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Sarasota YMCA's Child Welfare Contract In Limbo

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By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2007

Sarasota YMCA Review Team Draft Reports
Introduction and Background
Systems Perceptions
Systems Strengths
Concerns and Recommendations
List of Appendices

TAMPA - A panel ordered to review Florida's first private agency to take on child welfare duties for the state said today it cannot recommend renewing the agency's multimillion-dollar contract without serious internal changes.

A team organized by Department of Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth described Sarasota Family YMCA leaders as arrogant in the way they deflected criticisms lodged against the agency, which handles foster care and adoptions in five counties, including Sarasota, Pinellas and Pasco.

The team wrote in a preliminary report that it was an "unanimous agreement" that if the culture and attitude within the YMCA didn't change, part or all of the contract – worth $71 million this fiscal year – should go out to bid by competing agencies.

Butterworth is reviewing the report today and issuing a final report expected to be released Tuesday during a YMCA board meeting in Sarasota.

The panel also suggested Butterworth take "immediate and aggressive steps" to stabilize Pinellas County, where overburdened and underpaid caseworkers described being in constant "crisis mode."
The YMCA came under fire in June, when a 2-1/2-year-old girl in the care of a Pinellas County social service provider went missing for nine months. Authorities discovered Courtney Clark and her mom, who had absconded with the girl, in Portage, Wis., where a woman had been strangled and buried in the backyard and her son tortured and burned.

Courtney and two younger sisters remain in foster care in Wisconsin. Their mother, Candice Clark, and two other adults have been charged with murder and child abuse and await trial in Wisconsin.
Butterworth has said Courtney's case, more than any one he was aware of, exposed major flaws within the YMCA as well as his department.

The case made national headlines and was followed by news of the tragic death of an 18-month-old Manatee County girl, who suffocated beneath a stove a month after a caseworker reunited the girl with her mother.

By then, complaints began to surface from former provider agencies, who contended they had lost contracts with the YMCA because of being vocal about problems – not because of performance issues.
The review panel echoed those suspicions, but said it could not determine if any wrongdoing had occurred. They found YMCA leaders to be arrogant in their responses to questions about complaints, often blaming them on disgruntled employees.

The panel also took issue with the YMCA's "too many layers and too many operational staff. … It should continue to review opportunities for efficiencies and redirect functions and resources to community providers."

The panel even made suggestions for DCF, saying the department's requirements related to lead agency procurement are not clear and that data requested by the review panel were not detailed enough.

The Tampa Tribune is making the preliminary report available online. Appendices to the report were not available immediately.

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

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