Study: DCF Underperforming Florida’s Foster Children

The federal agency has given the Florida Department of Children and Families has 90 days to devise a plan to improve care for foster children.

The Department of Health and Human Services found DCF under performing in critical areas during an analysis of 80 cases from April 1 to September 30.

The Tampa Bay Times reports the study found in more than half of the cases, child welfare agencies removed children from homes without providing appropriate services and were lax in follow up safety plans.

The study found DCF needs improvement in 11 of 14 categories.

The agency has scheduled a conference on Tuesday to come up with ways to reform the system.

Agency spokeswoman Jessica Sims says DCF takes “these findings very seriously” and will work aggressively to improve.

http://floridapolitics.com/archives/230769-study-dcf-underperforming-floridas-foster-children

DCF Deserves Some Federal Intervention

DCF deserves some federal intervention
In a recent report on Florida’s Department of Children and Families, the Miami Herald found that DCF had hidden 30 child deaths since last October or November. These deaths, in addition to the 477 already documented in the last few years, warrant national attention.
Regretfully, Florida DCF is into its third secretary in the last three years.
My wife and I spent almost five years in Florida as house parents of two different licensed foster children institutions. It was the spirit of “not in the best interest of the child” by DCF and its subcontractors that drove us away. We were not “team players.”

In the last year, I sent many letters to the Health and Human Services secretary about my Florida child welfare history, but their “protocol” quickly directed me back to Tallahassee. Isn’t it past time for a federal intervention? But, then they can’t get our Veteran’s Administration right.

MIKE SAWYER

i@amblessed.com

http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/readers/2014/06/08/sunday-letters/10100923/