June 6, 2002

State's new computers have lost track of some foster children
By Sally Kestin and Megan O’Matz
Sun-Sentinel

A massive new computer system that is supposed to keep track of every child in state care is missing information on some children altogether and has inaccurate data on others.

The Department of Children & Families put a plan in place this week to address the problems, days after missing a deadline to visit more than 46,000 in state care. The review was ordered by Gov. Jeb Bush last month after the agency lost track of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson of Miami.

To identify and locate all children, agency officials had to go to paper files and other records, which also are incomplete, raising fresh doubts about the accuracy of the review.

“I don’t have confidence that [the review] is valid or meaningful,” said state Rep. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a member of the children’s committee. “It raises the question of the safety of the children. I don’t think we’re any closer to answering that.”

Agency officials met in a teleconference Wednesday and set deadlines to ensure that the computer system, called HomeSafenet, has accurate information on all children. The top priority, to be completed by June 21, is to identify “the right kids” by cross-checking other records and databases, according to documents obtained by the Sun-Sentinel.

The second priority is to ensure the system has “the right locations” for the children.

“The bottom line here is there are 46,000 some children, we believe, under the legal jurisdiction of this department,” Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida’s Children, said in an interview. “We don’t know how many children are unknown or unverified.”

Behind schedule

HomeSafenet has been touted by state officials as the solution to Florida’s troubled child protection system. Originally scheduled to be completed in 1998, the computer system will not be finished until 2005, and the total cost has grown from $32 million to more than $230 million.

The computer system is supposed to provide a single source of information about children in state custody.

Each of the 15 DCF districts began using the computer by last fall and were to have entered all children under state care into the system.

But state officials have found that HomeSafenet does not “accurately reflect the true numbers of clients and cases,” according to documents prepared for the teleconference.

Some children are entered twice; others are missing. The system has inconsistent information about the location of children, according to the documents.

The discrepancies made the task of identifying and counting the children difficult.

In the 11-county region based in Gainesville, the DCF district received a list of children generated by the computer system and then found 35 others who were not on it, said spokesman Tom Barnes.

“We’re confident we have identified all the kids in the district,” he said. “We don’t claim perfection, but we think we have done the job correctly.”

In Orlando, DCF officials obtained names of children from every worker “to make sure we didn’t miss anyone,” said spokeswoman Yvonne Vassel.

In Tampa, the agency went to “every worker and every worker’s office and every worker’s desk and every worker’s list,” said Chris Card, executive director of Hillsborough Kids, a private agency providing foster care services in the area.

Jack Moss, DCF district administrator in Broward County, and David May, administrator in Palm Beach County, declined to answer questions, saying through spokeswomen that they are under orders from Tallahassee not to speak to reporters without permission.

Bernard Perlmutter, director of the University of Miami’s Youth Law Clinic, deemed the department’s methodology “primitive.”

“What if a worker was missing on the day they went looking?” he asked. “It’s really unconscionable that DCF has such an utterly untrustworthy system to even know who their children are and where they are.”

Files unreliable

Relying on workers’ case files is not foolproof.

Rilya Wilson’s case appeared to fall into an abyss. No caseworker claimed responsibility for it for 15 months, during which the girl vanished. And, in Lake County, a company hired by DCF to clear backlog abuse investigations told a state legislative committee this week that it found children’s files tossed in trash cans and hidden in office ceilings.

DCF officials in Tallahassee did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the problems with HomeSafenet.

People familiar with the system have said that inaccuracies discovered in the system can be linked to how cumbersome and time-consuming HomeSafenet is to use.

In a May 2001 survey by Florida State University, workers who responded anonymously said the system was slow and frequently malfunctioned.

“The system in general is too complex,” wrote one worker. “My Federal Income taxes were easier to complete this year than the simplest [HomeSafenet] case!!!”

DCF’s review of each child in state care was supposed to be finished by last Friday. But as of Monday, the agency still had not seen 1,237 children, including runaways, children who were thought to have been abducted by a parent or relative, and youngsters who were placed with families out of state.

More than 250 of the children were not seen because the department ran out of time. Those children are supposed to be visited by Friday.

