New boss brings team-building skill, if not child-welfare expertise, to DHS

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, October, 2006 | by John Sullivan

Arthur C. Evans Jr., Mayor Street's pick to lead the beleaguered Department of Human Services, knows plenty about about mental health - his speciality - but little about child welfare. His strength, friends say, is that he knows how to build a team. That skill will be in demand at 1515 Arch St., where Evans will try to make peace among 1,770 workers in five divisions as the acting commissioner.

On Friday, Street forced out the agency's two top leaders, Commissioner Cheryl Ransom-Garner and deputy John McGee. Hundreds of angry DHS workers stormed off the job, flooding into the street, blocking traffic, and demanding a meeting with the mayor. Ransom-Garner and McGee lost their jobs after an Inquirer investigation into child-abuse deaths. Evans, who has worked closely with...