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A private agency hired to reduce the number of unresolved cases cites a long list of concerns about investigations and record keeping. The state is suing the agency, saying it didn't do proper work.
By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 5, 2002
TAMPA -- Despite a multimillion-dollar effort to catch up on child abuse investigations, Florida's Department of Children and Families still is struggling to close a backlog of 30,000 cases that have taken more than the standard 60 days to complete.
The delay in investigating these allegations of child abuse troubled legislators who met Tuesday in Tampa to review DCF's performance.
"There's some children out there who possibly could be at risk, who definitely are at risk, and we hope we can get there before it's too late," said state Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, chairwoman of the House Select Committee on Oversight of Florida's Department of Children and Family Services.
Murman brought the committee to Tampa on Tuesday to discuss how well the department manages contracts with outside agencies, including one it hired -- and later fired and sued -- to reduce the backlog of abuse cases.
For top DCF officials including Secretary Kathleen Kearney, who was present, the testimony substituted one controversy for another. Since late April the department has been reeling from the disclosure that it lost track of a 5-year-old Miami girl under its supervision. DCF officials failed to notice for more than a year that the girl, Rilya Wilson, was missing.
On Tuesday, the committee heard from current and former DCF employees and nonprofit companies who are taking over much of the department's child welfare work under contracts with the state. Also testifying was the head of the Pinellas Park-based company that was hired to reduce the backlog, the Florida Task Force for the Protection of Abused and Neglected Children.
The Florida Task Force was paid $4.8-million to finish investigating abuse and neglect cases that DCF workers hadn't completed in the normally required 60-day time frame. DCF officials said they terminated the contracts in March after discovering the firm had charged the state for work it didn't really do. The state has since filed a lawsuit claiming "civil theft" and demanding payment of triple damages of $12-million.
But Tracy Loomis, vice president of the Task Force, said that when her workers spread across the state to finish investigating cases that state workers never completed, they found scores of problems with DCF itself. The problems included: allegations of sexual and physical abuse that lingered for years with no one investigating them; missing files; files of active cases stored in boxes and even in the ceilings of some offices; and many others.
Loomis said in one case, a mother who was a "severe drug addict" had her children taken away for their safety, but DCF never formalized this process through a required court hearing -- meaning the purportedly neglectful mother could have taken her children back at any time.
And DCF Inspector General Guiseppe A. Betta distributed investigative reports by his agency that backed some of Loomis' claims, including that DCF "failed to conduct thorough and accurate abuse investigations."
Murman said the episode showed "we've got to put a better program together" for managing contracts. That's a key point, because DCF is engaged in handing over virtually all of its child welfare work to outside non-profit and government agencies.
Rep. Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg, said he was frustrated that the department's top administrators had failed to fully explain the backlog problem earlier and had not asked the Legislature for enough staff to fix the problem.
"No one has come forward and said, we need X amount of dollars or X amount of people to get the job done." He said he expected them to provide such a plan for the next budget year.
Maj. Connie Shingledecker of the Manatee County Sheriff's Office said her department instituted a simple system for attacking its backlog of cases: It paid overtime, arranged child care and bought dinners for investigators who worked one evening a week in addition to their regular shift.
Also Tuesday:
Betta said his office had begun an investigation into a DCF auction last week in which WTSP Channel 10 reporter Mike Deeson spent $5 and bought 50 boxes of documents including confidential files.
Chris Card, executive director of Hillsborough Kids Inc., said the Tampa-based nonprofit agency will be able to significantly reduce caseloads in the child welfare work it is taking over from DCF.
Current and former DCF employees said the high caseloads and other problems were longtime, long-ignored problems within the agency.
- Times staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or by calling (727) 893-8232.