DCF workers and private agencies dealing with children under state care are now under orders to be sure all children’s records are entered accurately into HomeSafenet. Beginning July 1, the computer system will be the “official caseload listing” for children in state care and will be used to determine the agency’s budget.

Sally Kestin can be reached at skestin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4510.

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Posted on Wed, Jun. 05, 2002

DCF accused of concealing files
Ex-contractor talks to investigators
By Vickie Chachere
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

TAMPA - A company embroiled in a legal battle with the Department of Children & Families accused state workers Tuesday of hiding child abuse files to conceal shoddy work and serious allegations that were never investigated.

Officials from the nonprofit company, Florida Task Force, said DCF workers in Lake County concealed files in the ceiling so no one would know that cases weren't being investigated.

In other counties, accusations of sexual abuse and violent beatings were not investigated for up to two years before being sent to Florida Task Force, which was only supposed to handle cases that didn't involve serious abuse and neglect, company officials said.

The claims came as DCF workers in Tampa are under investigation for mishandling dozens of boxes of confidential files that were auctioned off to a television news reporter last week.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement now has some of the boxes, but other records might have been destroyed - which the agency's inspector general calls evidence - before officials could complete their work.

Florida Task Force's accusations came before the House Select Committee on Oversight of the Department of Children & Families, which is investigating Florida's troubled child protection system.

Florida Task Force had been hired in 2000 to tackle 50,000 backlogged child abuse cases the department had not been able to investigate itself.

Company officials said they had complained to the department's inspector general office nearly two years ago about the handling of cases but soon found themselves the agency's target.

DCF, company suing each another

In March, DCF canceled its contract with the Pinellas Park-based company and sued it a month later for more than $12 million, alleging it took state dollars for services it never provided and that its own workers falsified documents.

The company also has filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming it is owed more than $400,000 for work it did for DCF. The company had contracts to handle cases in Central Florida and Miami-Dade County.

Task Force Vice President Tracy Loomis told the committee the worst violations were in Lake County, where workers were under scrutiny for mishandling and falsifying records in the case of Kayla McKean, a 6-year-old beaten to death by her father in 1998 after case workers missed signs of abuse.

Loomis said her company was supposed to handle cases that were not serious enough to warrant removing children from their homes. It was paid about $4.8 million for its work.

She said some cases were handed over without any paperwork and others had important documents missing.

Loomis told the committee her employees, who worked in the same offices as the DCF, found cases of records DCF didn't even know existed. In one case, a child was removed from a home and given to a relative without DCF going to court to get a judge's approval, she alleged.

She said in one room she found active files hidden in the drop ceiling. She said she thinks the files were hidden because workers were concerned their mishandling of cases would become public.

"The things I have seen and witnessed are not just in one location - it's the same all over the state," Loomis said.

DCF Inspector General Giuseppe "Joe" Betta told the committee some of the allegations from the company were supported in a series of investigations.

Among the allegations substantiated were that DCF files did not contain appropriate documentation on case work and it had to be recreated, he said.

Betta said there was no evidence that DCF officials in Lake County were interfering with the private company's work. The claims that files were hidden in the office's ceiling are new and haven't been investigated, he said.

"If they are true, that would certainly be very, very serious," Betta said. "But considering it's coming in bits and pieces, we don't know."

Unanswered questions

Betta is supposed to be an independent investigator but on Tuesday was flanked by a DCF spokesman who interrupted reporters' questions to offer answers for the inspector. Betta said there are still "questions that remain unanswered" in DCF's handling of documents.

"If there are documents being shredded in this agency, no one will be more interested than the secretary," he said.

DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney said what occurred between the Task Force and the agency remains in dispute.

"Obviously, if there is any truth to what she said, we will look into it," Kearney said of Loomis' allegations.

Committee Chairwoman Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, said the committee did not want to get involved in the legal dispute between DCF and the company but generally said concerns about the department's handling of cases remains.

