After four and half years of leading the Juvenile Services Division (JSD), Christina McMahan has accepted a position as the Juvenile Department Director for Clackamas County after their long time director, Ellen Crawford, retired in October of last year.
In her time at DCJ, Christina leveraged her extensive experience working in the juvenile justice system to helped build new partnerships between JSD and community organizations. She also brought a focus on the need to analyze the racial and ethnic disparities in our juvenile justice system and create programs to begin addressing these disparities. Her leadership led to implementation of the first Title IV-E claiming program in Oregon as well as being the only detention center of Oregon’s eleven county-operated facilities to implement Performance-based Standards to improve our conditions of confinement for youth and the work environment for our Custody Services staff.
While Christina admits she is looking forward to this new chapter, she leaves with an appreciation of the staff at DCJ. “I leave with gratitude for the many opportunities I have had to learn and grow in Multnomah County, and to work with some amazing and dedicated juvenile professionals and DCJ employees.“
“Christina put in place a solid foundation that will allow us to continue to improve our juvenile justice system”, said Director Scott Taylor. “I have greatly valued her dedication and hard work in continuing the cutting edge work of our juvenile justice division.”
At a goodbye gathering of staff and colleagues, comments like “She gets things done”, “Hardworking” and “Fair” were repeated. Several staff specifically thanked Christina for her mentorship and continued support to get them where they are today. The general consensus in the room is that as Assistant Director, Christina worked hard to support staff while moving the division forward.
A nationwide search will begin to find a replacement. While that search is going on Truls Neal, Deputy Director, will assume her leadership responsibilities.
DCJ wishes her well and will miss her, even though she is just a county over.