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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2002
After a week of muted political response to the disappearance a 5-year-old foster child, Florida Democrats and their leading gubernatorial candidate flayed Republican Gov. Jeb Bush's response and called for the ouster of the head of state child protective services.
Some Republicans joined in as well, criticizing the governor's opposition to a bill that would have expanded legal representation for children in the custody of the state Department of Children and Families.
In an unusually impassioned speech in St. Petersburg, Janet Reno, who polls say is the leading Democratic candidate for governor, blasted Bush for failing to move quickly and broadly enough to investigate DCF.
She said Bush should replace DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney, and urged the appointment of an independent ombudsman to watch over the system.
She also called for more money to ensure caseworkers are adequately paid and trained.
"The governor must take action now by appointing an experienced child welfare system manager who has a proven record" to head DCF, Reno told the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club in St. Petersburg.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Rossin sent Bush a letter urging him to name retiring Sen. Ron Silver, D-North Miami Beach, former chairman of the Senate's child welfare committee, to head DCF.
The governor declined their suggestions.
"I think we are on the right track," Bush said. "There is a criminal investigation going on. I think all of this needs to be sorted out before we start making decisions about the future of the department."
Some Republican legislators faulted Bush for blocking a plan to provide legal representation to children involved in abuse or neglect cases.
Current law allows a volunteer, known as a guardian ad litem, to represent a child in court, but guardians are in short supply and most aren't lawyers. Rilya Wilson did not have one.
"Kids like Rilya probably wouldn't be where she is today. They would have somebody watching over them," said Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, who sponsored the bill in the House. It died there after passing the Senate near the end of the regular session in March.
Bush said he opposed the bill because it would mean "moving away from its intent, which is to have volunteers represent the interests of children." He said he supports expanding the program.
Lawmakers are considering spending $7.5-million for 256 new positions to expand a pilot program statewide.
Reno asserted that Bush failed to make good on a 1998 campaign pledge to improve the child welfare system.
Reno said DCF must assess the true state of the system, determining how long children spend in foster care, how often they're returned home, and how often abuse reoccurs.
Tampa lawyer Bill McBride, another Democrat running for governor, said Rilya's case highlights how poorly the state looks out for children.
"We need to focus more of our resources and energies to children, particularly those who come out of family circumstances that are not ideal or who have been abused," McBride said.
Bush defended his record, saying the DCF budget has more than doubled since he took office, as have adoptions. Caseloads also have dropped.
"The broad indicators of where we stand with our child welfare system are better, and the critics need to take that into consideration," he said.
Meanwhile, the Legislature appears ready to pass a bill (HB 71-E) making it a crime to alter DCF records. The Senate unanimously passed it Wednesday and sent it to the House, which passed a similar bill last week.
Under the bill, a state worker who falsified records on children under state supervision could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
-- Times staff writers Steve Bousquet, Anita Kumar and Lucy Morgan contributed to this report.