“Editor’s Note: We believe the constant flow of federal funding is
the very reason that CPS is so corrupt. They are ALREADY
taking/stealing children for baseless reasons and destroying families
each and every day. A pay increase and promotion only pushes them to
steal more children.”
In an effort to repair his child welfare track record, Gov. Rick
Scott will announce Tuesday in Miami that he is steering $31 million in
additional money to child protection efforts, a move aimed at reducing
caseloads and increasing oversight of vulnerable children in Florida.
Ticky Ricky
The announcement comes in the wake of dozens of child deaths from
abuse and neglect in the past year, and amid calls for reform of the
Department of Children & Families from the non-profit Casey Family
Foundation and Democrats in the Legislature.
“While DCF has made significant changes to protect children, we
still have much to do to protect the most vulnerable among us,’’ the
governor said in a statement on Monday. “Even one child death is a
death too many.”
The governor will also announce that he will steer an additional $8
million to sheriff’s offices to investigate child abuse complaints, a
turnabout for the governor who recommended a $17 million reduction in
the grants to sheriffs for child protective efforts in his 2013-14
budget proposal.
The governor’s proposal, which is only a recommendation to the
Legislature, includes restoring money for Substance Abuse and Mental
Health programs, services that play a vital role in reducing child
abuse, the agency said in a statement released to the Herald/Times on
Monday.
The governor said his “historic increase to DCF funding” will pay
for the hiring of 400 additional child protective investigators. The
proposal also aims to reduce caseloads for child protective
investigators from the current 13.3 cases per investigator to 10, and
institute two-person teams in cases involving children under age 4 when
the family has a history of domestic violence, substance abuse or
mental illness, the statement said.
The program would be modeled after a pilot program DCF is currently
running using paired investigators for high-risk cases in Miami-Dade
and Polk counties.
DCF interim Secretary Esther Jacobo said she is confident the proposals “will keep Florida children safe.”
DCF interim Secretary Esther Jacobo
“Armed with input from national experts and data to back up our
proposals, we are prepared to ensure that these funds will be laser
focused on protecting children who are most at-risk,” Jacobo said in
the statement.
The governor’s recommendation also includes restoring 26 of the 72
quality assurance positions that were cut under former DCF Secretary
David Wilkins. Child advocates blame those cuts for contributing to
some of the child deaths.
Another 50 current investigator positions would be eligible for
career advancement under a new “Child Protective Master Practitioner”
plan that would reward case workers with the most knowledge and
experience.
The Casey Family Programs reviewed 40 child deaths last year and
concluded that both DCF and community-based care organizations should
focus more resources on providing services aimed at stabilizing
families to prevent abuse.
The governor’s track record in his previous budget requests to the
Legislature has been to reduce funding to the child welfare agency. In
his first budget proposal in the 2011-12 budget year, for example, the
governor recommended reducing funding for DCF by $238 million below its
current levels at the time.
In 2011-12, Scott recommended increasing the agency budget by $1.7
million over the level approved by lawmakers a year before but, in
2013-14, he recommended reducing the budget again — by $75.7 million —
below what lawmakers had approved the year before.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/13/3869179/gov-scott-to-propose-increased.html#storylink=cpy
