I hope Florida foster parents claims ring, says Child Welfare Group

According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida hopes that more than 21,000 families helped introduce it to a child sanction investigator.

At a recent legislative hearing, the program’s executive director rated it helping to reduce the number of foster Florida children by 7,000.

However, those who are familiar with and not with what the program is doing suggest that such claims are exaggerated or false.

Julie Broward, a resident of St. Petersburg, said he contacted Hope after his home was flooded during Hurricane Milton. Broward is in foster care for three grandchildren who were in foster care and suffered from stage 4 ovarian cancer. Her brush with Florida was just too short.

“I’ve never gotten help,” she said.

The current and former leaders of foster care institutions interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times said they suspected the allegations made by Hope Florida. They say the program, founded by Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, replicated what their agency already does and retrieved resources from existing programs.

“We already have a system to achieve everything Florida expects to achieve,” said Gerry Glynn, former CEO of Embrace Family, a nonprofit that has operated foster care in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties for 20 years. “They hold their hands and are moral support. Is that worth the millions of dollars they spent on it?”

The three current CEOs confirmed what Glynn had to say, but spoke on condition of anonymity and cited the agency’s reliance on state funds. Glynn and other chief executives fought for hope for Florida’s claim to help turn around families at risk of taking children away. He said he wanted Florida to refer poor families to state agencies and services.

After Glynn’s former nonprofit announced he had resigned as lead agency, the family reported being criticised for the financial dismantling of children and families in Florida, and for putting their children in a non-licensed environment.

Glynn said the Florida hotline is of little use to parents dealing with issues like substance addiction, mental health disorders and domestic violence that often leads to the removal of children.

There was also concern that families fighting these issues would need more than those who show up for their meals. It referenced Casey Desantis’ comments at a recent press conference. This is a church that bringing the church into Lasagna tray for struggling single mothers can alleviate poverty.

The doubts about the merits of Hope Florida are as lawmakers also question its effectiveness and costs. The scrutiny comes after the organization’s charity division received $10 million from a $67 million Medicaid settlement that was previously private to the state legislature.

When asked for comment, the Ministry of Children and Family Spokesman declined by email if Times Reporter did not share a direct quote or name the four officials interviewed prior to the publication of the story.

“We hope Florida doesn’t provide a service. It connects people with other people who provide services like Careportal,” said a spokesman who refers to a platform launched 10 years ago.

Florida had a free crisis helpline long before Hope Florida. The Florida 211 Network, made up of 111 organizations, was officially adopted by the state in the early 2000s, Tri-Director Director Triglia said. Get access to over 32,000 programs and services for callers.

The 211 Network supported more than 1 million requests for assistance last year. About 348,000 were over 211,000 for housing resource demand, 87,000 food aid and support for mental health and substance abuse, Glee said.

Hope Florida was created as a pilot program in 2019 before running a statewide operation in 2021. It is run by the Florida Department of Children and Families, whose secretary reports to Gov. Ron Desantis.

Hopefully Florida doesn’t have an official budget, but the department has reallocated 150 state employees to become a navigator to answer calls made to the program’s helpline.

It will increase wages of up to $6 million even before benefits are calculated, said state legislator D-Tallahassee at the April 15 Florida House of Representatives hearing on healthcare.

She asked why the department created those positions while state lawmakers were considering Florida’s budget to cut employment in departments in other states.

“Frankly, there’s this whole system and at least one agency where at least $6 million Hilling happened,” she said.

Taylor Hatch, the secretary of children and families, said the job was funded within her agency’s existing budget, reaching less than 2% of the workforce.

Reallocation of workers who hope that Florida will match departments struggling to deal with the influx of aid as Florida has reaffirmed the eligibility of around 5 million Medicaid recipients.

In 2023, residents called the department’s Medicaid call centers had an average wait of 32 minutes. Four of the 10 callers gave up on waiting. Late response times were cited in a lawsuit filed by health advocacy groups on behalf of residents who lost their health insurance. Florida has also received a warning from the federal government that the Medicaid Call Center is not providing timely assistance to those renewing or applying for benefits.

Concerns about whether Medicaid call centers are staffing properly persist. A recent report by Unidos, a nonprofit for Latino advocacy, found that Spanish speakers wait an average of 54 minutes, and more than two hours.

Florida Navigators receive calls from family members who are in need and direct details to a log to an online system called Careportal.

However, foster care agencies were already using that system. If a family needs to help buy a bed for their children, foster workers usually reach out to a local faith group or nonprofit organization and use careportal to find the closest help in the zip code. If help isn’t approaching, agents will spend from their own budgets to meet their needs.

The performances of foster care agencies and child protection investigators have been documented and posted online, but the state has not released details about the performance of Hope in Florida and the costs of the program.

The group publishes magazine-style reports listing success stories on its website and social media pages, but they only provide the names of people who have been helped. The attached photos are stock images obtained online.

It is not included in the promotional material. I’m Acacia Davidson, 50 years old.

Davidson said she repeatedly called Hope Florida after her apartment flooded during Hurricane Milton. The help she received from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for accommodation payments has expired, and she, her husband and daughter have been living in motel rooms ever since.

Osteoarthritis Davidson said the navigator she spoke to couldn’t help her find a subsidized apartment.

“They’re very info-free in the resources they’re talking about,” she said. “I emailed and called until I got some results.”

The allegation that Hope Florida deserves credit for reducing the number of foster children was made by former executive director Eric Delenback during the Florida House hearing in April.

When Derenbach was appointed to the Governor’s Faith in August 2019, more than 23,000 Florida children were in the state wards. He was appointed executive director for Hope Florida in January, but effectively resigned on May 1 amid fallout over the use of Medicaid settlements.

As of March, the number of foster children had fallen by more than 15,200.

“We recommend that foster parents see where they are today,” Derenback told lawmakers at the hearing.

Foster care agency officials said they would unlikely expect the Florida helpline to contribute to the drop and cite other factors.

Local agencies have spent years developing and implementing evidence-based interventions, turning to families at risk of going home and taking children away. Case managers have worked for weeks or months to ensure they follow a plan that includes substance abuse counseling, treatment and anger management classes.

The 2018 Family First Prevention and Services Act has increased federal funding for services that support families before children are removed. The decline in the number of children in care in Florida is reflected nationwide, with federal data showing a 13% decline between 2019 and 2022.

“We hope Florida can take that credit when numbers drop nationwide,” Glynn said. “I hope Florida clearly doesn’t have a national footprint.”

Other changes specific to Florida’s child welfare system may have also been supported.

In 2023, Florida completed more than two years of experiments in which shelter escorts were employed and supervised by the sheriff’s office in seven counties, including Hillsboro, Pinellas and Pasco.

Some of these counties had one of the highest removal rates for children, and a 2021 report was found.

Foster care agencies contracted by the state not only receive funding from the children and family departments, but also funding to boost their income and the services they can provide. Hope’s arrival created another competitor for Florida for these limited donor dollars, Glynn said.

“We didn’t understand why we were creating this redundant agency for the same resources,” he said.