For use Sunday, March 15

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Foster children want access to their own records

By DARA KAM
Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

TALLAHASSEE — Chelsea Hall never graduated from high school, even though she was an honors student, because she couldn’t get her vaccination records. Mike Dunlavy fought for years to see what was inside the 2-foot-high box of files about his past and ended up just last week getting a 4-inch stack of memories.

They’re two of the thousands of former foster children having trouble getting access to their records although state law says they should be allowed to.

A commission appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist is recommending to the legislature that the law be clarified and that former foster children be allowed to have the files free of charge.

That recommendation is among the dozens that Crist’s Commission on Open Government has submitted to legislative leaders, nearly all of which would require changes or tweaks to state law.

Various agencies that hold the records are interpreting the law conservatively because some workers fear the material may be too sensitive and because of the time involved in keeping some of the information confidential.

Foster children’s files contain essential information to help them find a job, enroll in college or, more importantly to some of them, piece together the fabric of their lives.

They contain birth certificates, health records, addresses of where they lived and the names of the schools they attended.

Dunlavy’s file also held something irreplaceable: pictures of his mother. Dunlavy, 26, said that when he first asked to look at his file, about eight years ago, he was asked what he wanted to see.

“I had no idea what’s in there. How could I tell you what I want when I’m in search of what I want?” he recalled.

Dunlavy is chairman of Florida Youth Shine, a group of former foster children trying to secure their rights. His association with the group eventually helped him when, after a speaking engagement, a stranger who is a lawyer handed him a business card and offered to help.

Others, Dunlavy said, aren’t so lucky.

Hall, who lived in Jupiter when she was removed from her family at age 17, said she could not enroll in high school in Broward County where the Department of Children and Families placed her in foster care because she did not have a copy of her vaccination records.

She was an 11th grade honors student slated to graduate early. Instead, she stayed out of school for months until her foster family signed her up for GED classes. She finally got her GED last year, she said.

Hall, now 21, who also works with the organization, and Dunlavy say withholding the records is unacceptable because the information in them is essential for former foster children to learn about their past and move on.

“To me it’s unacceptable and to foster youth, it’s unacceptable to say you can’t have a piece of your history. It’s their life. It’s their foundation,” said Dunlavy, who lives in Jacksonville. “Without having that sense of history about yourself there’s always a missing link.”

Sen. Paula Dockery, who serves on the commission, filed a bill last year that included clarification of the law and has filed a similar bill this year.

The measure, backed by DCF, is running into trouble because it includes a provision sought by the department that would open up abuse and neglect reports of children and the elderly when an investigation has been completed.

Dockery, R-Lakeland, said she is optimistic that the provision granting foster kids access to their records won’t be a problem.

Lawmakers generally add exemptions to public records laws rather than opening up files that they believe should be kept secret.

But with evaporating revenues leaving them less to spend this year, they might take more kindly to letting the light in because most other bills have costs associated with them, Dockery said.

Still, the commission’s myriad recommendations “will probably be a heavy lift,” she said.

“I don’t think there will be that many legislators that will place that high on their priority list,” said Dockery.

Included in the small sheaf of papers Dunlavy received is a copy of a Polaroid of him with his mother and brother.

“To me it was better than Christmas morning,” he said.

dara_kam@palmbeachpost.com

Open record proposals

Gov. Charlie Crist’s Commission on Open Government recommends doing away with dozens of exemptions to the Sunshine laws that make records off-limits to the public. Among its recommendations:

• Opening investigations into health care and business professionals licensed by the state after they are complete regardless of a finding of wrongdoing.
• Making economic development grants to businesses more open by clarifying what an economic development program is.
• Allowing people denied clemency to look at their record to see the basis of the decision.
• Opening child and elder abuse and neglect investigation records to the public because they are often available from other sources, leading to the perception that the Department of Children and Families is trying to cover up mistakes.
• Opening up the exemption to the autopsy photograph laws to allow law enforcement and medical examiners to use them for training or consultation. Allowing prospective foster parents and adoptive families to look at the files of children they may take in.
• Create standards or redesign databases to make it easier for the public to get electronic records such as e-mail.
• Using redaction software to remove exempt information such as Social Security numbers from electronic public records, including e-mail, to reduce the cost of the records.
• Prohibiting government officials from text and instant messages during public meetings or hearings.
• Requiring all agencies to electronically post all contracts over a certain dollar amount.
• Requiring all agencies to justify the gathering of personal information, allow individuals to have access to the data and challenge it if it is incorrect.
• Allowing anyone to seek an informal opinion from Crist’s Office of Open Government when they are denied access to records or meetings.

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