Betsy Fox Tolentino is on her way to becoming the official secretary of Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) after a Senate confirmation hearing on Monday.
Tolentino has been serving as acting DJS secretary since June of last year following the resignation of Vincent Schiraldi, whose two-year tenure had been mired in controversies around his leadership.
Schiraldi was criticized for his handling of ankle monitoring systems, policies around juvenile supervision and a troubled 75-page legislative audit of the department and its facilities released just a month before he stepped down.
GOP lawmakers and the Maryland Sheriffs’ Association called for Schiraldi’s resignation in October 2024 following a lack of communication from the department over a student charged with serious criminal offenses.
The Howard County student was arrested in connection with an October murder, but Howard County education officials said they were not notified that the 17-year-old student had been charged in another county and was under DJS supervision at the time.
When Moore announced his call for Schiraldi’s resignation in June 2025, he concurrently announced Tolentino’s appointment, who had been serving as managing director of juvenile and young adult justice initiatives at the Roca Impact Institute.
Tolentino previously served as DJS’s deputy director of community operations under former Gov. Larry Hogan’s administration.
Tolentino’s seven-month tenure has widely been met with bipartisan praise, but she says her work to rebuild the department is only beginning.
“I look forward to addressing both the strengths and challenges of this agency through open, honest and sometimes uncomfortable conversations because rebuilding trust and confidence in this work is essential if we're going to do better for the young people and communities we serve,” she told members of the Senate Executive Committee.
Last month, Tolentino launched a public-facing dashboard to improve transparency around juvenile intake, detention community supervision and other data points of interest.
The acting secretary has also placed an emphasis on improving the conditions of juvenile facilities, calling the condition of one of the state’s youth detention centers “completely unacceptable” following a tour during the first week of her appointment.
“A comprehensive staffing review indicated that over the past two and a half years, nearly 50 positions were moved out of the facilities, while population went up 22 percent,” she said. “We have since returned those positions to our facilities, rebuilt leadership. We’ve provided additional training and coaching, and with strategies in place, we've reduced the use of overtime by nearly 15 percent in the first seven months.”
Tolentino has also been vocal in her support over a bill that would significantly reduce the list of crimes that could qualify a juvenile to be tried as an adult in Maryland.
Some lawmakers have indicated they may be more supportive of the legislation under Tolentino’s direction, raising concerns over the conditions of juvenile facilities and the ability for DJS to handle an influx in cases under previous leadership.
Opponents of the bill, most notably the Maryland Association of States Attorneys, have frequently cited a Maryland Office of the Correctional Ombudsman report released last month — detailing persistent poor living conditions in juvenile facilities — as reason to resist the legislative change.
The report covers July through September 2025 — the initial months of Tolentino’s tenure — but the acting secretary says her office is actively working to improve upon the outlined problems.
“We identified many of those concerns, really starting almost at day one when I started in this position, and we have been addressing them continually,” Tolentino said at the bill’s hearing earlier this month. “We do have improvements, and I haven't shied away from that, but I'm serving this population now in our current system, and we are only in the past six months have made it better.”
During her confirmation hearing, Tolentino also told lawmakers she is working with the Maryland Juvenile Justice Reform Council to look at how DJS can better communicate with schools over what happens to students following their entrance into the juvenile justice system.
If approved by the Executive Committee, Tolentino’s confirmation will depend upon a vote from the full Senate.
