Associate Commissioner, Children's Bureau Administration on Children, Youth and Families.
WAMU Public Interest Radio with Kojo Nnamdi (January 2000): Foster Care Tragedies Lead to Increased Vigilance in D.C.
Reports of a D.C. toddler's death after being returned to her mother from foster care raised many questions about the District's foster care system. Kojo and guests discuss foster care, parental rights, and how to best ensure a child's safety and welfare.
Humboldt County, California Public Television Broadcast Community Forum (1999):
The need to improve child protection, youth services, and other children's services created the impetus for Humboldt County to convene this live community-wide forum featuring Linda Spears and several elected officials, community leaders and children's services professionals. Satellite survey and discussion sessions where also held in more than a dozen local sites.
Television:
Ms. Spears has appeared on several local District television stations to address pertinent topics such as child abuse, domestic violence, and child welfare reform.
- NBC4
- Local Fox News
- Local 4 Evening News
Transcripts Not Available.
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