Wayne Carson has more than 33 years of experience working with children and families in a variety of roles, the last 25 years as Chief Executive Officer of ACH Child and Family Services (ACH).  With a focus on “Protecting Children and Preserving Families,” ACH operates 15 different programs and services in several counties. Wayne leads a team of more than 300 who are dedicated to both preventing and treating child abuse, neglect, homelessness, and family separation. 

Wayne’s commitment to trauma-informed care, community-based solutions, and creating a safe, nurturing environment for abused and neglected child has had a profound and lasting impact not only for Fort Worth and surrounding counties, but the entire state of Texas. He successfully positioned ACH as the state’s first urban implementation of Community-Based Care to address some of the chronic problems in Texas’ foster care system. When ACH delivered improved outcomes, Community-Based Care was adopted across the state. More recently, he has introduced new programs at ACH that are designed to help the growing number of youth suffering from mental health and behavioral issues. These and other programs, including several designed to keep abused and neglected children safely with their relatives, continue ACH’s vision to be responsive to the ever changing needs of the community.

Wayne holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla, and master’s and doctorate degrees in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington.  He serves as President of the Board of Our Community Our Kids, President of the Board for the National Center for Community-Based Child Welfare, the board of the Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County and is past president of the Texas Alliance for Child and Family Services in Austin, TX.  Wayne was recognized as a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Texas at Arlington in 2009, and Not-for-Profit CEO of the Year by the Fort Worth Business Press in 2015. In 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed him to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Transition Legislative Oversight Committee. He is the father of three fantastic humans, four brilliant grandchildren, and has been married to his wife Vickie for 38 years.