Florida- OPPAGA Reports

The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) is a special staff unit of the Legislature created by state law under the oversight of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.  OPPAGA examines agencies and programs to improve services and cut costs when directed by state law, the presiding officers, or the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.  

Delinquency Reports Top of Page

National

The Shackling of Juvenile Offenders: The Debate in Public Policy
This Report produced by the Center on Children and Families at the University of Florida Levin College of Law shares the results of a survey of local, state and national policies concerning the shackling of juvenile offenders.

Access to Counsel  
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) announced the availability of "Access to Counsel." This 34-page Bulletin was written by Judith B. Jones, M.A., Spec. H.S.A.  The Bulletin, the second in OJJDP's online Juvenile Justice Practices Series, examines access to legal counsel in the juvenile justice system. It describes problems affecting access at each stage of the juvenile justice process, discusses factors that hinder access to and quality of counsel, and identifies elements of effective counsel. (June 2004)

Reducing the Foster Care Bias in Juvenile Detention Decisions: The Impact of Project Confirm 
Vera Institute of Justice, New York City Administration for Children’s Services.  Children in foster care are arrested for delinquent acts, they are more likely than other children to be sent to juvenile detention to await their trials, rather than back home. This report quantifies the foster care bias in detention decisions, and shows that a relatively simple intervention can eliminate it for juveniles facing low-level offenses and with no prior records. The report also identifies further obstacles to eliminating these disparities in more serious cases. (June 2001)

Florida

Education Reports Top of Page

Florida

Technical Assistance Paper on Surrogate Parenting 
The purpose of this paper is to assist local school districts, agencies and those agencies under contract with the Department of Education (DOE), that provide education services to students with disabilities in the implementation of the surrogate parent rule. (January 2004)

Blueprint for Change
Education Success for Children in Foster Care, this publication by the Legal Center for Foster Care and Education sets forth 8 goals for youth in foster care along with benchmarks for each goal that will indicate progress for educational success. A must read for anyone concerned about the education of youth in state care.

Florida - Broward County

July 2004 - FOSTERING STUDENT SUCCESS: 2004-2005 Technical Assistance Manual for Foster Care Designees - School Board of Broward County and the Department of Children and Families
The intent of this document is to provide procedures, which create an awareness of these students’ unique educational needs and provide supportive educational interventions. Working closely with the caseworker, the foster parent or guardian will increase the likelihood of these students becoming academically successful.

June 2004 - Fostering Student Success: 2004-2005 Child Welfare Caseworker Manual - School Board of Broward County and the Department of Children and Families
Foster care students often experience difficulties as they move from their family’s home to multiple foster homes and, consequently, from school to school. A formal interagency agreement between the school district and child welfare sets forth guidelines designed to promote and facilitate academic stabilization of foster care students. The intent of this document is to provide specific procedures, which create an awareness of these students’ unique educational needs and provide supportive educational interventions.  These procedures are intended for children who have been removed from their parent’s or primary caregivers’ custody by the court and placed by ChildNet in a licensed shelter, foster family, group home, or licensed residential facility.

The School Board of Broward County Research Brief  
Research Services has completed an exploratory study of characteristics of students who had been placed in foster care.  The Foster Care Standing Committee request to the Office of Research and Evaluation to prepare an Information Brief that focuses on the educational condition of children in foster care. The resulting report provided student data that informed and empowered partners to look more closely at the role of DCF in supporting the educational progress of foster care children. (January 2003)

Florida - Orange County

Orlando Interagency Agreement 
Contract between the Department of Children and Families and the School Board of Orange County . (September 2003)

Achieving Educational Success: Technical Assistance Manual Regarding Foster Children in the Orange County School District
The intent of this document is to provide procedures, which create an awareness of these students’ unique educational needs and provide supportive educational interventions.  Working closely with the caseworker, the foster parent or guardian will increase the likelihood of these students becoming academically successful. (August 2004)

Foster Care Reports Top of Page

National

FOSTERING THE FUTURE: Safety, Permanence and Well-Being for Children in Foster Care
This report, written by the PEW Commission, focuses on reforming federal child welfare financing and strengthening court oversight of children in foster care. These two issues are at the root of many of the problems that frustrate child welfare administrators, case workers, and judges as they seek to move children quickly from foster care to safe, permanent homes – or to avoid the need to put them in foster care in the first place. (May 2004)  

