DCF goes cheap, again

The Florida Department of Children and Families calls it equity. But there's nothing fair about a new policy that takes state-paid attorneys from abused, neglected or abandoned children who need legal representation in hearings to declare them dependent on the state, to terminate their parents' rights or to reunify them with their families.

Nearly two months after the policy that robs children in some DCF districts in the name of helping others elsewhere took effect, officials claim that they do not know how each district is affected. "Currently, we are in a transition period," DCF Communications Director Zoraya Suarez said, "however, we anticipate that the reallocation of attorneys and paraprofessionals will result in a reduction of caseloads for the districts that are significantly higher than the state average."

Although state officials in Tallahassee claim ignorance of their own policy, the district that includes Martin and St. Lucie counties has been expecting three additional attorneys and a paralegal. It now has eight attorneys and 1,276 cases. But Palm Beach County's Child Welfare Legal Services department expects to lose half of its staff. Ms. Suarez uses snide semantics to explain the loss of 13 attorneys and paralegals in Palm Beach County: "This is not a cut but a reallocation of vacant positions and resources."

DCF already has dumped one crucial position onto Child and Family Connections, the private agency hired to handle foster-care in Palm Beach County. The agency is seeking a "diligent search staff person," responsible for trying to find a child's birth parents to determine whether they are interested in raising their child or whether the state should try to terminate parental rights. Without a diligent search for the birth parents, children get stuck in foster care.

Martin and St. Lucie are among the DCF districts that need more lawyers to reduce what a Florida Bar review called "impossibly high caseloads" -- but not at the expense of Palm Beach County and others that are relying on local taxpayers and private benefactors to improve the system. Last year, Palm Beach's DCF office used a grant to hire "3.5 private attorneys" to catch up on court orders and reduce the caseloads to an average of 99 per lawyer.

The policy that aims to resolve the shortage of lawyers in some districts by taking lawyers from other districts will re-create backlogs in districts that have struggled to erase them. In language DCF understands: That's not fixing the problem, just reallocating it.