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The Pasco Family Protection Team, which handles child abuse cases, will be on probation until at least February. The children were unaffected, the state says.
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 14, 2001
A private investigation of the Pasco Family Protection Team has revealed a social service agency suffering from internal squabbling, poor communication and flawed management.
The protection team, which is state-funded, helps investigate Pasco County child abuse cases. About three months ago, it found itself under investigation after employees filed sexual harassment complaints against executive director Rick Hess.
The state Department of Health reviewed the protection team and last month put it on probation.
The team also hired New Port Richey private investigator Mike Holden to investigate the employee allegations.
Last week, health officials received Holden's report. According to the report, released Thursday to the St. Petersburg Times, Holden found no supporting evidence for the sexual harassment claims.
But the man hired by the team found trouble within the team:
There was "a total breakdown of communication" from employees to supervisors and supervisors to board members, Holden wrote.
Employees fail to work as a team.
Supervisors, including Hess, failed to follow up on the sexual harassment complaints.
Records were missing and possibly taken by employees trying to retaliate and make other employees look bad.
The team needs programs to educate employees about sexual harassment.
Employees divulged information from confidential child abuse interviews.
Holden's report concludedthat "the Pasco Family Protection Team is going to need close monitoring to prevent any further breakdown in the agency's operation."
The team helps control the front door to the foster care system. It conducts medical exams and interviews in potential child abuse cases.
Hess said Thursday that most of the problems have been fixed. The state agreed.
"The major issues have been pretty much resolved, but we haven't prepared a formal response yet," said Michael Haney, the Health Department's director of children's medical services.
The team, which is contracted to receive $332,880 this year from the state, will continue to be scrutinized. Its probation runs until at least Feb. 15.
Hess has maintained throughout the investigations that no children were placed in harm's way. The state agreed.
"We didn't find anything that caused us to be concerned any child was being jeopardized," Haney said.
Holden's report affirms many of the problems the state found.
The state review discovered a lack of documented supervision by Hess, confidential case files left unprotected and failure of the team to properly educate medical workers about child abuse.
"I have an expectation that all of our programs we contract with are held accountable," Haney said. "We expect them to do better or we'll have to figure out another way to do this."
-- Staff writer Ryan Davis covers social services in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is