Children's Cabinet Advisory Board

Judge Ree J. Casey-Jones is the Chief Judge at the Caddo Parish Juvenile Court in Shreveport. She presides over the Family Preservation Drug Courts, Child Support, Adoptions, Juvenile delinquency matters, and the newly implemented STAR Court which is a court for youth who are victims of human trafficking. She frequently travels throughout the country visiting other courts and spends several hours learning new and innovative ways to provide fair access to justice to citizens in Caddo Parish.

She was recently selected by the office of Governor John Bel Edwards to serve on the Board of Directors for the Louisiana Children's Trust Fund and the Louisiana Children’s Cabinet. She was also selected by Chief Justice John Weimer of the Louisiana Supreme Court to serve as Chair of the Court Improvement Program?in conjunction with the Pelican Center of Louisiana and a committee for the Louisiana Supreme Court Board of Ethics. 

She’s a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc, Jack and Jill of America, Inc., The Links, Incorporated and as well several professional organizations.

She is married to Dr. Darwin Jones and is the mother to Dawson Casey Jones.

Dr. Amy Dickson is a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor at Louisiana State University’s Medical School in New Orleans where she has been on faculty in the Department of Psychiatry since 1999. At LSUHSC Dr. Dickson is the Director of the LSUHSC Infant Team which treats children under the age of 6 years in the foster care system in several parishes in Louisiana. This program supports two child court teams in the state and Dr. Dickson consults to local child protection offices. Dr. Dickson co-directs the Harris Infant Mental Health training program with Dr. Joy Osofsky, a year-long intensive training program teaching clinicians infant mental health. She is a Child-Parent Psychotherapy trainer and is part of several learning collaboratives teaching other mental health professionals about infant mental health and Early Childhood Court. Dr. Dickson is part of a multidisciplinary team bringing the Early Childhood Supports and Services program back to Louisiana which will support all families with young children throughout the state.

Dr. Dickson is the Child Coordinator of LSUHSC’s APPIC-approved psychology predoctoral internship program, she teaches medical students, social work trainees, psychology trainees, and child psychiatry residents, and she is the Deputy Director of the Psychology Section at the medical school. Dr. Dickson treats a wide variety of adults and children, though she specializes in trauma work and infant mental health and trains locally and nationally in these areas. 

Julie Foster Hagan has served as the Assistant Secretary for the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities in the Louisiana Department of Health since July of 2018. Julie has worked for OCDD for more than 25 years in several leadership roles, including Deputy Assistant Secretary, Administrator of North Lake Supports and Services Center and Program Manager of the statewide OCDD Resource Centers.? She was a recognized honoree by the Louisiana Chapter of AAIDD for the 2000 – 2023 Louisiana Historic Recognition Project as a person who has helped to transform the intellectual / developmental disabilities filed in Louisiana. Julie has served as a Member-At-Large on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State Directors of Developmental Disabilities since 2022, and she has been a member of the NASDDDS National Policy Workgroup since 2019. Julie was appointed as a Voting Member to the National Advisory Council for Individuals with Disabilities in Disasters in 2022. Her drive is to foster quality improvements in the intellectual / developmental disabilities service delivery system that will help people to have more independent and meaningful lives in the community.

Julie obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Education degree in the field of Speech/Language Pathology and a Master of Business Administration in Health Care Administration from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. She is married to Darren and she has one son, four stepchildren, and five grandchildren.

Annette Fruge’ is the Director of Family and Community Support for Families Helping Families of Acadiana (FHFOA). FHFOA is one of ten centers throughout Louisiana that provides services to individuals with disabilities and their families. She has eight years of work experience within the nonprofit sector, social services, mental health/behavioral health, suicide education and disability related issues.

While at FHFOA she has worked numerous contracts, including but not limited to LaCAN, EarlySteps, OCDD/Acadiana Area Human Services District, and assisted with Special Education services. Annette has personal experience of advocating on the legislative level and being the voice for her daughter with a disability. This has made her knowledgeable of parental rights, laws and community resources.

She has served on various boards of directors including, St. Landry Abilities, City of Opelousas Mayor’s Task Force Commission, Dads & Kids, Together We Are, P.A.R.E.N.T.S., and St. Landry Parish Federal Credit Union. 

Annette has served on the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board since 2017 as a Parent Representative. She now currently represents Families Helping Families of Acadiana. 

Krystle Mitchellis the Executive Director of the Louisiana Alliance of Children's Advocacy Centers. In this role, Krystle is responsible for managing the daily operations and programming of LACAC. She works to empower CACs across Louisiana to serve victims and families better, increase access to quality training, develop statewide resources, and provide support for CACs to achieve and maintain national accreditation standards. 
 
