Hello.

Good morning, everybody.

We are so excited to have you here.

My name is Amina Cruz.

I am the President of the Florida Foster and Adoptive Parent

Association. We have been an Association for about 27 years

almost, and we are so excited to just continue growing and

enjoying with you.

If you need anything outside of these conferences, please

feel free to reach out to us.

We are there as a support beyond this education.

A little bit about Me I am just recently a fulltime federal

child welfare consultant.

That means I spend a lot of my time working in different

States on how to better engage with family leaders.

This could be foster parents, birth parents, kinship caregivers

and youth.

I've been the President of Florida Papa for about three years,

and I really love the work in progress that we see around

Florida. We partner with so many amazing and creative programs

that either your local CBCS are doing, and that also come

with a lot of support and partnership from the state level.

Our first thing this morning is to have a chat with Secretary

that Paul.

I'm so excited that he's here today and that we're going

to have this time to have some questions and answers and

really just talk about the state of child welfare in Florida.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] So Secretary Powell, for nearly 20 years, he's dedicated

his time to serving Florida and the local government.

He's dedicated to ensuring that families have the highest

quality of service available in the time of need and that

they are delivered with the best value of taxpayer dollars.

That's all from the website.

And that's all true and fantastic.

But I want to tell you the real things that I know about

sex far propel.

He's a foster parent champion.

I've gotten text from him multiple times in the middle of

the day, in the middle of the night, in the middle of a meeting,

asking our input.

He's a champion for youth and making sure that you have the

right variety of services.

And he is also a really good champion for good barbecue,

making sure that he has tried barbecue in all areas of Florida.

Secretary Papa, I want to turn it over to you and tell us

things and what we should expect.

While I'm excited to address you next week is Florida Foster

Family Appreciation Week.

And so I think it's a perfect time for us to get together

and have a conversation.

And there's a lot of activity going on in Tallahassee in

regards to foster care and foster parents in particular.

So I wanted to be able to kind of walk you through that today

and talk a little bit about some of the work we've been doing

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] and then answer questions because we deal with we deal with

the most vulnerable in our state.

Kind of pause here because you guys make the system go.

Frankly, the system wouldn't work without you.

So it's very important what you do.

And that's another statement.

But but we rely on it.

We count on it.

And so any time you start talking about making changes and

things of that nature, it's very important for us to engage

with you and make sure that we're doing things that can be

helpful. And so I've got a couple of things I'll walk through.

I'm guessing they'll trigger some questions, and then we'll

go from there.

But I'll start with you may have seen I announced my resignation

yesterday, and so I absolutely value our partnership here.

Didn't want to not attend today, but I just wanted to let

you all know I had made some commitments to my family coming

in. And now it's time to kind of step back and let somebody

else drive the ship.

It's a big ship and be a little bit more focused on my family

and my kids.

I have a 16 year old, so I've got him for two more years

before he's out of the house.

And that weighs on you as you're kind of looking at your

day to day activity.

So with that all as well, I'm looking forward to that next

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] chapter and being able to take a big, deep breath.

But I'm also really sad.

I love the job.

It's the best job I've ever had.

And just the feeling that every second of every day mattered,

all your decisions matter.

There's no throwaway decisions.

Anyway.

It's an amazing job.

I would do what I did a hundred times again, even the hard

parts. It was awesome.

So I'll start with that, and then I'll jump in.

I hope you guys have seen one of the big things the agency

has done is started statewide recruitment campaign.

As you know, our system is kind of broken up with lead agencies

across the state.

We work with them.

But we wanted to have kind of a corporate recruitment campaign

starting with the first Lady.

And so as a state agency, we built some infrastructure to

try to I'm using terms that you guys.

I hope you guys don't get mad at me to drive traffic.

I know foster parents are more important traffic, but we

wanted to be able to recruit and drive traffic through a

process that was thankful for interest.

That was high quality, that we could track that was very

responsive. And so we had a lot of demands.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] And so what we wanted that first impression to be with an

interested foster family.

And so the person that designed this thing is Eric Deli backs

the governor's faith in community, basically Aison.

