Sat. Jan 4.11:25 AM

to Josh. Daphne. Aly. me

Hi Michael:
Please see the statement below from DCF Secretary Chad Poppell for use in
its entirety.

Extended Statement from DCF Secretary Chad Pogpell:

All 23,000 children in the state's care deserve to be treated as if they were
our own. Whenever that standard is not met, we have failed as a system of
care, and those who have already endured so much, are forced to endure
more.

The media plays a critical role in shining the light on areas where our system
needs to improve. As Secretary, it became quickly apparent that

foundational change needed to occur within our system of care. I was excited
to find that nearly every stakeholder working in our system in Florida agreed.

Overtime, as the system was outsourced, DCF faded into the background
and became too distant from the frontlines of child welfare. This has led to a
fractured system that is not appropriately resourced, lacks bandwidth for
increases in children in care, and is not performance driven. Worse, despite
significant efforts, DCF and its lead agency partners have not been able to
stabilize our frontline employees. This is not how I would design a system
around my own children, and especially not our children in foster care.

Florida needs a system that is centered in accountability, capable of fully
leveraging statewide resources to drive performance and positive outcomes
for families. This session, we have proposed a bill restoring DCF's role in
accountability by establishing a Quality Assurance Office, codifying a
performance framework, mandating when intervention must occur, and for
the first time - developing a funding method that ties dollars to caseloads.

For our frontline investigators and case managers, our Office of Innovation
has identified over five million work hours that will be repurposed to increase
one-tavone time with families. Once these policy improvements are made,
this massive increase in bandwidth will be the equivalent of adding over
2,000 positions to our agency, all with existing resources.

Florida's child welfare system has improved significantly over the past 10
years, and our lead agency partners have been instrumental in these

improvements. My goal as Secretary is to ensure that no child will have to
endure any form of abuse – ever. I’m optimistic about the road ahead and the
plans we have in place to build healthy, safe, and sustainable families in
Florida.
Additional Information
Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis and with the support of the
Legislature, DCF is actively moving forward with change. This year, I set a
goal of reducing the number of families in crisis by 20 percent by 2021. To
accomplish this goal, the department will focus on two strategies – increase
pre-crisis contacts and reduce re-entry into our various systems – this is how
we are going to change lives and better serve Florida’s children and families.
To be clear, abuse in a licensed foster home is completely unacceptable and
further depicts the need for high-quality and safe homes for children in foster
care. Children in care deserve to live in an environment that is free from the
abuse or neglect. I expect every child placed in a foster home to be loved
and cared for in the same way I would my own children. This is not a special
condition for a special circumstance, this is an expectation for every child.
In May 2019, DCF requested the assistance of the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement to examine how child protective investigations involving sexual
abuse allegations were being conducted, develop recommendations for areas
that need improvement, and identify strategies for recruiting and retaining
high performing child protective investigators.
Any time there are allegations of abuse or concerns for a child’s wellbeing,
DCF and the local lead agency take immediate action to ensure these
children are not subjected to any additional trauma. To infer otherwise is a
gross misrepresentation of the department and the organizations tasked with
protecting this vulnerable population. Actions may include a removal of
children currently placed in the home and a suspension on future placements
pending a licensing review and child protective investigation. All allegations
of sexual abuse, physical injury, and criminal conduct, regardless of the
investigative findings, are referred to law enforcement for further action per
Section 39.301. If additional allegations of abuse are found during the course
of an investigation, those allegations are also reported to law enforcement.
In cases where the department is actively pursuing a license revocation, a
notice is provided to the licensee and the licensee may seek additional
administrative hearing rights under Chapter 120, Florida Statutes. However,
during this time, the licensee may also forego all administrative hearing
rights and surrender their license, which is often the case.
Over the past five years, Florida has lost an average of 1,336 foster home
licenses and added an average of 1,524 foster home licenses. Every licensed

 home is inspected and required to comply with all provisions of 65C-13,
Florida Administrative Code.