Andrea Sanders, general counsel and principal deputy executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, has been named the new commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday. Photo courtesy State of Mississippi

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Andrea Sanders, general counsel and principal deputy executive director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, has been named the new commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday.

Through her work as a leader at the Department of Human Services and as a former social worker for children, “Sanders has been on the frontlines of the effort to protect Mississippi’s most vulnerable," Reeves said in a statement.

“Not only has Andrea served with integrity and devotion in this field for many decades, she brings powerful personal experience to the job,” Reeves said. “From her work to provide therapy and care for struggling children as a social worker, to her esteemed legal background, to her efforts to clean up the Mississippi Department of Human Services — there is no one who could be better equipped for the job.”

Reeves said Sanders has been key in the efforts to reform the Department of Human Services, which came under scrutiny earlier this year after its former executive director and five others were arrested and accused of misusing millions of dollars of federal money that was supposed to go to helping poor Mississippians.

In her own statement Monday, Sanders said she is honored and excited to step into her new role. She said there is more work to do in order to provide “a secure environment and loving home to Mississippi’s children.”

“I’m grateful to Governor Reeves for putting me in this position of trust, and I know that we have many kids out there who are relying on us to get it right,” Sanders said. "I believe that we can make a difference if we always remember the God-given potential of every child in our state. All must be protected and uplifted.”