Vannessa Dorantes joined Casey Family Programs following her second term as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (CT DCF), and the first African American to serve in that role for the state of Connecticut managing a department budget of 868 million dollars and a staff count of 3,200.

Dorantes chaired the Governor’s Kids Cabinet, co-chaired Connecticut’s Alcohol & Drug Policy Council, and the Governor’s Council on Women & Girls. DCF’s racial equity work was focused through safety culture modeling, performance management, and continuous quality improvement as evidenced by Connecticut’s successful exit from a three-decades-long federal consent decree in 2022 which garnered national media attention following the reduction of a third of the state’s foster care population.

Within the 30+ years with CT DCF, Dorantes has held every position in the department’s social work job class and was an adjunct faculty at Central CT State University. She served on the Social Work Advisory Boards of two state universities during their CSWE re-accreditation, and as a member of the UCONN School of Social Work Board of Advocates and Dean search committee. Dorantes holds a certification in supervision and field instruction.

Dorantes is a member of the Board of Directors of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and APHSA where she also chaired the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators (NAPCWA), an affinity group of APHSA.