He said, we want somewhere between Disney and Chickfila experience

for folks as they you are just reaching out.

And then we want to give them a great first impression and

then do a hand off to that local lead agency.

And then half of the follow ups.

And so we launched what we call the Flora Foster Information

Center. And we have also launched the recruitment campaign

around the state.

So we had the first Lady, Chris Tomlin, Tony Dungy.

Some celebrities really work with her to kind of get the

word out.

And so we're starting with that faith based community.

There's about 16,000,000 faith based or people that identify

the fates in Florida.

So by far the biggest kind of group grouping in Florida.

And so we're starting there.

But our plan is to keep moving through the different kind

of groups in Florida and have targeted campaigns for them.

But now we have the infrastructure for those folks to kind

of plug into in a meaningful way.

The Information Center FFIC is actually staffed at DCF.

We hired a current foster mom to run it.

It is staffed by either current or former foster parents

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] answering the phone.

And they are very committed to having a tremendous first

phone call with anybody that reaches out and is interested.

So you guys have probably picked up on this, but the plan

was challenge the faith based community in Florida to step

up. And we provided a menu of options for them.

So it's not just be a foster parent, which is the ultimate

goal. But you all know that's a big ask.

Some people may not be able to do that.

And so what if it's just bringing meals?

What if it's just checking in on a family that the child

is just reunified?

Man?

So we present it and put together a list of nonprofits on

what we're calling a menu of options to get involved.

And we had 5,000 churches attend those kick offs around the

state. And so I am Super excited that the Information Center

was already up and running.

They've already had thousands of calls, one that's working

great. And I think having that perspective of a foster parent

being on the other end of the phone is very big.

The hand offs to the lead agencies have gone well.

We've already had people that started with a phone call and

have gotten licensed.

So we're very excited about that.

But now we've got the ad campaign, the recruitment campaign.

We have 5,000 churches that attended.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] And so it is our sincere hope that we're going to start to

have more and more folks reach out, and we're going to be

able to build our foster parent ranks.

That all of that.

What I just said was, I think 18 months of work, it was not

quick. I felt like we kept getting setbacks all along the

way. But the team has been amazing.

Our child welfare team, they went and reviewed the licensing

requirements. There's a lot that went into this to try to

make it easier to be and remain a foster parent.

And so that's a priority of the agency.

So that's a huge part of what we've been doing.

That's a huge part of what's going on inside the agency.

There are also some other conversations, policy conversations

that are ongoing in Tallahassee and Amanda you can give me

a hand signal if I'm taking too long.

I feel like a rambling.

But like I said, the important stuff.

Okay, that's important stuff I'll start with.

I'll start with the USA Today Media series.

There's a series of articles put out that highlighted I think

they went back around 10 years.

I mean, it was a stretch of time, but it highlighted around

a dozen cases where there is an allegation against a foster

parent. Various things happen, but ultimately, the child

in their care was hard begin.

And so the inference was that the Department, the Department

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] changed its methodologies, removed a lot of kids and didn't

have anywhere to put them and put the children in unsafe

spaces. And particularly this article series was focused

on foster care foster parents.

So obviously, when you go back that far, first thing I'll

say in context, you're talking about hundreds of thousands

of cases, and they have a dozen.

So I think it's hard to make an inference on a system of

care based on a sample like that.

Certainly the cases they found were tragic and unacceptable.

I mean, I said as much in my testimony to Chair book, the

work was bad.

Things were missed, and it's unacceptable.

And Unfortunately, when that happens at DCs, children can

pay the price.

And like I said, every minute of every day matters.

That's what I'm talking about.

But it's triggered a conversation.

So in reviewing those cases, there's a lot of good information.

I do want to say that we track the rates of re abuse when

children in our care.

So I was able to point to a clear track record that meeting

the federal standard, improving over time that the system

is doing.

I'm not going to say we're perfect ever.

But the system is doing a really good job of trying to keep

kids safe once they come into our care, because ultimately,

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] if we can't say that they're safer once we get involved,

what are we doing?

Right?

