(UPDATED, 4:29 p.m., with additional details on Charron’s departure, and other agency departures.)
The head of the state’s Department of Health and Welfare will step down by the end of 2026.
Juliet Charron is resigning after 13 months on the job. Charron is leaving “to focus more fully on supporting her family as her father faces significant health challenges,” Emily Callihan, a spokeswoman for Gov. Brad Little, said in an email to EdNews Wednesday afternoon.
“This has not been an easy decision,” Charron wrote in a letter to staff. “Family has always been important to me, and right now, being there for mine needs to be my priority.”
James Dawson of Boise State Public Radio first reported Wednesday on Charron’s departure.
The change at the top at Health and Welfare comes as the agency scrambles to distribute $186 million in federal rural healthcare grants — money that could have far-reaching implications for higher education and K-12.
As Charron and Health and Welfare roll out the first-year grants, they have sometimes clashed with a legislative oversight committee. In September, lawmakers spiked Health and Welfare’s plans to spend $1.2 million on behavioral health hubs in rural schools. Meanwhile, Health and Welfare and the State Board of Education have agreed on $20.5 million in spending plans for higher education, including rural residencies for medical school graduates and a menu of cooperative programs to encourage rural students to pursue health careers.
In a statement Wednesday, Little praised Charron’s work on the rural healthcare grant program.
“Under her leadership, the department made meaningful progress in strengthening child welfare prevention, preparing to distribute nearly $200 million in Rural Health Transformation funding in the coming months as part of nearly $1 billion over five years, and improving compliance, accountability, and program outcomes,” he said.
Health and Welfare is scrambling to commit Idaho’s $186 million in first-year grants by Oct. 30, the end of next week. The five-year federal grant program is competitive, so Idaho could receive more money, or less money, depending on whether it meets the feds’ first-year deadlines.
Charron has been at Health and Welfare since November 2021, when she was put in charge of Idaho’s Medicaid program. She was named deputy director in June 2024. In September 2025, she was promoted to the director’s post, succeeding Alex Adams, who was named the Trump administration’s assistant secretary for the administration of children and families.
In her letter to staff, Charron said she expects to step down before the end of the year, but her exact departure date has not been set.
“I know this announcement may raise questions about what comes next,” she wrote.
And Charron’s departure isn’t the only high-profile shakeup at Health and Welfare.
The department is experiencing a number of vacancies in some key positions for a variety of unrelated reasons, including external opportunities, retirements, and personal and family reasons,” agency spokesman AJ McWhorter said in a Wednesday afternoon email to EdNews.
McWhorter provided no additional details.