Model Courts – Improving Outcomes for Abused and Neglected Children and Their Families
It is very important that the court process the abuse and neglect cases in a way to ensure that children’s needs are met and permanency is reached expeditiously.  This short report from the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges summarizes the needs and benefits of the model courts program. (January 2004)

Meeting the Health care Needs of Children in the Foster Care System
The Georgetown University Child Development Center completed a three-year study funded by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and supported in part by the Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, to identify and describe promising approaches for meeting the health care needs of children in the foster care system. (October 2002)

Florida- Palm Beach

Florida- Blue Ribbon Panel

Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel Report 
On April 25, 2002, the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) revealed that one of its Miami wards, 5-year-old Rilya Wilson, had disappeared 15 months earlier from her custodial home and had not been seen since.  In response, Gov. Jeb Bush on May 6 appointed a four-member Governor's Blue-Ribbon Panel on Child Protection to investigate and report back to him quickly.

DCF Progress Report for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel 
Florida’s Department of Children and Families issued a Progress Report on Immediate Priorities for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection (September 2002)

DCF Progress Report for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel
Florida’s Department of Children and Families issued a Progress Report on Immediate Priorities for the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Child Protection (January 2003)

Florida- Death Review Reports

The Florida Department of Health provides oversight and assistance to the State and Local Child Abuse Death Review Teams.  These guidelines were developed by the Protocol and Guidelines Committee of the State Child Abuse Death Review Committee with assistance from the Department of Health support staff.  

2007 Florida Child Abuse Death Review Report

See past Death Review Reports in Report Archives

Florida- The Department of Children and Families

The Structure for Reform:  Establishing the Building Blocks for Change
This Department of Children and Families report highlights Governor Jeb Bush’s “Strengthening Families” initiative.  DCF launched “No Place Like Home” in November 2003 to announce adoption operational improvements, raise awareness and recruit potential families to provide safe, loving environments for children needing permanent homes. (December 2003)

DCF Program Improvement Plan: Florida’s Response to Assessment 
Five initiatives have been identified by DCF leadership, as being inherently essential in Florida's plan to improve provision of child welfare services: stabilize the workforce, training initiatives, community based care, oversight and accountability, and local improvement plans. (April 2003)

Safe DCF Operation Safe Kids Results, Findings, and Recommendations 
This report summarizes the results of Operation Safekids established a partnership between FDLE, DCF and Florida's local law enforcement.  Operation Safekids has a primary mission to 1) search for and locate the 393 children under the supervision of DCF and unaccounted for; and 2) make recommendations for improvements to enhance accountability and improve child recovery. (December 2002)

DCF Summary of Reports Recommendations, Actions and Status
This is a compilation of the status of recommendations made by eleven different special statewide task forces and five county Grand Juries convened to study concerns about Florida's child welfare system from 1985 through 2000. (May 2002)  

See additional reports in Report Archives

Florida- OPPAGA Reports

The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) is a special staff unit of the Legislature created by state law under the oversight of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.  OPPAGA examines agencies and programs to improve services and cut costs when directed by state law, the presiding officers, or the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.

Florida- Vincent Reports

Secretary Kearney authorized a review to assess the progress in Florida toward building a true system of care to serve children and their caregivers and families.

  See backup reports in Report Archives

Independent Living Reports Top of Page

National

Connected by 25: A Plan for investing in Successful Futures for Foster Youth
The Foster Care Work Group is one of three work groups of the Youth Transition Funders Group. To improve the likelihood that vulnerable youth between the ages of 14 and 24 will become “connected by 25,” the Foster Care Work Group (FCWG) put this document together to present investment strategies to prepare foster youth and those leaving foster care for the future, as well as investments to meet their present needs while they are in the custody of the state. (May 2004)

Assessing the Effects of Foster Care: Early Results from the Casey National Alumni Study 
This document, written by the Casey Foundation, presents data collected from case records and interviews about the life experiences, educational achievements, and current functioning of more than a thousand Casey Family Programs foster care alumni who were served in 23 communities across the country between 1966 and 1998. (October 2003)

