State: Regier seeks raises for DCF workers

Regier seeks raises for DCF workers

By ALISA ULFERTS, Times Staff Writer

TALLAHASSEE -- Department of Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier said Friday he will ask for more money for salary increases when he delivers his budget proposal to Gov. Jeb Bush next week.

Regier, who is finishing his second week as head of the troubled agency, spoke to reporters after holding a "listening tour" with DCF caseworkers in Tallahassee.

Caseworkers told Regier it is unfair that they have a starting salary of about $22,000 with a college degree while corrections deputies who've passed a GED test can start at $28,000.

"Obviously those are budget issues, but they are real issues," said Regier, who must fill an estimated 700 vacancies at the agency, more than half of them directly in the child welfare area. The question, the DCF chief said, is simple: "What kind of investment do we want to make in our children?"

He didn't say how much more he plans to ask for.

The amount of money the state spends on child welfare services has doubled from $414-million in 1998 to $847-million in 2002, according to a news release Bush sent out after he signed this year's budget. But more is needed for salaries, Regier said.

"I think we will be asking for an increase because I think it goes to the heart of the issue.... I will be proposing some additional money for salaries," Regier said.

Regier replaced embattled DCF head Kathleen Kearney, who stepped down last month after the agency acknowledged it had lost track of about 500 children in its care. One 5-year-old Miami girl was missing for more than a year before the agency noticed this spring. She has not been found.

Regier is traveling the state, listening to the front-end workers whose job it is to decide whether a child is safe in a home or must be removed for his or her own safety.

At a Thursday stop in Miami, Regier said caseworkers told him they feel they can't even go to the grocery store without people finding out they work at DCF and suggesting they are responsible in part for the cases that have grabbed headlines.

Regier said DCF staffers have offered good ideas for improving the agency. "It was a very good exchange of information," he said.