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Foster Agency A Model Success

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

TAMPA - When Jeff Rainey took over Hillsborough Kids Inc. in 2005, the private agency was responsible for more than 5,000 abused and neglected children in Hillsborough County.

Nearly three years later, that number has dropped to about 3,900 children - second only to Miami, but still a marked improvement.

How did he do it?

Not alone, Rainey said, giving much of the credit to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which in July 2006 took over investigations that determine whether a child goes into state care.

He cited a 40 percent decrease this year in the number of children removed from their homes thanks to diversion programs that include paying overdue electric bills or providing counseling.

"We don't let them through the front door, if we can help it," he said, "because it's much harder to get them back out."

That's a model replicated statewide by private agencies overseeing Florida's foster care and adoptions - part of a concept known as privatization or community-based care. But not every agency experiences success.

The Department of Children & Families announced this week that the Sarasota Family YMCA would no longer provide child welfare services in Pinellas and Pasco counties following a state review that found a system in crisis.

Workers had too many cases, employee turnover was more than 73 percent and children languished in state care nearly twice as long as the state-mandated goal of a year before being adopted or reunited with family.

The YMCA will complete its three-year contract, worth $49 million this year, helping a new agency take over a $150 million contract that goes into effect July 1.

The new three-year contract is available for bid, but DCF officials said this week that no agencies have officially applied.

"It's a major responsibility," said Browning Spence, deputy director of the Juvenile Welfare Board, a government-funded agency in Pinellas Park that provides financial and technical assistance to groups dedicated to children's issues.

Keep Community In Care

Any agency eyeing the task would need to take heed of four considerations, Spence said. First, the agency must have a strong administrative team, followed by a fiscal staff that understands the complicated funding stream that draws from local, state and federal sources.

The agency also would need to know the area, he said. Pinellas is a densely populated county with diverse, urban neighborhoods.

A new agency "would also need a culture that really talks about training and supporting staff," Spence said.

Spence favors a set-up similar to Hillsborough Kids, where the agency itself doesn't provide direct services like the Sarasota YMCA. Instead, Hillsborough contracts with six other agencies for mental health care, casework, adoptions and counseling.

"That makes a lot of sense," Spence said. "It keeps the community in community-based care."
DCF Circuit Administrator Alan Abramowitz agrees. He recently helped restructure child welfare services in Palm Beach County and was tapped last month by DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth to do the same in Pinellas and Pasco.

Reinforcements arrived this week - five seasoned caseworkers to focus solely on a backlog of license reviews and home studies required before children are placed in foster homes, Abramowitz said.

Each week through December, at least four workers will come in to assist caseworkers, he said. An additional two workers will help with licensing paperwork and background checks. A senior manager will be on-site weekly to oversee the work.

'A Lot Of Scrutiny' In Cases

In the meantime, Abramowitz and others will look closely at why Pinellas became so overwhelmed. Abuse reports rose from 13,589 calls between November 2005 to September 2006 to 14,007 calls during the same period this year, Abramowitz said.

Chief Judge Robert Morris Jr. of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas pointed to the local sheriff's office, which, like Hillsborough, oversees child protection investigations, and to the state attorney's office, which represents DCF in court hearings.

"There's a lot of scrutiny of these kinds of cases," said the judge, who served four years in family court.

Pinellas Sheriff's Capt. George Steffen also credited the increase to changes in state law that expanded the child protection team's investigative powers to include public school complaints where a teacher or bus driver might be accused of harming a student.

Yet 9 percent fewer Pinellas children ended up in the YMCA's care, Abramowitz said, dropping from 3,730 children on Oct. 31, 2006, to 3,377 children Sept. 30. The state average is about a 12 percent reduction.

"So, we're heading in the right direction," he said.

Whichever agency takes over services also must be mindful to a community reeling from change, said former state legislator Sandy Murman, who helped draft legislation that started privatization of child welfare more than a decade ago.

"To have a lot of abrupt change like that could be damaging to children," she said.

The next leader needs to be a real community partner, Murman said.

"I'd love it if The Salvation Army would take a lead role."

The Salvation Army partners with the YMCA to provide foster homes and counseling for abused and neglected children, including the Children's Village, a $1-million-a-year program that puts six children in one of four houses with 24-hour supervision.

But the Salvation Army taking on the lead role?

"We have never given it any serious thought," Maj. Allen Satterlee said Thursday. "That's a very difficult job, almost a thankless job."

Eckerd Youth Alternatives, which provides early intervention and prevention services, is interested in the state contract.

"We think we're a good organization to step up to the plate," said David Dennis, president and chief executive of the 40-year-old agency that provides child welfare services in nine states.

Researcher Buddy Jaudon contributed to this report. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman @tampatrib.com.

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