Florida state Social waorkers like all other state social workers

[Guest guest]

At the same time Florida's former child welfare chief was calling Rilya

's disappearance an isolated incident, a consultant was reporting

to one of her top deputies findings of systemic problems in the care of

abused and neglected children statewide.

Critics of the beleaguered Department of Children & Families said Tuesday

that agency officials withheld the scathing findings of a $325,000 agency

review and instructed the consultant not to write a formal report to

avoid further embarrassment.

The head of a legislative panel investigating the DCF said she cannot

remember any mention of the findings, and Fort Lauderdale-based attorney

Talenfeld, who has sued the agency on behalf of foster children,

said it took him a month of persistent requests under Florida's public

records laws to obtain them.

" They were trying to deep-six the reports so that the public, the

advocates and the media had no idea that they failed, " Talenfeld said.

" This was the report card that the dog ate. "

State Rep. Murman, R-Tampa, said 's findings did not

surprise her. " I've said all along I knew there were other children at

harm and risk out there, " she said. " I think Secretary Kearney all along

tried to hide under a blanket, hoping it would go away. "

Murman, who heads a special committee investigating the DCF, said she did

not think her panel had seen 's data.

" I don't remember Secretary Kearney's group even mentioning it to us, "

she said. " Hiding them from the public is not going to make them go

away, " she said of the studies.

" In some of the cases, there did not seem to be a single point of

accountability, " the report says.

The team found the system's overall performance acceptable in only 24

percent of the cases examined. They found a " lack of basic skills on how

to engage families " and lamented that a family living in Florida City

must travel to Miami for court hearings.

Florida caseworkers need to master the basics, he said, such as involving

families in decisions, identifying the underlying problems and improving

communication.

Gievers called 's findings shameful.

They show a system " in crisis, that is being severely mismanaged, that is

dysfunctional and is not serving the needs of Florida's children, " she

said.

" This was the person they thought was the best in the country, " Talenfeld

said. " This shows the department's overall functioning is an F. "

Sally Kestin can be reached at skestin@... or .

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