TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Privatized Foster Care 'Working'; Review Due

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHERRI ACKERMAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2007

TAMPA - Bob Butterworth recently stood before more than two dozen child welfare leaders and told them the experiment that put private agencies in charge of Florida's social services system is a success.

'It's working,' the Florida Department of Children & Families secretary said Oct. 22 at Hillsborough Community College, 'because the community knows its needs best. You know your needs best. I don't.'

It was welcome news for representatives of the state's 20 lead agencies that make up what now is called Community-Based Care, a statewide initiative with a $720 million annual budget.

Especially for Carl Weinrich. His agency, the Sarasota Family YMCA, is among a handful facing a state review this year that could result - at worst - in the loss of Sarasota's state contract worth more than $71 million this fiscal year.

At the very least, the review makes it clear that Florida's first agency to take on the state's child welfare duties more than a decade ago - the agency that set the standard for every one that followed - is no longer the model for privatization. The review is scheduled to be released Tuesday.

DCF rankings released in July show the Sarasota YMCA is overall among the lowest performers in the state, from the number of children reunified with their families within a year - a state mandate - to the number of children moved from their placements more than twice within a year.

The YMCA, however, ranks in the top 10 for the number of children who were not reabused while receiving care, and for adoptions: 316 this year.

Some of the YMCA's slide is attributed to its expansion in 2004 from Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties to Pinellas and Pasco counties, where another private agency went into debt and lost its DCF contract.

But the YMCA's tumble from the top doesn't mean privatization is doomed, proponents of community-based care say.

Rather, it serves as a lesson for everyone involved in keeping children safe, said Alan Abramowitz, a DCF administrator who in July oversaw the reorganization of Palm Beach County's community-based care system.

'We all need to understand our weaknesses and strengths,' Abramowitz said. 'Everyone will be reading that report and learning.'

That's exactly what former state Rep. Sandy Murman had in mind when she helped draft legislation to create privatization.

'I never thought government was doing that great of a job,' said Murman, a child-welfare advocate and mental-health consultant who serves on the board of Hillsborough Kids Inc., the community-based care agency in Tampa.

Privatization has helped create more accountability in the system, she said. If agencies aren't meeting their goals, they are reprimanded or asked to step down. That didn't happen when DCF ran the show.

'In government, you're kind of stuck,' Murman said.

In the years since privatization, the number of children in state care has decreased from about 50,000 in 1996 to 40,217 as of Sept. 30. More children are reunited with their families or finding adoptive parents within a year of being removed from their homes, DCF and community-based care figures show.

Privatization hasn't been without flaws, however. Florida still leads the nation in the number of children taken from their homes, according to a report released in June by the National Coalition For Child Protection Reform in Virginia.

Children still suffer, go missing, or die. And, sometimes, the agencies, just like DCF, are to blame. Since privatization began, four agencies have lost their state contract, including Family Continuity Programs, which operated in Pasco and Pinellas counties.

'Some are going to fail,' said Murman, who thinks Sarasota YMCA is one of those agencies.

'I think they need to move on,' she said. 'There are too many questionable practices. They haven't come back and proven they've done it the right way.'

The Sarasota YMCA's review, which was ordered by Butterworth, probes into the agency's finances, operations and relationships with other providers and the community.

It comes after four investigations into one of Florida's most high-profile foul-ups to date: a 2 1/2 -year-old toddler who went missing for nearly a year because of mistakes that left Butterworth red-faced and apologetic.

Courtney Clark's mother took the girl from a YMCA-approved caregiver in October 2006 and disappeared with a group of identity thieves.

Courtney's caseworker neglected to notify authorities quickly. When she asked a local sheriff's office to file a missing person's report four months later, the agency refused to take the information over the telephone. A DCF manager in Tampa spent months e-mailing the caseworker and others at the Sarasota YMCA instead of alerting Butterworth's office in Tallahassee.

Wisconsin authorities finally found Courtney in June, living in Portage. A woman who lived with the family had been strangled and buried in the backyard, and her son, an 11-year-old boy, had been tortured with scalding water.

Courtney was placed in Wisconsin's foster care system. Her mother, Candice Clark, and two other adults were arrested and charged with murder and child abuse.

'That case more than any one I know exposed a problem in many areas - in every area,' Butterworth said during a special meeting in August. 'We did not know she was missing for nine months until we read it in the newspaper.'

It underscored two fundamental problems with DCF and its contractors, he said: a lack of common sense and a sense of urgency.

The case was followed by complaints the YMCA mishandled money, overpaid workers and mismanaged contracts with partner providers.

'A lot of these allegations were made by disgruntled providers,' Weinrich, the YMCA's president and chief executive officer, said this past week. He said he thinks the review will vindicate his agency.

Although there is speculation about whether the YMCA will remain a major player in child welfare after the review, Weinrich expressed no worry.

'I don't plan on letting go of anything,' he said. 'I think we've been doing good work, that we have done good work and will continue to do good work.'

Some of those disgruntled providers are looking at making their own bids for DCF contracts, but those involved in community-based care say it's a risky venture.

'It may open up competition,' said Ron Zychowski, chief executive officer of Community Partnership for Children in Flagler and Volusia counties, and interim CEO of Child and Family Connections in Palm Beach County.

'But only a handful right now of not-for-profits are able to do this work,' he said. 'This is a big job. It is the worst kind of managed-care contract you can probably take on.'

The lead agency must serve everyone who comes into care, yet it is not allowed to prepare a budget based on the number of individuals who need help and the cost of such services.

'You have to accept what the state gives you,' he said. 'If you don't know child welfare and you don't know how to run a nonprofit, you are going to fail.'

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT