NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday tapped Rebecca Jones Gaston as the next commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, New York City’s child protective services agency.

Jones Gaston is a former President Joe Biden official and front-line caseworker, according to City Hall. In interviews, she has spoken about her own background being a Black child adopted from foster care by a white family in the Midwest.

“I am proud to appoint Rebecca Jones Gaston as Commissioner of ACS,” Mamdani said in a statement. “She has dedicated her career to building smarter, stronger systems that keep children safe and families together.”

“With her leadership, we will continue building a city where every child is safe, every family is supported and every young person has the opportunity to flourish.”

As commissioner, Jones Gaston assumes responsibility for a system that responds to tens of thousands of allegations of suspected child abuse or neglect every year, disproportionately made against Black and Hispanic families in poor neighborhoods and the majority of which are eventually deemed unfounded.

ACS also manages the city’s juvenile detention centers and issues child care vouchers.

Jones Gaston’s appointment comes after ACS had been without a permanent leader since the beginning of March. Former Mayor Eric Adams’ commissioner, Jess Dannhauser, announced in January he was stepping down from the post, giving Mamdani a long runway to select his own top child welfare official.

But that process was mired in delays and Mamdani’s shortlist was scrutinized, including one candidate who had publicly demanded the “abolition” of child protective services, which critics refer to as the “family policing” system. Dannhauser’s last day was March 2; he was replaced by his deputy, Melissa Hester, in the interim.

On the topic of the abolition of child protective services, Jones Gaston at a 2023 seminar took a moderate stance, calling for the dismantling of “pieces of the system” that are particularly destructive to poor families of color, while building up programs that help children stay with their families and in their neighborhoods.

“For me, it’s a balance,” Jones Gaston said at a National Press Foundation training for reporters.

Before founding her own consulting firm, Jones Gaston was Biden’s commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, joining the administration in late 2022.

She also led both Maryland and Oregon’s child welfare agencies under Democrat and Republican governors. Overall, she has worked in human services and child welfare for nearly three decades as a social worker, advocate, therapist, consultant and administrator.

In a statement, Jones Gaston said this is a “moment that calls for us to reimagine how we show up for children, youth, and families across New York City.”

“This is our opportunity to move beyond managing crisis,” the commissioner said, “and instead invest in prevention, trust and strengthen families, and ensure every family and child has a real pathway to stability, belonging, and opportunity.”

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