"We need to have procedures in place that tell the workers that they can't ignore information that is critical to the welfare and safety of a child," Murman said. "We can't afford to let that happen - that's why the kids are slipping through the cracks."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
© 2001 democrat and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.tallahassee.com

June 6, 2002

Couple charged after 10 children found amid squalor near West Palm
By Jon Burstein
Staff Writer

A suburban West Palm Beach couple again are facing child neglect charges after authorities say 10 of their disabled children were found living in squalor for the second time in less than five years.

Donald and Amy Hutton allowed their house to deteriorate around their adopted children, the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office alleges. Areas of the house were covered with mold, dirt and urine stains, while a pile of dog feces sat in the living room, according to sheriff's reports.

Prosecutors pursued the Huttons, both 55, on felony neglect charges in 1997 after sheriff's deputies reported finding the Huttons' 14 children -- ranging in age from 4 to 14 -- living in a home strewn with human waste.

Prosecutors ultimately dropped all 14 charges against the couple after they agreed to comply for six months with conditions recommended by the Department of Children & Families, court records show.

The most recent case stems from an anonymous child-neglect complaint to DCF. A caseworker visited the house on March 15 and called a Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy after seeing the family's living conditions, according to sheriff's reports.

The deputy found exposed electrical wiring, dog urine stains throughout the house and insufficient food for 12 people, sheriff's reports show.

The Huttons told deputies they lock their children in their bedrooms at night to keep them from roaming the house. Deadbolt locks were found on some of the doors.

Prosecutors have filed 10 neglect charges against both of the Huttons. Each count carries up to five years in prison.

Appearing in court on Tuesday, they were ordered not to have any contact with the 10 children found inside their home unless allowed by DCF. It was unclear Wednesday where the children are staying.

DCF spokeswoman Kathleen Anders declined to comment late Wednesday on the agency's involvement with the Huttons, saying she needed to look into the matter.

Donald Hutton declined to comment Wednesday on the recent or prior allegations against him and his wife.

Some of the Huttons' neighbors said they saw little of the family.

Gerri Bilz said she never hears the family or sees the children. Her husband, Darren Bilz, said he sometimes saw people arriving at the home early in the morning, apparently to help the Huttons.

"When you're trying to keep up with [multiple] kids, it can be difficult. They're giving these kids a home," he said.

Jim Elkins, Amy Hutton's attorney in the 1997 case, said the couple were in a never-ending battle to keep the house clean but worked hard to provide a loving home for their children.

"They took these kids in that no one else wanted and tried to make lives for them," Elkins said. "They seemed like very good people."

Police reports from 1997 indicate that at the time the Huttons had one natural son and 13 adopted children, many of whom suffer from mental or physical disabilities. Some of the children's conditions include Down syndrome, autism, seizure disorders and behavioral problems.

The first case against the Huttons arose after their 8-year-old son was reported missing on Jan. 24, 1997, from the single-story, 4,000-square-foot home in the 12600 block of 61st Lane North. After the boy was found, deputies returning him were hit by the overwhelming stench of human waste permeating the home in The Acreage, according to police reports.

Human waste was found smeared on walls, doors, bedding, floor and windows, sheriff's reports said. A large amount of animal waste also was found in the bathroom.

"Each of the 14 children were greatly unkempt and unsupervised," sheriff's Detective Paul Teresi wrote. "The children were wearing dirty clothes. Several of them had fecal material on their hands and clothing."

The Huttons acknowledged it was sometimes overwhelming taking care of so many children, but Amy Hutton said she didn't feel the home should be held to "institutional standards," according to sheriff's reports.

Charges weren't filed against the Huttons until a year later, in January 1998. Prosecutors agreed to a plea deal in which the charges would be dropped if they complied with a plan designed by DCF. Other than the 1997 charges, the Huttons have no arrests in Florida, according to state records.

The prosecutor on that case, Darren Shull, could not be reached Wednesday night. The prosecutor handling the current case, Lanna Belohlavek, declined to comment.

The Huttons' next court appearance is June 14.

Staff Writer Peter Franceschina and Staff Researcher Kathryn Pease contributed to this report.

Jon Burstein can be reached at jburstein@sun-sentinel. com or 561-832-2895.

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel