State's human resources commissioner resigns
MONTGOMERY — One of Gov. Bob Riley's highest profile Cabinet members, Human Resources Commissioner Page Walley, is resigning to work for a national foundation that seeks to reduce the number of children in foster care.
Walley, 51, said he will step down Sept. 1 to become managing director for Casey Family Programs. Walley said the Seattle-based foundation will open an office in Birmingham, and he will work with several states, mostly in the South, to provide technical and financial support needed to get foster children into permanent, safe homes.
Riley appointed Walley as commissioner of the Alabama Department of Human Resources in January 2004 after he spent a year in Riley's Cabinet as commissioner of the Department of Children's Affairs. Before moving to Alabama, Walley served as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Walley has been running Alabama's second largest state agency, with about 4,500 employees scattered in all 67 counties. They handle a variety of social service programs ranging from investigating child abuse to distributing food stamp benefits.
During Walley's tenure, the Department of Human Resources met all the court-approved standards needed to satisfy a long-running lawsuit over care for foster children and children in troubled homes. The state came out from under federal court oversight in January 2007.
"After years of court oversight and turmoil, Alabama's DHR is today recognized as a national leader in child services. Other states are now looking to copy our programs because they are considered a model for the rest of the country," Riley said Tuesday.
Walley said the department's national recognition was followed by an executive recruitment firm contacting him about Casey Family Programs.
"I wanted to try to build on the extraordinary work we had already done in Alabama," he said.
Riley has not named a replacement for Walley.
