Date Published: February 21, 2008
MIAMI -- Florida's much-maligned child welfare workers will soon begin carrying handheld devices, like the ones delivery companies use to track packages, that show whether they really are checking in on the children under their supervision.
The touch-screen units, about the size of a book, will record the amount of time caseworkers spend with each family, take photos of children in state care and allow the workers to update case information on the spot, Gov. Charlie Crist and Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth said Thursday at a news conference in front of a UPS truck.
The first-of-its-kind move follows a series of headline-grabbing cases in which workers lied about such visits and it turned out the children were missing or dead.
In 2002, the department discovered that Rilya Wilson, a 4-year-old Miami foster child, had been missing for more than year, but her caseworker had lied about visiting the home. The girl was never found and her caregiver has been charged with murder. The caseworker was fired and pleaded guilty to official misconduct, getting probation.
Last year, a 2-year-old foster girl was missing from a central Florida home for four months before police began searching for her. She was found at a Wisconsin home, where she had apparently been taken by her mother in violation of a court order rescinding her custody. The mother and others have been charged with murdering another woman whose body was buried in the yard.
A child protection task force Butterworth created after that case recommended better coordination and communication between law enforcement and child welfare agencies. The panel also suggested changing laws to simplify reporting and finding missing children.
Child welfare workers currently record home visits on paper forms, then type the information into a state database. That can take up to 60 days, Crist said.
Marichelle Nelson, a Department of Children & Families investigator in Miami-Dade County, estimated that more than half her time was spent on filling out forms.
"This device will keep welfare workers in the field, not in the office doing paperwork," Butterworth said.
Officials said the handheld devices also will automatically trigger alerts about problems. For example, an alert would be sent to supervisors if no home visit was recorded for a child within 31 days, Butterworth said. Supervisors also would be able to send alerts to caseworkers traveling to home visits.
Each device will include GPS technology and a camera. At a home visit later Thursday morning with a Miami Shores foster mother to demonstrate how the device works, Butterworth said future generations of the technology will include voice-activated recorders and telephones.
"This can serve as a national model, truly," Crist told the mother, who is adopting her 2-month-old foster daughter. "Having modern technology will help us care for beautiful girls like (hers) that much better."
Workers will test the devices, but Crist already has recommended $10 million in the next fiscal year's budget to provide them statewide.
Joyce Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Child Welfare League of America, said many states are reviewing their monitoring agencies for inefficiencies, though she hadn't heard of a program using devices like Florida proposes.
"They're making an effort. I think it's wise to try something different, something innovative, if it helps the caseworker," Johnson said.
Jennifer Kay
Miami Herald
February 21, 2008