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT: A Guidebook for California Foster Youth, Former Foster Youth and Those Who Care About Them 
This Guidebook is intended to help foster youth (and all those who care about them) to understand the rights and services available when leaving the foster system. Written by Phil Ladew who is an attorney and a former foster youth who aged out of foster care in Los Angeles County; Illustrated by Dovi Anderson. (September 2003)

Child Trends Research Brief: Youth who “Age Out” of Foster Care; Troubled Lives, Troubling Prospects by Richard Wertheimer, Ph.D.
In 2000, more than 19,000 of the oldest children left foster care – or “aged out” in the parlance of child protective services – and many were pretty much on their own.  Usually, this happened when they turned 18.3.  If foster children, in general, are a population at risk, youth who age out of the system may be even more so. Research suggests that without the extended support most families provide young people in the transition to adulthood, youth leaving foster care face enormous challenges in building successful lives. (December 2002)

Casey Foundation Resource Links for Homeless Youth 
Three in ten of the nation's homeless adults are former foster children, and homeless parents who have a history of foster care are almost twice as likely to have their own children placed in foster care as homeless people who were never in foster care. This is a statistical and resource guide issued by the Casey Foundation. (July 2001)

Florida

2007 - 2007 Independent Living Services Advisory Council Report

2006 - 2006 Independent Living Services Advisory Council Report

Spotlight on Florida’s Youth At Risk: An In-Depth Look at Their Transition to Adulthood - This report, commissioned by the Eckerd Family Foundation, looks at eight categories of at-risk youth and the barriers standing between them and becoming successful adults.

Dec 31, 2004 - 2004 Report of Independent Living Advisory Council 
This report was prepared by the Advisory Council and filed with the Legislature as required by Florida Statute 409.1541

Nov 2004 - OPPAGA Report No. 04-78 - Independent Living Minimum Standards Recommended for Children in Foster Care - Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, An office of the Florida Legislature
This is the first of two reports examining services designed to prepare youth in foster care for adult independence. The Legislature directed OPPAGA to recommend minimum system standards in providing foster youth with independent living services. These services are designed to help foster youth transition from state-sponsored care to living independently as productive citizens. The Department of Children and Families contracts with private providers for independent living services. The department is responsible for overseeing these providers. A second report will examine performance issues associated with the delivery of independent living services.

Chafee Foster Care Independence Program 2001-2004 Application and Progress Report 
This application was submitted by the Department of Children and Families to all 13 districts and one region for review.  Each independent living coordinator was asked to provide contracted agencies, youth on the local advisory boards and youth formerly in care with a copy of the application for comments.  All comments were reviewed and incorporated into the application. (June 2003)

Florida’s Children and Families Services 5 Year Plan
The Department of Children and Families authored this 5 Year Plan for FY 2000-2004, including 2002 Annual Progress and Services Report and the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program Report. (June 2002)

Representation of Children Reports Top of Page

National

Caliber Associates Evaluation of CASA Representation
This report commissioned by the National CASA was conducted by Caliber Associates.  It includes the study of 25 programs that submitted data for analysis.  The study also compared data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Wellbeing, sponsored by the Children’s Bureau. (June 2004)

NACC Recommendations for Representation on Abuse and Neglect Cases  
The National Association of Counsel for Children Recommendations for Representation of Children in Abuse and Neglect Cases was produced as part of the NACC's objective to establish the practice of law for children as a legitimate profession and legal specialty.  As part of that objective, the NACC periodically produces standards of practice or guidelines for the representation of children. 
(April 2004)  
    

National Court Improvement Progress Report and Catalog This new National Court Improvement Progress Report and Catalog, a resource for state court systems working to improve child abuse and neglect litigation, was developed by the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law’s National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues. The Progress Report and Catalog, organized by state and topic, is comprised of materials submitted by state Court Improvement Projects (CIPs) across the country.  (2003)
   

Florida - AAL and GAL Programs

"The Guardian Ad Litem Program: Expanding the Model and Meeting New Challenges", by Mary K. Wimsett, The Florida Bar Journal, December 2003
“This article will explore the current state of the program, its shift of primary focus to children in dependency proceedings, the challenge of balancing the necessity for the program and limited resources, and, finally, what lies ahead for the program.”

"Guardians ad Litem: A Solution Without Strength in Helping Protect Dependent Children", by Michelle Johnson-Weider, The Florida Bar Journal, April 2003.
This article defines the term and the role Guardian Ad Litem.  The article outlines the “statutory strengths” and the “practical weaknesses”.

