McBride vows to increase DCF funds

The candidate says he would raise pay, cut caseloads and hire more counselors.

[AP photo] Bill McBride talks to the media Wednesday after he toured the Juvenile Justice Center in Miami.

©Associated Press
August 1, 2002

MIAMI -- Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Bill McBride said Wednesday he would increase funding for the troubled Department of Children and Families, even if it means raising taxes.

McBride criticized Republican Gov. Jeb Bush for not spending enough on prevention programs to keep children out of the state welfare system, but he refused to say how much he would spend or which taxes could be raised.

"I'm going to get (more funding) out of the current budget and I'm going to put more into kids and less into tax cuts," McBride said after touring Miami-Dade County's juvenile court.

He said it is "good investment strategy to spend the money now, because it saves you down the road."

McBride said he wants to create an advisory panel and hire a new DCF secretary, who would be given six months to raise salaries for DCF workers, reduce caseloads and hire new counselors, if necessary.

"These people are doing heroic efforts with so little," McBride said.

McBride also wants to boost funding for prevention programs like Healthy Families Florida, which he said has reduced instances of abuse in 10,000 families during the past four years. The voluntary program offers home visits to parents of newborns with risk factors for abuse, such as teenagers and households with low incomes.

He also said the DCF should focus on family preservation instead of constantly shifting children around in temporary homes.

The agency has faced harsh criticism for a series of failures involving caseworkers who falsified records, didn't make required foster home visits or endangered children by leaving them under inappropriate care.

The case of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson of Miami grabbed national headlines in April when her disappearance from state supervision was not noticed by the agency for more than a year.

A Polk County boy, Alfredo Montes, 2, was beaten to death at a babysitter's home in early July -- the day a DCF caseworker's later report said she had visited the boy's home and he was fine. The caseworker was charged with a third-degree felony.

Bush campaign spokesman Todd Harris on Tuesday dismissed McBride's plan as "politically expedient."

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