Hon. Mitchell E. Daniels
Governor

State of Indiana
State House
Room 206
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Indiana

The Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels, Governor of the State of Indiana, ran for office pledging children and children's issues to be an important component of his campaign and administration. He has honored this commitment with extraordinary results. In a few short years, the Governor's list of accomplishments has transformed Indiana's child protection system, establishing a foundation and framework to qualify it as one of the best programs in the nation.

A few of the Governor's myriad accomplishments include: the creation of the Department of Child Services as a separate, cabinet-level position; the authority to hire 400 new case managers from July 1, 2005 to June 30, 2007; the expansion of training into a public partnership with the premier social work program in Indiana through the Indiana University School of Social Work; reorganization of the Department to realize more coordination and systemic oversight and management; approval of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) for the first time in 32 years; reform of practice into a model of family and child engagement at the earliest moment; a technology upgrade to assure the implementation of standards designated as necessary to achieve the best service to children and families; and a strengthening of the child support establishment along with enforcement as an essential part of the effort to strengthen families for permanency. Further, more accomplishments are in process, such as the hiring of an additional 400 new case managers from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

The accomplishments cited and those too numerous to list have been possible solely because of the vision and ongoing commitment of Governor Daniels, a Chief State Executive Officer who understands and appreciates the need to protect children and strengthen families and willingly supports any and all measures to realize such a mission. For all of our communities and each of our 50 states, the Honorable Mitchell E. Daniels demonstrates a model of leadership for protecting children and strengthening families.