SARASOTA, FL - Pinellas County needs to call in a "SWAT team" ofcaseworkers and managers to help its troubled foster care system

State review slams Pinellas foster care

If it's not fixed, the Sarasota Y will lose control.

By Curtis Krueger and Melanie Ave Times Staff Writers
Published October 31, 2007

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/31/Lo...slams_Pi.shtml

SARASOTA - Pinellas County needs to call in a "SWAT team" of caseworkers
and managers to help its troubled foster care system, members of a state
review team said Tuesday.

And Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth said
in an interview he is deciding whether to seek new bids for foster care
work in Pinellas and four other counties.

That means the Sarasota Family YMCA now faces this: improve or lose
$72-million in state contracts.

The review team this week said the Sarasota YMCA - which oversees foster
care in Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, DeSoto and Sarasota counties - needs
to quickly improve its performance in several areas or the team could
not recommend the contracts' renewal.

"We need some help ... and I don't mean a bunch of people standing
around telling your staff what to do. I mean people who can come in and
help," review team chairwoman Melissa Jaacks said in the meeting with
the Sarasota YMCA's board of directors.

The review team's report says the Pinellas foster care system suffers
from high turnover, high caseloads and a sense of crisis among
front-line workers.

Sarasota YMCA board members listened attentively during the meeting and
did not dispute the team's conclusions.

Although YMCA board chairman Ronald Gelbman admitted that reading the
report had been painful, he said: "This is not about us. It's about kids
and families."

Butterworth established the review team because of a perception that the
Sarasota YMCA had become a highly paid but poorly performing agency that
had recently made serious mistakes in its handling of two foster
children - one who died and another who disappeared.

"I do want to make this clear," said Lee Haworth, chief judge of
Florida's 12th Judicial Circuit and a member of the review team. "There
needs to be a big change. There needs to be a serious change."

The point of the changes, they stressed, was to make sure caseworkers
get the training and support they need to focus on their main job of
helping children.

After months of study, Tuesday's meeting was the first face-to-face
discussion between the YMCA board and the review team. Although the team
said the Sarasota YMCA had often been arrogant and defensive when people
tried to approach it with constructive criticism, everyone stayed on
good behavior Tuesday.

Review team member Mike Watkins said Pinellas could benefit from an
infusion of case managers and supervisors who would give guidance to the
caseworkers who check up on foster children and work with parents trying
to be reunited with their kids.

Team members said there was a dramatic difference between Pinellas
County, where case managers feel stressed and burdened with high
caseloads, and Pasco County, where the workers report high job
satisfaction and support from managers.

Ed McBride, senior program manager for the YMCA in Pinellas and Pasco,
said he's not exactly sure where the DCF would find additional workers
to come in and help. But he'd welcome them.

"I'd love it if we could make it work," he said.

Butterworth said he would decide within two weeks whether to put the
YMCA's contracts out to bid or renew them. But he said he's very
concerned about the agency's high caseworker turnover and the attitude
of its officials.

"From people who've worked with the Y, there is an arrogance there.
That's what happens when people are around a long time. This job is not
about those of us who are working here. This job is about the kids we're
out there to protect. That's the No. 1 issue. There's nothing secondary
to that," Butterworth said

Sarasota YMCA chief executive Carl Weinrich attributed much of the
problem in Pinellas to lower-than-average funding compared to others in
the state.

The YMCA received $17,982 per child for its southern counties, well
above the state average of $12,540. In Pinellas, it received just $10,336.

"The problem is they're just overworked," he said. "There's a limit to
how much we can do when we don't have enough money to hire enough
caseworkers."

But Monica Solorio, who works as a case manager in Manatee County, said
it's an issue there, too. "We've been complaining about when are we
going to get more money. And I know it may sound vain, but you know
what? My family's got to eat, too."

The DCF has sparred with other foster agencies in recent times.

Earlier this year in Broward County, the DCF agreed to keep a contract
with the troubled ChildNet but only after the agency axed several
executives.



FAST FACTS:

Sarasota Family YMCA key players

Carl Weinrich: president and chief executive.

Lee Johnson: executive vice president-social services division.

Christy Kane: senior vice president community-based care operations -
Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Pasco and Pinellas counties.

Ed McBride: senior community-based care program manager - Pasco and
Pinellas counties.



[Last modified October 31, 2007, 06:38:49]







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

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.


CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING THOUSANDS 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...