Jan Byland

Jan is a passionate, committed leader and collaborator for safe and thriving children and families as well as thriving staff partners. Inspired in law school by the opportunity to strengthen Louisiana’s laws and policies relating to children and families, Jan joined the Department twenty years ago and was quickly selected to serve on the Children’s Code Committee of the Louisiana Law Institute. In her time with the department, Jan has developed a deep appreciation and high regard for the many dedicated staff and partners who step up every day to attend to the needs of children and families with competence, compassion, and respect.

In her role as Child Welfare Training Academy Director, Jan will focus on strengthening Louisiana’s child welfare training system and workforce capacities for best practice, partnering with others within and outside the department, to strengthen outcomes for children and families. During her tenure with the agency, she has worked in many different leadership roles, all focused on building effective and sustainable system capacities for achieving safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for those served.

Jan has modeled continuous learning throughout her career, including attaining her Master’s in Social Work while working for the Department full-time, participating in the inaugural Innovations in Louisiana Government Fellows Leadership Development Program, the cross-agency Lean Six Sigma Team, and the Chapin Hall Center for Advanced Analytics for Child Welfare Administration.