Final Report of the Guardian ad Litem Working Group 
GAL Working Group was created by the Governor’s Executive Order for purpose of developing a blueprint to accomplish the goal of ensuring a volunteer GAL could be appointed to every child in DCF’s supervision statewide.  The recommendations made in this Final Report are in four general categories:  (A) Administration / Centralization; (B) Non-profit Support Groups, Fund-raising, and the Need For Continued Support From The Counties; (C) Volunteer Recruitment and Retention; and (D) Communication.   The GAL Working Group notes that the need for improved, centralized communication cuts across all four categories of our recommendations.  (September 2002).

Florida Bar Report, Commission on the Legal Needs of Children
The Commission identified five priority areas that needed to be addressed and five subcommittees were formed: Representation, Treatment and Services, Confidentiality, Education and the Role of The Florida Bar, and Technology and the court. The complete subcommittees’ findings and recommendations for future action were adopted by the Commission and are included in the appendix. (June 2002)

§         Appendix A - Representation Subcommittee Report (20pgs.)

§         Appendix B - Treatment and Services Subcommittee Final Report (20 pgs)

o        Appendix A - Minnesota Statutes Annotated Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile Prosecutions

o        Appendix A - Minnesota Statutes Annotated Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile Prosecutions (3 pgs.)

o        Appendix B - Palm Beach County Domestic Violence Diversion Program (Available in print only)

o        Appendix C - Jacksonville Domestic Violence Programs (Available in print only)

o        1Appendix D - Florida Statutes §394.491 (3 pgs.)

o        Appendix E - Response to Inquiry Concerning Legal Representation (Available in print only)

§         Appendix C - Confidentiality Subcommittee Report (31 pgs.)

§         Appendix D - Education and the Role of the Bar Subcommittee Report  (3 pgs.)

§         Appendix E - Technology and the Courts Subcommittee Final Report (22pgs.)

§         Appendix F - Voices of Children

o        Law Day at Miami Senior High School (9 pgs.)

o        2001 Teen Opinion Survey (6pgs.)

o        Teen Survey Responses (46 pgs.)

§         Reference Materials (5pgs.)

§         Blue Ribbon Panel Report

Information Brief: Guardian Ad Litem Placement May Shift for Reasons of Funding and Conflict of Interest  The Joint Legislature Auditing Committee directed OPPAGA to review the Guardian ad Litem Program. (February 2002)

Mental Health Psychotropic Medication Reports Top of Page

National

FDA Report - Pediatric Patients - Antidepressant Medications 
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a Public Health Advisory to alert physicians to reports of suicidal thinking (and suicide attempts) in clinical studies of various antidepressant drugs in pediatric patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Florida

Florida Statewide Advocacy Council Red Item Report on Psychotropic Medications Use in the Foster Care System  
There has been a considerable increase in the prescription of psychotropic drugs in children and adolescents in the United States over the last decade.  This utilization in Florida was brought to the attention of the Statewide Advocacy Council in 2001, with reports of widespread use occurring in children in foster care under the supervision of the Department of Children and Families in South Florida.  When an internal investigation by the department was conducted, it concluded that the use of psychotropic drugs in children in their care was not a problem.  However, information received from the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) revealed that more than 9,500 children in Florida on Medicaid had been treated with psychotropic drugs in the year 2000.  (July, 2003)

Secretary Regier's Response to the Red Item Report 
The Department of Children and Families’ response to each of the Statewide Advocacy Council’s recommendations. (August, 2003)  

Florida- OPPAGA Reports
The Florida Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) is a special staff unit of the Legislature created by state law under the oversight of the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.  OPPAGA examines agencies and programs to improve services and cut costs when directed by state law, the presiding officers, or the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee.
    

Some Delays Still Occurring in Residential Mental Health Assessment Process
This report updates the earlier report done by OPPAGA in January 2003 on the implementation of the statutory process for residential mental health commitment of foster children.  The report details some delays that have occurred in compliance with a timely process. (September 2004)
   

Special Review, Residential Mental Health Assessment  
This report includes the findings from the OPPAGA review of the new process required by Ch. 2000-265, Laws of Florida as implemented by the Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Health Care Administration. (January, 2003)