Agency Owes Thousands For Child Welfare

Agency Owes Thousands For Child Welfare

By SHERRI ACKERMAN
Published: Aug 3, 2004

TAMPA - A troubled agency hired by the state to oversee child welfare
services in Pinellas and Pasco counties owes thousands, maybe
millions, of dollars to psychiatrists, counselors, doctors and others.

Officials from the Florida Department of Children & Families don't
know the exact amount and say they won't know until service providers
contact them.

Those owed for the month of June will be paid in the next few weeks,
spokesman Andrew Ritter said in a written response.

The state also awaits documentation from Family Continuity Program's
parent company, Care Development in Maine.

``We are still trying to sort through everything,'' said company
President Jim Souza, who estimated the state is $1.7 million short of
what's necessary to resolve the debt.

Family Continuity resigned in March amid allegations of mismanagement
that resulted in a $4 million budget deficit. Sarasota Family YMCA,
which provides similar services in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto
counties, administered the contract until June 30.

Agency leaders blamed an increase in the number of children in state
care that outpaced the budget. Family Continuity was among the first
in the state's transition to community-based care, but it struggled to
meet standards set by the Florida Department of Children & Families.

Foster homes were crowded, children were shuffled from one home to
another, and workers carried huge caseloads.

The YMCA formally took over the state's $37 million contract July 1
and restructured Family Continuity into Save our Children, which
oversees 4,100 children. But agency leaders say they cannot take on
Family Continuity's debts.

``We don't have the money to pay them,'' April Putzulu, spokeswoman
for Save Our Children, said recently. ``But we still have to deal with
them.''

It's a somewhat sticky situation for the YMCA, which spent the first
few weeks of July fielding complaints from foster and adoptive parents
waiting for state subsidies.

The switching of contracts and a new fiscal year put payments behind,
but the problem has been rectified, said Lee Johnson, executive
director of the YMCA.

Now he's working on solving the latest problem with unpaid
subcontractors.

``Nobody has declined to work with us because of prior history,'' he
said. ``Is it uncomfortable? Oh, of course it creates some
uncomfortableness.''

For example, Family Continuity owes $100,000 to the Harbor Behavioral
Health Care Institute, a mental health and substance abuse treatment
center in New Port Richey. But the institute, like other providers,
continues to work with the state, spokeswoman Beth Hardy said.

Tami Torres, a spokeswoman for the Florida comptroller's office, said
Monday that DCF officials entered into an emergency contract with the
YMCA late last week to get subcontractors paid.

The comptroller's office will oversee the debt reconciliation.

Johnson said he doesn't know the amount of the contract or how many
providers are owed money. The YMCA will write the checks, but the
comptroller and DCF will decide who gets paid.

Ritter said the emergency contract is actually money transferred from
the remaining year of Family Continuity's contract to the YMCA.

The transition between Family Continuity and the YMCA is the first
between two community-based care providers in the state.

Wrote Ritter: ``It is a massive job and Department and YMCA staff are
to be commended for managing it very well, particularly since we are
learning as we go.''
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