The administrator who oversees the state’s child and family services has been reassigned to a special projects position, a decision the state says was unrelated to a federal audit last month that revealed the state did not comply with conditions for federal crime assistance grants.

Division of Child and Family Services Administrator Kelly Wooldridge asked to be reassigned to the new post late last week, according to the department. Wooldridge was unable to pursue her “passion” of “creating new programming and helping to transform systems” in the administrator position, a department spokeswoman said.

“Kelly Wooldridge asked to be reassigned – she was not demoted nor was her decision related to the [Department of Justice] audit. Kelly’s passion lies in creating new programming and helping to transform systems, which can be difficult to effect in an Administrator position,” spokeswoman Chrystal Main said in an email. “Her contribution to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and to the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is much appreciated and valued and she will continue to be an integral part of the DHHS/DCFS team.”

Wooldridge, who has served as division administrator since 2016, will now serve as manager for mental health special projects and report directly to the director of the Department of Health and Human Services, Richard Whitley. Deputy administrator Ross Armstrong will serve as the interim administrator.

A Justice Department audit released in late March found that the state erred in its process of granting subawards for four victims of crime programs — which led the approval of $4 million in excess awards — and that the state could not support a total of $1.87 million in subrecipient expenses. In total, the audit examined $45.6 million in grants awarded to Nevada between 2012 and 2016 distributed to rape treatment centers, domestic violence shelters, centers for missing children and other community-based coalitions and support organizations.

The audit also found that the state did not track priority funding areas as required under the grant guidelines and submitted inaccurate performance reports and federal financial reports, among other issues.

Wooldridge told the Associated Press, which first reported on the audit, that the state had a corrective action plan that they had begun “aggressively working on,” including more training, better monitoring of service providers and a cleanup of internal policies, procedures and documentation. She also told the AP that the department didn’t actually distribute the $4 million in excess grants but had only made plans to do so.

The change of leadership for the division marks the second high-profile shuffling within the department since the beginning of the year. Division of Public and Behavioral Health administrator Amy Roukie resigned in January after a legislative audit revealed the state allowed mentally ill patients to live in filthy and unsafe conditions and it was discovered she was untruthful to a legislative committee.

Updated 4-9-18 at 11:43 a.m. to include additional information about Wooldridge's new title and when she requested the reassignment.