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Sarasota YMCA Will End DCF Contract In Pinellas, Pasco

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 6, 2007

Updated: 11/06/2007 11:34 am

Previous Coverage: Sarasota YMCA's State Contract May Go Out For Bid

TAMPA - The Sarasota Family YMCA will voluntarily end its contract next summer to run child welfare services in Pinellas and Pasco counties.

In exchange for agreeing to step away from those counties, the YMCA will receive a one-year extension of its contract to provide similar services in DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

The Y's announcement came as Department of Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth came to Tampa to announce his decision on the future of state contracts for child welfare services in Pinellas and Pasco.

The Sarasota Family YMCA had handled foster care and adoptions for the state in those counties since 2004, when DCF asked the agency to take on the task after another private agency failed.

The YMCA has also handled such services in Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto. The agency's multiyear contracts totaled $72 million for fiscal year 2006-07.

The YMCA recently received a review in which a panel recommended that DCF not renew its contracts with the agency. The decision followed a case in which a toddler went missing for nine months due to errors by workers from the YMCA, DCF and law enforcement agencies.

Butterworth organized the panel and received a final review last week that outlined an agency in crisis: workers in Pinellas County with up to 40 cases each, turnover that left children languishing in foster care for years and foster parents traveling to other counties to get the help they needed.

"We answered the department's call in 2004 to serve the most vulnerable children of Pasco and Pinellas counties, Ronald Gelbman, chairman of the YMCA board, said in a prepared statement.

"Because of our responsibility to the children in DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties, we recognized that it could not be a long-term commitment. That's why we believe today's announcement is in the best interests of children in all five counties.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.

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