Mecklenburg social services leader resigns. She says it’s for personal reasons
A Mecklenburg social services leader has resigned for “personal reasons” amid ongoing questions about the county’s handling of a child abuse case.
Kim Henderson, director of the county’s Child, Family and Adult Services department, has resigned, she confirmed to The Charlotte Observer. Henderson said she ”resigned for personal reasons.” WBTV first reported the news Monday.
Henderson’s reported departure comes months after the high-profile killing of a young girl and questions about social services’ handling of the child’s situation. She told the Observer in an email her exit was “not for any reason connected to the tragic death of Dominique Moody and not ‘amid scrutiny on abuse case.’”
County spokesman Alex Burnett said Henderson’s resignation “is in no way associated with any recent case” and that deputy Letecia Loadholt has been named interim director of Child, Family and Adult Services.
“During her nearly three years in the role, Kim provided dedicated leadership for our social services programs and worked tirelessly to support individuals and families in our community. Her commitment, compassion, and expertise have made a lasting impact on our team and the residents that we serve. We wish her continued success in her next chapter,” Burnett said in a statement.
Henderson joined the county in 2023 after resigning the previous year from another leadership position in Charlotte.
Dominique Moody case
Dominique Moody, 6 years old, weighed 27 pounds when she died in December, court records said. Her injuries at the time of her death included burn scars, rib fractures and wounds from “prolonged sitting in urine/feces-soiled items, such as a diaper, for extensive periods of time.”
A trio of women — Susan Robinson, Tonya McKnight, and Tery’n McKnight — face first-degree murder charges in Moody’s death.
Court records show Tonya McKnight, listed as Moody’s maternal aunt, filed for custody of Moody and her sibling in 2020, The Charlotte Observer reported previously. The children’s mother signed “permanent custody agreements” in 2020, along with forms giving McKnight power of attorney over them. A permanent custody order was issued in Mecklenburg County after a hearing in September 2021, granting McKnight “sole legal and physical custody” of the children.
Police visited McKnight’s home at least five times from 2022 to Moody’s death, including for a reported assault, the Observer reported previously. WBTV reported previously Social Services also received reports of children being abused or neglected in the home, but closed investigations and cited insufficient evidence.
The Observer previously requested but has not received public records regarding previous social services visits to the home. WBTV also reported it hasn’t received public records it’s requested related to the case.
Earlier this month, high-profile attorney Ben Crump announced he was looking into Moody’s death.
“They miss these red flags, these flashing lights,” Crump told reporters at a March news conference. “The school said the little sister missed over 20 days. Who’s going to go check and see what’s going on in this home?”
Henderson’s job history
Henderson joined Mecklenburg County in 2023, where she oversaw the Child, Family and Adult Services division of the county’s social services department.
In 2022, she resigned as leader of the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative, a $250 million public-private partnership in Charlotte, just weeks after the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance hired her for the job. Her resignation from that position came after the Observer and other outlets reported Henderson had been the subject of a criminal inquiry related to unemployment fraud claims while she led Ohio’s Job and Family Services Department. Henderson resigned from that job in March 2021.
Then-Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked law enforcement agencies in May 2021 to open a criminal investigation into how Henderson’s department handled fraudulent claims during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Observer reported previously. Yost wrote the state auditor’s office “did not have confidence in the financial information provided by the Department of Job and Family Services or its then director, Kimberly (Hall) Henderson.”
An audit by the state of Ohio published after Henderson’s resignation from her job there found $475 million in fraudulent payments were made to people who did not qualify, with an additional $3.3 billion in overpayments.
In her resignation letter from the Mayor’s Racial Equity Initiative in 2022, Henderson wrote “that the work of the Initiative is too critical to be jeopardized in any way by public misperceptions related to my prior leadership as a Cabinet Director in Ohio and appointment as Executive Director.”
Observer reporters Ryan Oehrli and Jeff A. Chamer and former Observer reporter Lauren Lindstrom contributed to this story.
This story was originally published March 16, 2026 at 11:43 AM.
