Jerry Foxhoven to succeed Chuck Palmer as Iowa DHS chief

A well-known leader in child protection and family law has been tapped to be the next head of the state agency in charge of caring for Iowa's most vulnerable residents.

Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Wednesday that Jerry Foxhoven, 64, will serve as director of the Iowa Department of Human Services. Foxhoven will succeed retiring DHS Director Chuck Palmer, whose final day is Friday.

The state announced Palmer's retirement at the end of May. He served as DHS director twice, once from 1989 to 1999 and again in 2011.

'Jerry Foxhoven is the compassionate, thoughtful leader we need serving in this important role,” Reynolds said in a statement. 'DHS is on the front lines, working in all Iowa's communities to ensure our state's families are able to access the service and protection they expect and deserve.

'Jerry has the experience, qualification, respect and passion to excel in this demanding role.”

Foxhoven will be tasked with leading an agency that serves more than one million Iowans each year and administers necessary services, including food assistance, Medicaid, child welfare, mental health and disability services.

The department has received criticism over the past several years for controversial decisions such as moving nearly 600,000 Medicaid recipients over to private health insurance plans in April 2016, closing two state-run Mental Health Institutes and shutting the Iowa Juvenile Home in Toledo. The private Medicaid insurers are have each lost more than $100 million in their first year of operation, health care providers are still running into reimbursement issues and, earlier this week, six disabled Medicaid beneficiaries filed a lawsuit against Reynolds.

Most recently, legislators have turned their focus to DHS after two separate deaths of adopted teenage girls in central Iowa.

Foxhoven began practicing law in 1977 with an emphasis on trial practice in criminal and civil law. He was involved in juvenile and family law cases until 2000, when he became the leader of the Iowa Child Advocacy Board. There, he developed and implemented personnel policies, strategic planning and public policy advocacy.

He also was director of two separate child welfare advocacy programs - Court Appointed Special Advocate and Iowa Citizen Foster Care Review Board.

'I have spent my life defending and protecting the rights of others,” Foxhoven said. 'To do so in this elevated position is a challenge I humbly accept. I look forward to building trust and relationships in all 99 counties, working on behalf of all Iowans as we work together to solve the challenges many Iowa families are facing each day.”

In 2006, Foxhoven became director of the Joan and Lyle Middleton Center for Children's Rights, a state and national advocacy center focusing on children's rights issues.

Around the same time, he joined Drake Law School as a clinical professor, where he instructed juvenile law for third-year law students. He supervised students in Juvenile Court proceedings and in the Legislative Practice Program as they drafted bills and lobbied for passage of bills pertaining to issues involving youth.

'Jerry Foxhoven has been a mentor to countless students, many of whom are now working as lawyers and lobbyists to advance the cause of improving the lives of children and other vulnerable people in Iowa,” said Jerry Anderson, dean of Drake University Law School. 'He brought a clarity of vision and a strength of leadership that empowered our Legal Clinic to serve more Iowans in need, and to better prepare students for careers in law.”

Foxhoven most recently served as executive director of Clinical Programs and professor of law at Drake University's School of Law. While there, he supervised a number of administrative responsibilities relating to the school.

'The selection of Jerry Foxhoven is a positive step,” said Sen. Liz Mathis, D-Robins and ranking member of the Senate Human Resources Committee. 'His inclusive style will serve him well as he digs into the work that needs to be done with the department and the issues around the Medicaid-to-managed-care transition.”

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