NBC2 Investigators: Foster children kept on unapproved overnight stays

NAPLES -
Foster children in Naples were kept overnight in offices and hotels more than a dozen times in 2014, according to a Department of Children and Families Inspector General's report.

Keeping children overnight in offices is against DCF policy and an employee called the event "traumatic."

The unapproved placements were overseen by Family Preservation Services (FPS), now called Pathways, which is a subcontractor of the Children's Network of Southwest Florida (CNSF).

The report from the Inspector General found that employees at FPS were required to spend the night with foster children in the offices. One employee said she did not sleep because "she was concerned that the child's known behavioral problems might surface during the night."

Another employee sent an email stating she "slept in the office on a VERY uncomfortable chair and had no funds to feed the child."

The report found that 11 children were kept in unapproved placements on 15 different occasions during 2014. The children mainly stayed at the FPS Naples office but were also housed at local hotels on three other occasions and the FPS office in Labelle once.

The children were as old as 17 and as young as ten.

CNSF declined an on-camera interview but answered questions from NBC2 via email.
When asked if more children have been kept in offices since the incident was uncovered, a spokesperson wrote, "There have been two occasions when a child stayed in the office overnight. The children were almost 16 and almost 17-year-old teens. No children have stayed in offices or hotels overnight in the past 15 months."
The employee who filed the complaint with DCF also alleged that management at CNSF directed FPS employees to "hide this (office stays) information from the public by not putting any references in [FPS] office emails."

However, the inspector general's report found "no conclusive information was obtained to implicate CNSF or FPS employees in attempting to conceal information about the overnight housing of children in offices or hotels."
In a statement, a CNSF spokesperson wrote, "The Children’s Network of SWFL staff and leadership did not instruct any employees not to discuss overnight office stays in emails."
The underlying issue of the office stays was the lack of resources and ever increasing demand, according to the report, which also stated that before 2014, the amount of children in the CNSF system increased by more than 36 percent. During the same time, 120 new foster parents were recruited, but it still wasn't enough to keep up with demand.

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/32732872/nbc2-investigators-foster-children-kept-on-unapproved-overnight-stays#.V6xA7aLE7gY