Kathryn “Kate” Williams serves as the Deputy Secretary for the Florida Department of Children and Families. In this role, Ms. Williams she provides operational and policy leadership across the Department’s key statewide programs, including Child and Family Well-Being, Economic Self-Sufficiency, Substance Abuse and Mental Health, Quality and Innovation, and Community Services, ensuring that Florida’s families are effectively connected to the services and supports they need to thrive.
As Assistant Secretary for the Office of Child and Family Well-Being, Ms. Williams led statewide prevention and diversion strategies that brought Florida to a 20-year low in children entering out-of-home care, while overseeing major system reforms, including the transition of several Community-Based Care Lead Agencies, technology modernization projects, and the integration of Child Protective Investigations from Sheriff’s Offices into the Department. With over 18 years of state government experience, Ms. Williams brings proven leadership in managing multi-billion-dollar budgets, directing multi-million-dollar contracts, and advancing key legislative priorities. Her efforts have driven the launch and expansion of transformative initiatives such as Family Navigation, Behavioral Health Consultants, and the Child Welfare Safety Practice Model.
Ms. Williams holds a Master of Science in Criminal Justice and a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and Psychology from the University of North Florida, and Ms. Williams maintains her certification as a Child Protective Investigator. A dedicated wife and mother of two, Ms. Williams remains deeply committed to advancing the Department’s mission of supporting Florida’s most vulnerable children and families.
Kathryn Whitehurst Carbone currently serves as the Chief of Staff at the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF). Throughout her professional career, Ms. Carbone has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to serving vulnerable Floridians and ensuring the systems created to support them are achieving those goals. Prior to assuming her current role, Ms. Carbone served as the Deputy Director at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD). In this role, Ms. Carbone oversaw the Agency’s client-facing operations and programs, including all regional operations; application, eligibility, and enrollment processes; provider development and monitoring; and project management. Ms. Carbone worked alongside Agency leadership to ensure APD was a sought-after resource and navigator for Floridians with disabilities. Through her work, Ms. Carbone sought to enrich the experience for individuals and families through efficient and meaningful service delivery to achieve greater program effectiveness and ensure a systematic approach towards transparency and accountability to achieve quality and operational excellence.
Prior to joining the APD team, Ms. Carbone served as Staff Director at DCF, providing direct support to the Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, and leadership teams across the agency to remove barriers, implement key strategies, and achieve DCF goals. Before that, Ms. Carbone served as the Director of Partnerships and External Affairs within the Office of Economic Self-Sufficiency. In this role Ms. Carbone oversaw and maintained local-community based partnerships throughout the state of Florida and ensured the timely and effective resolution of sensitive and public-facing issues, including inter-agency coordination on responses to external stakeholders.
Ms. Carbone experience spans in both the private and public sectors, including positions with The Southern Group of Florida, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the American Enterprise Institute, and the U.S. House of Representatives.
A proud Florida native and graduate of the University of Florida, Ms. Carbone enjoys spending time with her family and remains deeply committed to public service.
Brooke Bass serves as the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Child and Family Well-Being at the Florida Department of Children and Families, where Ms. Bass provides executive leadership for Florida's child welfare system, overseeing statewide efforts to protect vulnerable children, strengthen families, and improve outcomes for children and youth across the continuum of care.
In this role, Ms. Bass oversees child welfare operations and leads the development and implementation of child welfare policy and practice, guiding initiatives focused on child protection, prevention and family preservation, foster care, permanency, adoption, independent living services, and quality improvement. Working in partnership with Community-Based Care lead agencies, the judiciary, tribal partners, system of care providers, other state agencies and community stakeholders, Ms. Bass is committed to ensuring that Florida's child welfare system promotes child safety, timely permanency, and family well-being.
With more than 22 years of experience in child welfare and public service, and almost 20 years at the Florida Department of Children and Families, Ms. Bass formerly served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations as well as the Statewide Director of Child Protective Investigations and has held leadership positions in program operations, strategic planning, policy development, and systems improvement. Throughout her career, Ms. Bass has championed innovative, data-informed approaches that strengthen services for children and families while fostering collaboration across government agencies, private entities and community partners.
