Leadership tends to be one of those amorphous terms that we all use but often can't quite define. However, when it is there, we agree it makes an incredible difference. Nowhere did this become more obvious than when the governor appointed former state Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz as commissioner of the Department of Children and Families. (DCF)

As co-chair of the Select Committee on Children, I can attest that her appointment is already bringing positive change and measurable results to a very troubled agency. By collaborating with her, the Select Committee on Children finished the session with 12 of our bills signed into law, a record for the committee.

Upon her appointment, Katz wasted no time in sharing her vision of a radically different DCF. No longer will DCF be the nexus for the faceless bureaucrat. The commissioner envisions an agency framed by the tough concepts of Results Based Accountability (RBA). Rather than shrink from a methodology intended to expose programs that aren't working, she embraced it. Changing the culture at DCF takes courage, commitment and a person that is not risk adverse. Commissioner Katz is all that and more.

The commissioner showed up at innumerable public hearings, engaged in lively and frank discourse with committees, sought out leadership for advice and counsel, and was there to help work a bill even if it was 2 a.m. during a marathon session.

Among the reforms is an initiative to tackle the problem of too few foster homes by eliminating archaic age requirements for child placement and the requirement that a child has to have a separate bedroom when placed with a relative.

Recognizing the depth of the adolescent trafficking problem, the legislature made it a law that when police arrest a 16- or 17-year-old for prostitution the arresting officer must report to DCF, which can conduct a child abuse investigation.

Acting on an initiative by the select committee, lawmakers established a Working Group on Youth Violence. We approved legislation supporting a pilot truancy clinic in Waterbury that is showing great success at keeping kids in school as well as saving the city $60,000 a year.

A new law will give the commissioner the ability to access health, education and other pertinent information on its clients and share it with the families caring for them.

Two other initiatives, I believe, are unique in the country.

One breaks down the silos between DCF and the Department of Agriculture by requiring them to cross report incidences of child abuse and animal cruelty through mandatory sharing of information. This policy recognizes the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence. When someone abuses an animal, research indicates an 80 percent chance of child abuse as well.

Meanwhile, a major new policy mandates an annual Results-Based Accountability report card to evaluate - using data-driven analysis - which programs are working and which are not. The state spends about $5.6 billion a year on the welfare of children and this report, due annually in January, will "follow the money."

This was a banner year for our children and families. Under the leadership of Commissioner Katz, I anticipate many more.

Diana Urban is the state representative for the towns of Stonington and North Stonington.