Christine Norbut Beyer

Commissioner, New Jersey Department of Children and Families

Elected Director

In 2018, Governor Phil Murphy appointed Christine Norbut Beyer to serve as the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families. As Commissioner, she is redefining the agency as a prevention-focused, child and family serving department, with a vision to help all New Jerseyans be safe, healthy, and connected. Christine began her career in social work as an intern working in a DCP&P local office, and spent 12 years at a private non-profit, before returning to state service and working her way up to serve as Director of the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, formerly known as DYFS, and then became the departments first Assistant Commissioner when she created the Office of Performance Management and Accountability, before leaving the department to work for Casey Family Programs.

There, she partnered with and supported the efforts of Public Child Welfare Agencies, State Legislatures, the Judiciary and Governors across the country in creating better outcomes for at-risk children. She also learned about and had the opportunity to delve deeply into the areas of Brain Science, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and Trauma-Informed Care and their intersection with child welfare. These are policy areas she has continued to prioritize at NJ DCF.

Today, under her leadership, DCF has reduced removals into foster care, improved kinship practices and created four transformational Offices of Family Voice, Resilience, Diversity, Equity and Belonging, and Staff Health and Wellness. She pioneered including family voice and healing-centered practice to inform departmental policies and initiated a Race Equity Steering Committee to study and correct disparities in reporting, investigating, and removing children of color from their families. Through her support of staff and collaborative leadership style, Christine successfully negotiated an exit to NJ’s 20-year federal lawsuit settlement, further elevating the state as a national leader in child welfare transformation. In 2021, she was served as an Aspen Institute Ascend Leadership Fellow.