Foster care task force has an expert

A teenager knows the system because he has lived in it.

PENSACOLA - Devan Coffman is an expert on Florida's troubled foster care program, using his knowledge with the state's Task Force for Child Protection.

But unlike the judge, the prosecutor and other influential Floridians who are on the 13-member commission charged with identifying ways to fix the system, Coffman obtained his expertise firsthand - the 16-year-old has been in and out of foster care for seven years.

It's a system of almost 26,000 children long plagued by overlooked abuse and kids killed by their caregivers.

"I've been through everything. At first I hated it, and I would cry and I would be like, 'Oh why me God, why did everyone get to have their parents and normal lives and do normal things,'" he said. "After a while it just hit me that he is putting me in this position to help other people."

George Sheldon, assistant secretary for Florida's Department of Children and Families, which oversees the foster care system,met Coffman at a conference for foster children and their advocates in Tampa during a discussion about how to find runaways.

"After about 20 minutes, Devan raised his hand and suggested that it might be a good idea if we started looking at all the reasons the kids were running away in the first place," Sheldon said.

Coffman has been in and out of foster care since age 9 when his mother didn't show up after school one day.

Frustrated with moving from school to school, he obtained his GED this year. He is taking classes at Pensacola Junior College and living independently under guidance from his caseworkers.

[Last modified October 27, 2007, 23:41:19]