Last month, we reported rumours Marilyn Hedlund, Saskatchewan's child and family services executive director, had been chosen as British Columbia's new child welfare director - the post once held by Jeremy Berland. So it will come as no surprise to our readers that, today, children and family development deputy minister Lesley Du Toit announced Ms. Hedlund would indeed be serving as the statutory officer responsible for administering the Child, Family and Community Service Act and the Adoption Act. The following is a complete copy of that announcement.

Dear Colleagues,

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Marilyn Hedlund as Provincial Director of Child Welfare. Marilyn will serve as the statutory officer designated by the Minister, under the Child, Family and Community Service Act and Adoption Act.

Marilyn holds a Master of Social Work degree from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Simon Fraser University. She has many years experience within the Saskatchewan public service in child welfare and related areas, including the past four years as Executive Director, Child and Family Services Division within Saskatchewan Community Resources, a position with many parallels to her new appointment. She has held other management and policy roles including Commissioner for the Saskatchewan Legal Aid Commission, Associate Executive Director of Income Security Programs and Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy Minister's Office. She has been a front-line young offenders youth worker, a teen foster care worker, a special foster home worker and an assessment and planning coordinator for a residential facility.

We look forward to having Marilyn here starting in January and I trust you will give her the support she needs for the challenging work ahead. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mark Sieben for the excellent work he has done while acting as the Director of Child Welfare since February 16, 2006. We are excited that he will be free in January to continue full-time in his role as policy and legislation ADM.

Kind regards,

Lesley