Under Ms. Bass's leadership, the Office of Child and Family Well-Being continues to advance initiatives that enhance prevention services, support family stability, improve child welfare practice, modernize service delivery, and strengthen accountability throughout Florida's child welfare system.
Ms. Bass is dedicated to cultivating a high-performing workforce and building strong partnerships that support the Department's mission of protecting the vulnerable, promoting strong and economically self-sufficient families, and advancing personal and family recovery and resiliency.
Bridget Royster serves as the Assistant Secretary for the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) Economic Self Sufficiency (ESS) Program where Ms. Royster oversees the state’s government assistance programs, including SNAP (Food Assistance), TANF (Cash Assistance), and Medicaid. In this role, Ms. Royster works to ensure operational and programmatic compliance of these government assistance programs through the use of innovation and technology. Ms. Royster’s extensive experience at DCF includes serving as the Staff Director for DCF’s Deputy Secretary, ESS Director of Strategic Programs and Innovation, Chief of Benefit Investigations in the Office of Public Benefits Integrity, and Deputy Director of Audits and Compliance.
Prior to joining DCF, Ms. Royster held roles at the Florida Department of Commerce, Department of Management Services, Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and Department of Education. With more than 20 years in state government experience, primarily working in the Office of the Inspector General across several state agencies, Ms. Royster has a passion for driving compliance and programmatic integrity by incorporating programmatic controls to minimize risks while enhancing quality and operational efficiencies for the state’s program participants.
Ms. Royster holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Florida State University. Ms. Royster resides in Tallahassee with her son.
Jonathan Stephens serves as the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Community Services for the Florida Department of Children and Families, bringing over 15 years of professional and leadership experience in criminal investigations, law enforcement, public safety, and child and family well-being.
In his current role, Mr. Stephens provides strategic leadership to statewide initiatives that strengthen community partnerships, enhance prevention and intervention programs, and promote the safety and well-being of some of Florida’s most vulnerable populations.
Prior to his appointment as Assistant Secretary, Mr. Stephens served as the Director of Human Trafficking Prevention within the Office of Community Services, where he led statewide efforts to strengthen prevention efforts, improve survivor services, and foster cross-agency collaboration. Mr. Stephens' career also includes key leadership positions with the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, where he advanced strategies to support safety, accountability, and community protection across the state.
Mr. Stephens and his wife, Sarah, reside in Tallahassee with their four children.
Amanda VanLaningham serves as the Assistant Secretary for Substance Abuse and Mental Health at the Florida Department of Children and Families, where Ms. VanLaningham oversees Florida’s publicly funded behavioral health system. In this role, Ms. VanLaningham is responsible for substance use and mental health services delivered through the Department’s contracts with managing entities and network service providers, as well as Florida’s state mental health treatment facilities. These services support statewide prevention, treatment, recovery, crisis response, and inpatient care. Ms. VanLaningham believes effective behavioral health systems are built through strong partnerships, clear accountability, and coordinated community-based solutions that improve access to care for Floridians in need.
Ms. VanLaningham experience includes roles spanning legal, community-based care, and state government systems, with a focus on supporting Florida’s most vulnerable populations. Early in her career, Ms. VanLaningham worked in Children’s Legal Services as a managing attorney supervising dependency litigation and later held leadership roles within a contracted community-based care organization overseeing quality, contracts, and system improvement initiatives. Most recently, Ms. VanLaningham served in the Department’s Office of Child and Family Well-Being, where Ms. VanLaningham led administrative teams strengthening Florida’s child welfare system, including policy development, performance oversight, and cross-agency initiatives.
Ms. VanLaningham received her Juris Doctor from the University of Florida Levin College of Law and holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Classical Studies, cum laude, from the University of Florida. Ms. VanLaningham is a member in good standing with The Florida Bar.
