Governor Rendell has signed an executive order establishing the Governor's Cabinet on Children and Families to coordinate and streamline services for children and families among the many government agencies where they reside. In addition, he named Lance Simmens as executive director of the cabinet.
"If our children are well cared for, we know that our communities are strong and our future is bright," Rendell said. "But we know that families continue to share concerns about the inability to navigate our complex systems of care – those are the concerns that will be addressed by this new cabinet. The cabinet will make recommendations to me on ways to creatively make the service delivery systems for children and families more responsive, efficient and effective."
The order establishes the 11 members of the cabinet as: the secretaries of Public Welfare, Education, Health, and Labor and Industry; the Secretary of the Budget; the Insurance Commissioner; the directors of the Office of Health Care Reform and the Governor's Office of Policy; the Governor's Chief of Staff; and the chairpersons of the Juvenile Court Judges' Commission and the Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Secretary of Public Welfare Estelle Richman will chair the cabinet. Lance Simmens has been named executive director.
Simmens served in senior-level positions in both the Carter and Clinton administrations with the US Small Business Administration, the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Commerce, and as senior advisor for the President's Commission on the Year 2000 Conversion. He also served on the US Senate Budget Committee and was assistant executive director of the US Conference of Mayors. For more information visit the Department of Public Welfare web site at www.dpw.state.pa.us (choose Children's Cabinet).