Columbus chapter of NAACP happy about new Franklin County Children Services director

New chief ready to weather storms
Tasks await Children Services director
Price, Rita. Columbus Dispatch. Feb. 4, 2007, pg. B1.

For the screen saver on his office computer, Eric Fenner picked a high-seas storm: a thin, menacing waterspout dancing atop a dark, roiling ocean.

Most of the time he lets the waves slosh back and forth silently, but the display has optional sound, too. Either way, it's terrifying, especially for the new Franklin County Children Services director.

"I can't swim," Fenner said.

He plans to use the scene for perspective. Whatever the day brings, it probably won't be as bad as that. Plus, "It's a reminder," Fenner said. "In child-welfare, storms can come up any time. And they frequently do."

Three days ago, Fenner completed his 28-year journey from caseworker to chief.

He moved into the office of outgoing director John Saros on Thursday, carrying boxes and a bit of invisible baggage as well. Fenner is the first in-house candidate, and the first black, to head the 735-employee agency.

He doesn't mind if the distinction is noted, so long as no one expects it to define him.

"First, I am extremely proud. My heart swells, and I mean that," said Fenner, 51. "I think I'm the only current African-American director of a public child-welfare agency in Ohio right now."

Fenner grew up in Washington, D.C., and said he'll naturally bring a perspective to the job that a white director might not. "But I don't speak for all African-Americans," he said. "We're not one monolithic community."

Noel Williams, president of the Columbus chapter of the NAACP, said the organization is happy about Fenner's ascendance.

The local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had filed a grievance with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2004, charging that Franklin County Children Services doesn't respect cultural differences. The NAACP also said that black children suffer the
most under a failed local-welfare system.

Fenner was a part of the federal mediation that followed. It led Children Services to adopt a plan in September that strives to reduce the number of black children in foster care, recruit more black social workers and promote cultural understanding.

"It appears that our input is important to him and it is going to be valued," Williams said. "It makes a lot of sense to choose Mr. Fenner to run this agency."

Were those the only thorny issues for Fenner to tend to, it probably would be enough.

There also are the matters of high caseworker turnover, a new union contract to negotiate in 2008 (a strike two years ago was particularly nasty) and a tax-levy campaign in 2009.

He might need to win over some wary employees as well.

Veteran caseworker Beth Earl, president of the Professionals Guild of Ohio, said some union members wonder just how wide Fenner's door will open.

"In the past, some people have viewed Mr. Fenner as unapproachable," Earl said. "We shared that concern recently, and he said he wants to be approachable.

"I've seen him making an effort, and I'm glad. I felt like he wanted to hear what we said."

Fenner said he's already trying to go beyond verbal assurances. He directed his assistant to schedule time for him "to walk around and talk to people. If you don't schedule things, sometimes they don't get done."

Teens in foster care also will have a chance to unload on the man in charge, Fenner said. He wants to develop a teen council that will have access to him and other administrators.

"It's fascinating, their perspective," he said. "What's even more fascinating is when you ask them to tell you how you're doing."

Ask Fenner how he wound up in social work -- the majority of social workers are young, white women -- and the best answer he can think of is his grandmother. When the family lived in North Carolina, before moving to Washington, Fenner's grandmother made a habit of pulling together meals, or some kind of aid, for the drifters who came through town.

"Empathy," Fenner said. "She instilled it."

He came to Columbus by way of a basketball scholarship to Ohio Dominican University and soon began working as a weekend case aide.

Fenner left Children Services in 1988, working for the county human-services agency, the courts and the Ohio Youth Advocate Program. He came back in 2001 and became deputy executive director three years later.

Fenner's wife, Lynn, is in social work, too, and their professional paths sometimes cross and conflict. She recently agreed to leave her administrative job with Ohio Youth Advocate, a private foster-care provider, because it does business with the public agency her husband now leads.

"My wife has had to move three times," Fenner said. "She's a very patient woman."

Fenner was hired at $140,000 a year, about $8,000 more than Saros, who had run the agency for nearly 13 years.

Responsibility for 5,000 open cases and contact with 29,000 children a year, plus a $173 million budget, justifies the compensation, Fenner said.

"I have this cell phone. It's always on. I'm always on."

It doesn't matter whether he's at a sports event with his two grown sons, eating ice cream with his 13-year-old daughter or mowing the grass at their Westerville home.

A storm can pop up anytime.

Eric Fenner, left, checks in on John Saros, the outgoing director of Franklin County Children Services. Fenner, who previously served as deputy director, took over from Saros on Thursday. Eric Fenner, 51, is the new director of Franklin County Children Services.