Linda S. Spears was appointed President and C.E.O. of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) in October 2023. CWLA is a powerful coalition of hundreds of private and public agencies that, since 1920, has championed better lives for millions of children and families who are vulnerable. Linda is currently leading a comprehensive strategic planning initiative that will chart a new course for CWLA focused improving child welfare practice and policies, and addressing inequities that compromise the well-being of children, families and communities.
Linda began her career in child welfare as a social caseworker for the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families. She is a veteran social worker and policy expert who returned to CWLA after serving as the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families Commissioner for over eight years. There, she led some 4,200 social workers and staff who served approximately 45,000 children with a budget of $1.2 billion. Shortly into her tenure, the administration entered an unprecedented partnership with social workers to initiate a system-wide transformation based on a 2014 quality improvement review conducted by Linda’s CWLA team. This reform supported comprehensive policy reforms and included the addition of 600+ new social workers and managers; a restructured foster parent and kinship family recruitment, licensing, and support operation; the Department’s first medical director, and medical social workers for all D.C.F. offices; and expansions of clinical specialty services in domestic violence, substance use, and mental health. The work also included new policies on services to children and families who are LGBTQIA+ and those dealing with disabilities.
Linda also led the development of new user-friendly technology tools that included new mobile interfaces for social workers and foster parents, use of natural language processing tools to mine case records and streamlined business processes that supports also supported the agency transformation.
Commissioner Spears attended the University of Rhode Island and holds a B.A. in psychology. She received her M.S.W. from the University of Southern California and is pursuing a Ph.D. in social work at Simmons University.