And so there's empirical data that's not the Secretary saying.

It's just stuff we have to pass on to the federal government

about our performance.

And so, folks, that old trust that verify, you can go verify.

How are we doing in this particular matter?

Super serious issue.

It's kind of a fundamental issue of who we are as an agency.

And so this series of articles called it into question.

I was able to go and testify to Chair Book and her committee

for two hours, the longest I've ever testified.

I won't talk that long today.

But I think the issue that came up for me when I was reviewing

those cases in that article, one that really struck me were

the allegations of sexual abuse.

And I'm gonna, Hey, I'm just going to be totally honest with

you guys today.

I'll tell you the struggles and all that on the policy side.

So when we look at the data around sexual abuse.

We know that the verification rates are low in general, but

whenever you get to children zero to 5.

Last year, there were 37 allegations against license caregivers,

sexual abuse for eight children in that age group, zero were

verified. And so that is a status that made me stop and pause

for a good, long time.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] What does that mean?

So I want to start there and tell you guys a little bit of

what happens there.

And then I'll talk about the policy debate that, you know,

still kind of out there.

We had a case, and I don't want to get so serious, but, I

mean, I got to get serious.

I think we have to be serious.

And I think people want to Yeah, well, thank you.

Thank you.

I mean, it's called the Rios case.

It was in the paper.

We had a serial.

It looks like a serial pedophile make his way into our foster

care ranks.

And so I don't even want to get into it.

But before he could stand trial, he took his own life and

a lot of things came out.

And that that is what will keep you up at night.

And all of this.

That was one of the cases highlighted in the USA Today article.

All of this kind of brought forward this issue of how are

we handling sex abuse as a Department?

And a lot of work has gone into this, right?

When the Rios case happened before those articles came out,

well, over a year before they came out, the Rios case kind

of kind of broke a trial.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] I was Secretary at that point, and I picked up the phone

and called Rick Sware, engine of FDLE.

The Commissioner of FDLE, said, Hey, man, I need you to look

at how we investigate sex abuse.

I need you to tell me we're doing the right thing, the best

thing, the latest greatest techniques, etc.

So we had a he was kind enough to put together a statewide

task force.

We had law enforcement jurisdictions and sex crime views

from all over the state convene to work on our investigative

capabilities and techniques.

Fast forward.

The articles come out, and we do absolutely pay attention

to media articles.

They do their job of kind of being a watch dog on government.

And so when they have an opinion or perspective or people

are talking about the system, we pay attention.

And so we started looking at the issue again, pulled some

more data.

And that's where that 37 and zero verifications at that age

group came from.

It was that review.

And so that triggered a couple things that I've just initiated

recently. The first is we're going to have a specialty unit.

I hate to break it down to a TV show, but the Sbu kind of

thing on TV, we're going to have an SVU for our CPI around

the state.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] Now, you all know, whenever there's an allegation we refer

to law enforcement.

They look at a case on a beyond a reasonable doubt evidentiary

standard. Our investigations at the apartment are preponderance

of the evidence.

So it's a different.

It's a different legal standard.

And so we want our CPI to be paired with someone that is

senior trained in this specifically has done these kinds

of cases specifically to make sure that the process is handled

as it should be.

That's the first thing our existing folks, in terms of how

we investigate, are going to be paired with somebody with

expertise. The second thing we're going to do is we have

what's called a search team process.

It's critical incident, rapid response team process in Florida.

And right now, they were deployed really around child death.

There was a child death.

This team doesn't get involved in the investigation.

They're independent.

It's made up of I don't know the exact split, but I think

it's more non DCF experts than DCF experts, but it's a multidisciplinary

team that reviews a child death case, and their review is

specific. It's not this person screwed up or whatever.

It's a review of the social work.

Did we get the social work right?

And what it does is it allows us to pivot and make changes

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] in our process in terms of actually looking at cases that

are active, that's the whole quality thing.

Huge win for the apartment.

I won't get into that, but we're also looking at thousands

of cases while they're ongoing now.

So I'm really excited about that.

But the Cart team really being focused on child death.

