Panel Will Look At Ways To Improve Child Welfare Statewide
By SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune
Published: Aug 4, 2007
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBP7AUEX4F.html
TAMPA - A top state official launched a new task force Friday with a
primary goal: Make the state's child welfare system work better.
"Our system is not broken," Bob Butterworth, secretary of the Department
of Children & Families, said. "It is in desperate need of serious repair."
Butterworth created the panel June 18, four days after authorities
located a toddler who went missing from Florida's foster care system for
nine months.
The Child Protection Task Force convened for its first meeting at
Stetson University College of Law in Tampa to discuss ways to make DCF
the gold standard in child welfare and to help craft child protection
legislation.
Among those changes, Butterworth wants the panel to look at rewriting
laws that allow DCF more authority over community-based agencies
providing local foster care and adoption services for the state.
"I think you will be shocked when you find out how standards can be
changed without DCF involvement," he said.
Community-based care agencies are the product of a privatization effort
pushed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush and supported by Gov. Charlie Crist and
Butterworth, who said he is committed to the statewide model.
"It's a no-brainer," he said. "Government alone cannot provide adequate
child welfare services."
Butterworth also wants the task force to look at the process of
reunifying children with their biological parents and at DCF's practice
of allowing some children in state care to reside in unlicensed foster
homes with family friends, what is known as "nonrelative placements."
The arrangements allow for less oversight and have contributed to some
of the worst abuses in Florida's system.
Case Brings Problems To Light
Courtney Clark came under state care in February 2006 after her mother
was arrested in Clearwater on identity theft charges. The 18-month-old
girl lived in four foster homes, including one where she encountered
suspected abuse, before a Pinellas County caseworker reunited her with
her mother.
Candice Clark was expecting another baby, was unemployed and had more
than 20 warrants for identity theft charges pending from Kentucky. She
also had provided false paperwork to show the state she had completed a
safety plan to get back her children.
Eventually, Courtney went to live with family friends, who were the
subjects of previous reports of child abuse in their home. The friends,
Cynthia and Mark Martell of Lake County, also allowed Clark to take
Courtney from their custody despite a court order to prevent the reunion.
Authorities found Courtney in Wisconsin in June, living with her two
younger sisters and Clark in a rental home where an 11-year-old boy had
been tortured and his mother slain and buried in the back yard.
Clark and her roommates - her boyfriend and the Martell's daughter,
Michaela Clerc - are being held in the Columbia County Jail in Wisconsin
on charges of murder and child abuse. The 15-year-old daughter of the
dead woman faces similar charges.
"The Courtney Clark case is a stark reminder that our system needs
change," Butterworth said Friday. "That case more than any one I know
exposed a problem in many areas - in every area. We did not know she was
missing for nine months until we read it in the newspaper."
The DCF system, in the end, did work, he said. Courtney is in the
custody of Wisconsin child welfare authorities, who fought to keep her
and her sisters in that state. However, "everything went wrong,"
Butterworth said. "People failed."
Task Force Seeks Solutions
He created a 13-member panel to dissect the system - and the care of
Courtney Clark. The task force is made up of local law enforcement,
social service providers and state government and state judicial officials.
The group proposes to meet every three weeks, with their meetings and
findings posted daily on DCF's Web site: www.state.fl.us/cf_web/.
The task force is expected to present a preliminary report by Oct. 1.
Butterworth also has created a review team to look more closely at the
Sarasota Family YMCA, which ultimately was responsible for Courtney. The
agency receives the highest amount of dollars per child in foster care,
yet has become one of the worst performers among 20 community-based
providers statewide.
The YMCA oversees foster care and adoptions in Sarasota, Manatee,
DeSoto, Pinellas and Pasco counties.
Executive Vice President Lee Johnson said he welcomes the review.
His agency receives about $16,119 a child in Sarasota, Manatee and
DeSoto counties and about $12,196 a child in Pinellas and Pasco counties.
An Office of Inspector General's report found the YMCA and its contract
agencies at fault for the mistakes in Courtney's case, which included
delays in reporting the girl missing to law enforcement agencies and in
getting her entered into a statewide database.
Butterworth said part of the problem at the Sarasota YMCA, which was the
first private agency in the state to take on foster care and adoptions
for DCF, is that it may have overextended itself.
The YMCA used to be among the highest performers, Butterworth said. The
YMCA added Pinellas and Pasco counties in 2004 after another
community-based agency failed to keep children safe and ran over budget.
Johnson doesn't agree and hopes the YMCA can continue to oversee child
welfare services in those counties.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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