State child welfare officials ousted the Fayette County director who pressed a child abuse case against an agency official, defying the wishes of top management.

Mary Davis said Thursday she was informed Wednesday she has been removed as director of the Fayette County office of the state Division of Family and Children Services.

The move came the day after former DFCS official Cylenthia Clark pleaded guilty to a felony child cruelty charge. Davis' office investigated the case against Clark.

"I'm not going to be the Fayette County DFCS director as of June 30," Davis said Thursday. She will begin a new job on a statewide agency customer service team. She declined further comment.

The removal of Davis, who served in the post for about seven years, drew sharp response from some child welfare proponents who see the action as reprisal against Davis for standing her ground.

"There is this sense of retribution because Mary refused to do what they told her to do on the Cylenthia Clark case," said Connie Biemiller, a licensed social worker in Fayette.

Fayette Commission Chairman Jack Smith added, "It's very difficult to imagine that there is another reason."

DFCS spokeswoman Dena Smith denied that the action was retaliation. She said Davis is a "good fit" for the new customer service unit. Davis will receive the same pay.

"She is not being removed. She is being reassigned," Dena Smith said.

Dena Smith said the decision was made by interim state DFCS Director David Statton.

Clark, who was deputy director of the Fulton County DFCS office, pleaded guilty Tuesday to child cruelty and was sentenced to 10 years' probation. When she was arrested in March 2007, police said she had struck her 8-year-old daughter 34 times with a leather belt, leaving bruises on the child's back, arm and leg.

The case against Clark proved an embarrassment to state DFCS, exposing evidence that one of its own officials had performed an act that the agency regularly investigates.

Some Fayette County child welfare workers said then-state DFCS Director Mary Dean Harvey pressured them to protect Clark, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Harvey denied the assertion at the time. But some child welfare advocates said the incident raised concern about the leadership of Harvey, who left the agency in March.

Clark was hired on the personal recommendation of B.J. Walker, commissioner of Georgia's Department of Human Resources, which oversees DFCS.

A report on the Clark case by the state Office of the Child Advocate said Fayette County DFCS workers believed state officials were giving Clark preferential treatment and that if they did not do the same, they might be fired.

According to the report, Davis told investigators that Harvey brought up "a big custody battle" between Clark and her ex-husband and directed Fayette County DFCS workers to place the couple's four young daughters with Clark's mother. The father has since been awarded custody, and the children are living with him in Chicago.

Davis also told investigators that Harvey accused Fayette County DFCS of siding with the father and that Davis would be held "personally responsible" for the case and that her office would be "under particular scrutiny."

Davis said Harvey rebuked her office and implied that it was incompetent in its finding of abuse.

Some child welfare proponents see the ouster of Davis in another light. They believe the Clark case was blown out of proportion and that Davis wrongly dismissed the considerations of her superiors.

"She was insubordinate," said Normer Adams, head of the Georgia Association of Homes and Services for Children. "Mary Davis had a problem with anybody telling her what to do."

But Smith, the commission chairman, said, "Not only was she doing a good job, she was doing an outstanding job."

Smith said he plans to discuss the removal with other local officials and may take the concerns to Gov. Sonny Perdue.

DFCS officials canceled a meeting of the Fayette County community DFCS board Thursday, raising objections from its chairman. At the time of the Clark case, Davis reviewed the case with board members, who are appointed by the County Commission.

Board Chairman Andy Carden said the board told her to do "what's fair and right."

—-Staff writer John Hollis contributed to this article.