New Dallas County Juvenile director hoping to restore public trust

DALLAS - The director of the very troubled and still under criminal investigation Dallas County Juvenile Department is candidly addressing the issue – the good, the bad, and the necessary to turn juvenile services around.

Dallas County’s New Juvenile Services Director

What's new:

Lynn Hadnot comes to Dallas County after a decade heading the same department in Collin County. He’s been on the job for only three weeks.

"It’s been a lot to take to be honest," he said. "There’s a lot of people here who really love kids and that’s been one of the things that’s been crystal clear for me. There’s a lot of people who are here for the right reasons and there’s a lot of people who are committed to moving this department forward."

He’s tasked with restoring public trust after embattled director Darryl Beatty resigned.

"The accountability, to put it plain. That’s the elephant in the room, right? We want to make sure again that we are serving kids and families to a standard that is above reproach," Hadnot said.

Inspectors from the Office of Inspector General were in the office on Friday morning at the new director’s request.

"In Collin County, we had a great working relationship with that office. Ans so that’s the, again, the working relationship that we’re going to be committed to here in Dallas.

Troubled Dallas County Juvenile Department

The backstory:

There was public outrage last year after a state Office of Inspector General report showed neglect, falsified reports, and youth in solitary confinement – behind the door – sometimes for days.

Investigators wrote that the former director had ample opportunity to take corrective action.

"The most troubling of the report is that youth were held for long periods of time, sometimes days in their rooms and regardless of whether that was a product of the pandemic, the COVID crisis, it was a practice that should have been discontinued immediately when staffing levels actually went up," Mike Griffiths, the interim director of the Dallas County Juvenile Department, told FOX 4 in December.

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What they're saying:

Hadnot called some of those practices like "behind the door" antiquated or archaic.

"They absolutely are," he said. "Barbaric and Draconian and things that I would never submit to. And in terms of moving forward beyond that, please know that I did read those reports. Those are things that I took into careful consideration in making the decision on whether or not this would be the right opportunity for me in my career in terms of moving forward and my commitment to serving kids. And ultimately, after careful prayer and discernment and talking with family and friends, it became clear that this was the next move for me."

What's next:

Hadnot calls his career in juvenile work a walk of faith. 

"Faith being devoted to the Lord’s call to this specific work and being prayerful about seeking his discernment in every decision I make means everything," he said.

And now, as he walks into leadership at Dallas County Juvenile, he hopes to write a new chapter.