He says the agency's improvements in dealing with a backlog of cases require more funds.
By ALISA ULFERTS
Published September 4, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Jerry Regier marked his first year at the helm of Florida's child welfare agency Wednesday by announcing that he needs an extra $200-million next year to continue what he considers a successful effort to reduce a backlog of cases.
Regier took over in the midst of a scandal over Rilya Wilson, the Miami girl in state care who was missing for more than a year before agency workers noticed. Her disappearance led to the resignation of Regier's predecessor, Kathleen Kearney.
"I think we have a lot of safety measures in place that weren't in place at the time of that tragedy," Regier said.
Gov. Jeb Bush hired Regier from Oklahoma, where Regier had held similar duties, though not on the scale of the Florida Department of Children and Families. From the start, Regier's conservative Christian views raised the hackles of critics who worried he would push a personal agenda at the agency.
The groups called for Regier to resign after a 1988 article he co-wrote surfaced. It said husbands must have authority over their wives, that the Bible condones spanking and that wives shouldn't work outside the home unless it is a financial emergency.
On Wednesday, Regier said his personal views have not interfered with his public duties and listed a series of accomplishments the agency has seen since he took over last year. The backlog of child welfare cases shrank from 30,000 to about 1,700. There were 300 more adoptions in the past year than the year before. Wages of front-line caseworkers, while not increasing as much as he'd like, are going up. Some 95 percent of all children in state care are seen once a month.
But such improvements aren't cheap. Regier said he'll need at least another $200-million for his agency next year. And he'll be looking to farm out more of his agency's investigations to sheriffs.
Still, remnants of the controversy that marked Regier's hiring still flare up. Last week, headlines around the state reported Regier's latest hire for the agency's top legal job: James H.K. Bruner, a conservative New York lawyer who fought to deny rights for homosexuals.
An internal review last week found that the agency's drive to reduce the backlog of incomplete child abuse investigations might have left thousands of children "at risk of harm."
Records show that among a sample of 2,682 of the closed cases statewide, nearly 14 percent appeared to leave children "at risk of harm" or, at the very least, made it impossible to determine from paperwork whether the children were safe.
Regier disputed that so many children were truly at risk after their cases were closed, saying many were deemed at risk because paperwork was incomplete. And some of those kids are runaways, Regier said.
"The main thing we are doing is trying to find out why they are running," Regier said.
He also has endured complaints from some DCF workers that character-building classes are fronts for a religious agenda, an accusation Regier denies. He said the classes honor workers who show exemplary character traits such as generosity, flexibility and joyfulness.
Regier also has spearheaded an effort to persuade an appeals court that a guardian should have been appointed for the fetus of a disabled rape victim in Orlando - a move critics charge is an attempt to strike a blow against legal abortion.
