Heading Up DCF And Navigating The Juan F. Consent Decree: A Personal History

Originally published by the Connecticut Law Tribune

A few of you may recall the story I told to the Bridgeport Bar Association in 2011 about my decision to step down from the Supreme Court to serve as Connecticut's DCF Commissioner—to give up the job that most lawyers would kill for to assume one that most lawyers would rather be organ donors while still alive than take on.

It was Thanksgiving, 2010, and my son was home on break from his last year in medical school. While my husband tried desperately to challenge my thinking, my son tried to encourage me, inserting himself in the conversation. He always understood his mother—my theory is that women have sons to have better versions of their husbands. So he began by reminding me of things I had said to him growing up.