You can see a steady decline in child death for children

that have been involved in our system of care over the last

five years.

I mean, it is precipitous.

It's awesome.

Things are getting better.

And so I am a really big fan of that process.

And what we've done is we've made not just child death, but

also sexual abuse allegation for someone in licensed care,

a critical incident.

So we're going to have a new critical incident rapid response

team specific to child sex abuse allegations.

So they're going to do a couple things.

They're going to review the case.

They're going to be able to call the investigative team and

say, Hey, you missed something you should have done in this

interview this way.

Whatever it might be, we're going to make sure the process

was thorough and reviewed everything, and then they're going

to make a recommendation and then make a recommendation on

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] whether we should put a child back in that home.

So there has been a debate policy debate that I want to make

you guys aware of, which is you just said zero to 37.

Chad, shouldn't it be any allegation you just remove the

child no matter what?

Obviously, we all understand the implications of that on

this call.

And I haven't I haven't gotten to a place where I could say

I thought that was what we should take on as a policy because

I understand the implications of it.

But thank you, Amanda, for feeling my call.

And like I said, I've been struggling with this one.

It's a tough, tough issue.

But I feel like if we do a better job investigating, we have

a multidisciplinary team that's independent of that that

looks at the case.

And then that team makes a recommendation, regardless of

whether it was verified because there's lots of things that

happen in these cases, kids, especially small children.

I mean, we're trying to put them in a scenario where they're

giving evidence to help us in a legal matter, right?

That's not a small.

Anyway, I have my own thoughts on that, but that's not what

a small child is going to be able to do.

But this 13 this team of experts is going to be able to make

that recommendation.

So we're going to switch from standard of well, it wasn't

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] verified to standard where the team around this case kind

of looks at it.

Do we think it's the right thing with child back in that

home? So I if this is rolling out, it's still in its early

stages. We've identified physicians in the Department, and

so we're in the process of of getting things set up and will

start recruiting.

But it is an issue.

It's a tough issue, and it's a hard one to talk about.

And I know, you know, I know that we ask you guys to put

up with a lot from us.

So Amanda does a good job explaining all the things in hassles

that we do, but we're just we're really trying to find the

right way to protect, protect the children.

And we're trying to find the right way to do it, you know,

that it doesn't kind of make it just a formally one side

of arrangements for free wall because I do know spoken with

folks. I do hear about things that are said about foster

pairs, that you guys have to endure, things that we have

to go look into.

So I understand both sides of the issue.

So we're trying to move forward in a careful way, but I just

wanted you to be aware this is the conversation that I had

with your books committee.

I think there's probably some opinions on her committee,

probably both sides of the issue.

And so as a as a victim of sexual abuse herself, she cares

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] very deeply about this issue in particular.

And so I do expect there's going to be more conversation

about it.

I don't know if she's going to have some legislation in and

around aspects of this, but I would think that would be probably

a reasonable expectation.

I just don't know what it is at this point.

Alright.

So that's a really big topic, Amanda.

I've got one more really big topic.

So if you want me to stop here, are there any questions that

you guys want to answer on that one?

So I have one question about that one.

There may be more at the end, but I wanted to clarify.

We are talking specifically about changing some of the policies

and the views around sexual abuse allegations.

This is not about all foster parent allegations, correct?

Correct.

And then the question that's already come in the chat box

and that I know you and I have talked about has there been

any discussion about policy changes, about how we inform

bio foster adoptive families, that this has come up for a

child that's in their care now, allegations of somebody who's

done it in the past, the reo case, specifically, a lot of

the adoptive families only found out through the media that

these allegations were there and that their children were

involved. If I may, is that the only one?

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] That's the only one.

So you can answer that.

That leads right into the next thing I'll just talk about.

Senator Broder has released a bill may I don't know if your

membership has kind of seen an analysis of it, but I think

part of it is a requirement.

They're calling it a face sheet, but it's for the Department

to ensure that all pertinent information is provided to foster

parents. And so this bill and I don't know if it has a name.

Forgive me, Senator brothers not watching me.

