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TAMPA, FL: Panel Will Look At Ways To Improve Child Welfare Statewide.
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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