Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / September 2004

Study: Fla. Agency Doesn't Probe Families

MIAMI - State child-welfare workers in Miami often failed to perform
criminal background checks before placing a child in the home of a
relative or family friend, according to a study by Florida's
beleaguered social services agency.

Caseworkers failed to perform a national criminal background check in
44 percent of cases reviewed recently by the Department of Children &
Families in Miami. In 37 percent, investigators did not check the
department's own computerized child-abuse records.

The agency has come under scrutiny since a Miami foster child named
Rilya Wilson disappeared while in the state-approved care of a woman
with a lengthy criminal record.

As of May, 4,331 children in DCF's Miami district were in some type of
out-of-home care, living either with foster parents, relatives or
family friends.

The findings are part of a study of the state's child-welfare program
in Miami-Dade and neighboring Monroe County, conducted in advance of a
national audit by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The
audit gauges the state's compliance with federal child welfare
regulations.

The report shows DCF's Miami district failed to meet federal standards
for all 13 general categories, such as the thoroughness and timeliness
of child abuse investigations, the well-being of foster children and
efforts to find permanent homes for children in care.

The report also showed that private child welfare agencies often
performed better than DCF. The Miami district is set to shift
management of most child welfare functions to private providers next
year.

Peter D. Coats, a spokesman for the Miami DCF district, said the study
was meant to help improve social work in Miami.

"We believe we are moving in the right direction," Coats told The
Miami Herald for Friday's editions.

Earlier this month, the agency's chief resigned amid questions over
how he dealt with contracting child welfare work out to private
companies.
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