I apologize, Sir, but it's really designed around empowering

foster parents when I read it.

And so one of the things is script need to have current information

Here's, all the pertinent information.

And so, you know, I think the different CBCS, the lead agencies

around the state, I'll do it kind of differently.

And my hope and where we're trying to angle in, this is an

easy thing to fix with technology.

It really is this is not hard.

So it's just money.

So we're exploring the options right now for creating that

technology. And so the portal piece of it like what you guys

would see is not expensive.

It's ultimately you have to tie it all back to our very big

legacy system back in DC.

And that's where you start spending for real money.

But I don't think it's a huge price tag in all honesty.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] And so I am very optimistic that that's going to happen.

And so I think this bill is a priority of the Senate President.

So I think it's going to happen.

And so my belief is we will get funds for that specific modality

and it'll roll out.

And I think it's just going to kind of nip this problem in

the but there is no reason we shouldn't have this one fixed.

So I'm excited about that.

I think it's going to make it a little better for everybody.

So with that, let me talk a little bit more about the broader

Ville. The other parts of that, some very interesting policy

debates there we had.

I think a lot of them are driven by some cases in my seat.

I get to talk to all parties around a child welfare case.

So I get to talk to the folks that represent the biological

parents that think we're too aggressive.

I could talk to the folks that think we're not aggressive

enough. The best issues of the child versus print rights.

You guys know, this is a Super complex system.

This bill really tried to take on the perspective of the

foster parent and best interest of the child.

And so, as you know, our system of care, our first priorities

try to put the family back together.

And you guys all know this, but we're really talking about

substance abuse most of the time.

I mean, the overwhelming part, overwhelming number of cases.

It's either the primary issue or an issue that second or

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] third tier.

It doesn't always work out.

That's a hard that's a hard thing for people to beat and

get to a point where we feel the child can be safe in their

care. The timeline on that, as you all know, I mean, I think

the average child in our system about a year and a half.

So if we're working through that process and ultimately it's

not going to work out, what you have is you have a child

that's been with a foster mom or dad for about two years.

And so this bill really tries to take on that issue specifically,

like what's the best thing for that child at that point in

time? If we get to that scenario.

And so it's got a couple of elements in it.

It wants to give foster parents party status.

So essentially, as decisions are made about moving the child,

you're changing their placements and things of that nature

is putting some processes in place, making sure the foster

parents are at the table at the staffing and have to say.

And so there's a lot of things in there, and the Department

is working with the sponsor and certainly will have some

opinions on some of that.

But I don't think anybody as opposed to the notion, which

is we need to empower our foster parts a bit more.

You guys know these children better a lot of times, especially

if the child sick in the hospital.

I mean, you guys are mom and dad, and we know that.

And it is it's incredibly sad in that scenario, specifically,

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] two years down the road.

It's a happy thing.

On one side, you know, this person's gotten their life back

together to a point.

We can return the child.

But ultimately, that child is going to have to go from a

family that they've known to another family, their biological

family that we've transitioned to and whatnot.

But that's not easy on the child.

And we know that.

And so this bill is aimed at getting into that process in

a very specific way, requiring certain staffing requiring

certain rights afforded to foster parents and things of that

nature. And so this will be a very interesting policy debate.

I hope all of this put together let you see.

You guys are the Center of attention.

You're a big pop point in our system of care.

I think everybody sees you guys a key ingredient in our system

of care.

I know you guys probably think I just have a bunch of corny

talking points.

I use you're the love in our system flat out.

And so and we know we're tough all you all sometimes, and

it's you know, it's disappointing, but you have the Rios

case. And so that is naturally going to trigger well, we

can't let that happen again.

And so that turns into rules and procedures.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] And my gosh, we just get out of our house.

Dc, I know it.

I know it, but I'm just incredibly thankful for you all.

I hope that you see there's a lot of activity here around

what you do and trying to make it better for you trying to

make it safer for our children.

The motives are all good.

Getting to a good place is going to require you guys to have

a good, strong voice, an advocate.

You've got great leadership, but I would encourage you guys

to get very knowledgeable enough to speed on some of these

bills as they're coming along and be able to provide your

perspective because they're going to need it.

