Judge Dean Rucker serves as Presiding Judge for the Seventh Administrative Judicial Region of Texas and as judge of the 318th Family District Court of Midland County. Judge Rucker is a member of the Supreme Court of Texas Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth, and Families. Judge Rucker is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a member of the Family Law Section, the Texas Academy of Family Law Specialists, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. 

Cathy Crabtree is the Director of State Chapter Development at National Children's Alliance (NCA), the national membership and accrediting body for the more than 750 children's advocacy centers (CACs) and 47 State Chapters of CACs throughout the country. Ms. Crabtree has been actively involved as a professional in the child abuse and neglect field since 1992 when she served as the founding director of a local CAC in Young County, Texas. From 1999 until May, 2010 she worked with Children's Advocacy Center's of Texas - the statewide membership association representing the 64 local children's advocacy centers (CACs) throughout Texas - serving first as the Director of Program Services and then as Executive Director. Ms. Crabtree has trained throughout the state and the nation on issues related to the establishment and development of community-based CACs and CAC State Chapters. She is a graduate of West Virginia University and is based in Austin, Texas.

Kristen Zingaro-Foster is an Associate Attorney with Henslee Schwartz, L.L.P., specializing in school law, employment law, complex commercial litigation, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, general insurance defense, professional liability and malpractice, and civil liberties law.  She currently provides in-service training for teachers, school administrators and trustees on issues such as risk management and personnel. She is licensed to practice in all state courts in Texas as well as the Federal District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the School and Employment Law sections of the State Bar. Ms. Zingaro-Foster graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas School of Law. Ms. Zingaro-Foster will offer the Task Force unique insight into the workings of the public education system and its relationship to the criminal justice and child protection systems.

The new members join a twenty-five member Task Force which provides program direction for the CJA grant. Judge Dean Rucker and Cathy Crabtree will serve as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, for the Task Force in the 2011 fiscal year. For more information on the Task Force, click here.