If there’s one state company that epitomizes the irritating and protracted scratch of a badly damaged report, it is the Florida Division of Kids & Households. Whether or not it is defending abused children, monitoring grownup providers and extra not too long ago offering transparency about its dependancy remedy facilities, the division often finds a approach to fall brief.
Now, DCF is simply mendacity about it.
A current examination by Put up Investigative reporter Antigone Barton of the DCF web site discovered division inspectors lifting gross sales pitches from dependancy remedy facilities and utilizing them as professional inspection studies. One evident instance is the brochure of 1 facility the Put up discovered that learn: “… caring about others, giving again and making a societal influence are the inspiration of all we do.” In DCF’s “findings,” the phrase “we” is now “they.”
The Put up additionally discovered that the web site has no inspection and disciplinary studies, findings or violations predating 2024. The hyperlinks to inspection studies on the web site solely cowl a tenth of the applications licensed by the division, and too lots of these studies are redacted or riddled with errors. One ends with an unfinished sentence.
It is not the sort of transparency that informs potential shoppers about high quality of service a cherished one may encounter underneath a remedy middle’s care. But, that is the sort of inaccurate and incomplete info Floridians can anticipate from the state’s social service company. Final yr, DCF Secretary Shevaun Harris promised to enhance entry to data by displaying the company’s oversight of dependancy remedy after state Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart launched laws that might have required DCF to show license purposes, complaints and inspection studies on the division’s web site. Harris promised to supply the knowledge and Harrell withdrew the requirement from her invoice.
At the moment, Harris’ workplace launched a press release: “We are able to let you know that Secretary Harris is dedicated to making sure accountability and transparency with the applications and amenities that we regulate.”
Florida Shuffle:State’s failure to supervise dependancy remedy leaves sufferers in lethal hazard
The response to the Put up story? Crickets.
Earlier in my profession, as a former social providers reporter, DCF was a big, but agonizing, a part of my job. I usually talked with overworked caseworkers near burnout, annoyed guardian advert litems who stayed the course in representing younger shoppers in courtroom, and with regional administrators about doubtful insurance policies. I additionally witnessed advocates, together with foster kids themselves, making an attempt to influence state legislators to spice up funding and alter procedures to make DCF extra useful.
After all, there have been the horror tales. Abused kids and senior residents, overcrowded foster houses, hotlines that went unanswered — to call just a few. As a reporter and human being, I’d usually go back-and-forth between outrage on the company’s general ineptness and sympathy for anybody caught in its make use of. The company then was underfunded, overworked and ill-prepared to deal with among the most tough social ills going through Florida. Not a lot has modified.
For an company that tries to battle ill-treatment, DCF can not seem to shake its personal abuse. This newest failure would not assist.
Douglas C. Lyons is an editorial author and columnist for The Palm Seashore Put up, a part of the USA At this time Community. He could be reached at dclyons@gannett.com.
