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Privatization closes doors to information By Steve Arthur The Florida Legislature quietly chips away at the Sunshine State’s open records laws every session but over the past few years they’ve put up yet another barrier to open government. The State Legislature is privatizing in many areas, shifting government chores to private operators who don’t have to open their books to the public or the press. Privatization works great for cleaning buildings and cutting grass but when the welfare of people and especially children are in the balance, it’s not such a great idea. Privatization is supposed to save taxpayers money. The jury is still out on that hypothesis but we do know some of the costs, namely in transparency and accountability. We got wind last week that three of the Dollar children had been shifted out of a foster home where they had been placed for their safety. Why had they been moved? We called the nonprofit agency Kids Central. Well, actually we called the spokeswoman for that agency, a subcontractor who works for Wragg & Casas Public Relations Inc. in Orlando. She said she could say nothing. “It’s the law,” she explained. The law? “That’s right. We can neither confirm that the child is in the system nor comment on anything related to the child. It’s the law.” So, I ask her, how can we check for our readers when we hear from reliable sources that they have been moved? Are we supposed to ignore what we hear? She replied that Kids Central has subcontractors (like her) who work as case managers to make sure the children in state custody are treated well. The law protecting the identity of juveniles was also frequently cited in past years when the Department of Juvenile Justice and their previous subcontractor stonewalled our efforts to uncover misdoings at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Detention Center in Lecanto. Since the death of Omar Paisley in Miami, and the governor’s appointment of DJJ Secretary Anthony Schembri, the DJJ is to everybody’s relief, a lot more open. All without compromising the identity of the juveniles involved. So do we have to stand by and wait until something really horrendous happens on the watch of Kids Central Inc.? They need permission to answer simple questions. How can we be sure that children we know are in the DCF system are not being mistreated? The PR woman repeated that a system is in place to meet all the needs of the children in state care. Unspoken were the all the terrible blunders and tragedies on the part of DCF that have made headlines and sad reading across the state. When bad things happen and word finally gets out, scapegoated people lose their jobs and laws are passed but in the meantime, children have sometimes died. So without any help from Kids Central Inc., the story about the unexplained move of the Dollar children ran in the newspaper, based on the concerns of school district officials who wanted to help solve the perceived problem at the foster home. We were left wondering if something was wrong at that foster care home. Almost a week later Don Thomas, district administrator from DCF District 13, cleared the air: “The foster family did a fine job and if they wish to continue being a foster family, we would be glad to place other children with them.” Now, was that so hard to say? Yes, we still don’t know why the lives of these children were further disrupted; we’ve heard stories but without confirmation, we are asked to trust Kids Central Inc. as we were asked to trust DCF and DJJ. That’s not an easy thing to do.
Steve Arthur is a Chronicle columnist.
Reproduced courtesy of the Citrus County Chronicle. |
