Leadership shakeup at OCFS

The acting head of the state Office of Children and Family Services will be stepping down from her leadership post, according to three sources familiar with the personnel change.

Suzanne Miles-Gustave, who joined the organization in 2014, stepped into the top job at the end of 2022, following the departure of OCFS Commissioner Sheila Poole. She is the fourth head of a state agency to depart the Hochul administration or announce plans to leave since the end of January.

Multiple Albany insiders pointed to Dr. DaMia Harris-Madden, executive director of the Westchester County Youth Bureau, as the likely next head of OCFS.

The agency and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to questions about this issue.

Miles-Gustave joined The Capitol Pressroom last summer to talk about a state pilot program testing the link between poverty and child neglect cases.

Update on March 7: Gov. Kathy Hochul tapped Harris-Madden to lead OCFS, with her first day on April 8.