Krystle attended Alcorn State University (ASU) and has over a decade of experience working with children and families. While in the non-profit sector at the Gulf Coast Center for Nonviolence and the South Mississippi Children's Advocacy Center (SMCAC), she held various roles, starting as a Child and Family Advocate, supporting families who experienced trauma and abuse. She advanced to become the MDT Facilitator and, finally, the Director. Krystle oversaw the day-to-day operations, worked with staff to meet the needs of individuals served by the center, and played a key role in building relationships with the public and community leaders. She also promoted and delivered education and awareness initiatives focusing on essential programming related to abuse, violence, and human trafficking for the community. 

Krystle, a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, is dedicated to living out the values of the LACAC organization and helping others fight interpersonal violence by walking every day in her God-given purpose. 

Chenier Reynolds Montz is the Senior Vice President of School Health and Strategic Media for Access Health Louisiana. She is responsible for overseeing the operations of 41 school-based health centers in 12 Louisiana parishes, as well as the marketing and development at Access Health Louisiana. Access Health Louisiana is a network of Federally Qualified Health Centers in the state. Mrs. Reynolds-Montz serves as the President of the Louisiana School Based Health Alliance for 2022-2024,and will continue to serve on its Board of Directors from 2024-on. She is a PhD candidate at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia studying ways to improve enrollment in school-based health center services among underserved populations. She has a Master’s in Business Administration with a specialization in Healthcare Management, as well as a Master’s of Science in Marketing & Communication from Loyola University in New Orleans. She was awarded an Executive Certificate in Communications by Liberty University. In 2023, she was awarded a G.R.I.T. Award from the National School-Based Health Alliance for her work in expanding and sustaining school-based health centers in Louisiana. Chenier is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a Fellow of the Nancy Marsiglia Institute for Justice, an alum of the Emerging Philanthropists of New Orleans, Sigma Kappa Sorority and Delta Sigma Pi Business Fraternity, as well as a member of Junior League New Orleans. Mrs. Reynolds-Montz was recognized by two National University Honor Societies – Beta Gamma Sigma and Alpha Sigma Pi - for ranking in the top tier of graduate students throughout both master’s programs and her current PhD program. 

Chenier is married with two children and actively involved in both her children’s schools. She loves volunteering in her church parish’s summer vacation Bible School program and helping to support programs which help children in her community. 

Courtney Myers is a native of Baton Rouge. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Centenary College of Louisiana where she was a member of the Division I tennis team. After graduating from Centenary, she obtained a Juris Doctorate from Southern University Law Center in 2012. Before accepting the position of Assistant Secretary of the Office of Juvenile Justice, Ms. Myers had been an Assistant District Attorney in East Baton Rouge Parish in the Juvenile Section since November 2013. In September 2018, she became the Section Chief of the Juvenile Division. 

Ms. Myers is a member of American Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Association, and Baton Rouge Bar Association. She was a liaison for the Louisiana District Attorney’s Association, a member of the National District Attorney’s Association Juvenile Advisory Board, and a member of the Baton Rouge Children’s Advocacy Center Advisory Counsel. She is also a member of the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative State Collaborative, a member of the Joint Court Improvement Program/Child Advocacy Resource Effort Advisory Committee, and a member of the Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board. Ms. Myers has assisted in planning and has trained others in juvenile delinquency and child in need of care proceedings across Louisiana 

Angela Wiggins Harris, LCSW-BACS, C-SSWS has practiced social work for over thirty years in varied social service positions. Currently, as a Clinical Strategy & Practice Lead on the Medicaid Equitable Population Health Management Clinical Team with Humana, Inc., she focuses on advancing program capabilities to support Behavioral Health (BH) and social health outcomes, while supporting the strategic framework for BH case management and BH models of care. Angela previously served as the Behavioral Health Children’s System Administrator for Humana’s Medicaid Louisiana Health Plan. Prior to joining Humana, Angela served as the Executive Director of the Office of Student Support & Attendance with NOLA Public Schools & the Recovery School District, where she led strategic planning, program design and administration, staff and financial management, and policy development and implementation. Angela’s social work career also includes owning and managing a private practice (ARW, Inc), mental health advocacy, and juvenile justice reform.

Angela currently serves on the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board, representing the National Association of Social Workers, Louisiana Chapter (NASW-LA). As a member of the Board of Directors with NASW-LA, she serves as the Executive Committee Member at Large and previously served as the Regional Chair for the New Orleans Region.