By Sen. Carlos Uresti  

There is new reason to hope that the state agency charged with protecting our children and the elderly will soon step up its efforts on behalf of the most vulnerable citizens in society.   Senior district Judge John J. Specia Jr. of San Antonio, who has been on the front lines of the fight against child abuse and neglect for many years, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as commissioner of the Department of Family and Protective Services.   The appointment comes at a pivotal point for the department, which oversees Child Protective Services and the Department of Aging and Disability Services. These agencies have challenging missions because of the people they serve and must operate under tightening budget restraints, including a 44 percent cut for child abuse prevention programs by the 2011 Legislature — funds that I will work to try and restore in the upcoming session.   Morale is on the wane at CPS in particular as that agency fights a growing epidemic in child abuse and neglect, and investigators are assigned increasingly high caseloads, leading to costly turnovers of personnel. Add to this a criminal investigation of CPS workers in Abilene who may have withheld information in a child death case, and it becomes clear that Specia has his work cut out for him.   Fortunately, the governor picked the right man for the job.   Specia was among the first members of the Bexar County Blue Ribbon Task Force, a group I formed in 2004 after the horrific starvation death of Jovonie Ochoa by his grandparents. The judge helped get the task force off the ground, and I consider him a mentor in the fight I have taken up on behalf of Texas children.   One of the state's first child welfare attorneys, Specia was a district judge in Bexar County for almost 20 years before retiring in 1996 and becoming a senior district judge. During his tenure he established the Bexar County Children's Court and another program that has become a model for the state — the Family Drug Treatment Court.   His resume on child protection doesn't end there. He served as vice chairman of the Texas Supreme Court's Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families and chaired the Supreme Court Task Force on Foster Care. CASA named him Judge of the Year.   When his appointment was announced, Specia told the San Antonio Express-News that his first priority is the 28,000 children in foster care "and all the others who rely on us for their protection and well-being.”   Specia is a man who does what he says, and I believe he can transform a child protection system in need of new vision and leadership. His appointment becomes effective Dec. 1 — an early Christmas gift for at-risk kids across Texas and all of their advocates.