It is a little bit of a weird year in Tallahassee before

you can all go in the committee room, all the members see

posture. Parents are here in force.

This is what they want.

You're having to do it by video now.

And so it's a different dynamic.

And so it's definitely something to strategize about and

think about how you can make your voices heard.

But again, I'll stop talking there in Rambling.

I just want to say thank you.

Like I said, this has been the best two years of my professional

life without question.

And you guys have been a group.

I can't believe you do what you do.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] I really don't.

It's awesome.

And like I said, I know that we ask a lot of you.

I know it.

And we're very thankful.

And I want you to know everybody knows it in Tallahassee

House Senate.

We all realize that the licensing requirements you got to

lock up your Windex or whatever that is and all that stuff.

We get it, we get it.

But we are so incredibly thankful for what you do.

And so I'll just let that be my kind of last part of my prepared

remarks. I'll answer any questions you want right now, man.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chad.

We love you.

One of my favorite hashtags has been from you.

I've been doing hashtag be the love.

And it really is heard from you and heard, I think in a different

way. And this is not part of my I don't know prepared remarks

that I know you came in as an outsider, right?

With the ID and the hope of bringing a fresh perspective

to child welfare.

And it has worked.

We have felt hurt.

I think we were your first formal presentation when you came

in person almost three years ago in the summer, and I don't

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] know how many other things you have, but we are so happy

that you're here today.

And I know I'm sure that that weight on you after all of

the media attention yesterday, but we are happy that you're

here and you're one of us, whether you want to be or not.

Right?

You were loved.

Thank you.

Foster parents were an odd bunch, right?

There's 112 people now, and I'm sure they're all not in their

heads. It takes a weird, special, inspired person to do this

over and over and over again, and we are heard and happy

that you are here.

I have two questions from earlier, and then I want to talk

about COVID because I think that that's big and scary and

current. Hopefully it will not be a forever question.

The other ones are really about the 13.

And I want to start off with saying the FDLE DCF work group.

There were foster parents on that.

We were so excited to be there.

We run the foster and adoptive Parent Allegation support

team. We were at the table for all of those discussions.

As it moves forward, our foster parents going to be sure

to be on the Cart team, either the state level or they're

going to be regional ones.

What would that look like?

Well, obviously, my influence is rapidly coming through an

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] end, but I'll call child welfare, and I'll make sure that

there's a member on each one.

It's a pretty set formula.

And so basically we just got to make sure you're in the formula

and that will take care of that.

That would be fantastic.

I think it is needed because sometimes we're such a special

population and demographics, but sometimes things that look

really weird to people who aren't foster parents.

If it's a foster print, they're saying, no, that's actually

in code, and it's a regulation that we, I don't know, have

to do with this whatever weird way, whereas a normal parent

would look at it and be like a vast of really weird thing.

I don't know, always good to have parents talking about foster

parents for COVID.

I know you and I have talked and I've sent letters to both

DCF and to the governor from Florida Papa saying that we

strongly request that foster parents be in round.

I don't know, 1.5 or the beginning of Round two to be considered

for vaccine.

Can we talk a little bit about vaccine and rapid testing

for youth in care and what that looks like?

Wow, it is all consuming.

We had some really, by the way, all the stuff I talked about

in terms of improvements we made that's happened in the middle

of Covet and so I can't believe the team pulled off what

they did because everybody, everybody.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] I mean, things have stalled.

I mean, we've got a million and a half more people on public

assistance DCF than we had for code.

So just think about that.

I mean, the giant wave of need is just crashed over the agency.

They're rising to meet the challenge, as I knew they would.

But the fact that we're getting some strategic things done

at the same time, it blows my mind.

Alright.

Vaccines.

Hopefully everyone is seen and I'm going to give you the

chat pop version.

So the Gators office, they think they might hit the button,

make me shut up.

But I do spend a lot of time with the surgeon general.

And so you all know that the focus has been on the folks

really that are the most risk of dying from COVID.

So our 65 and older population, I heard the governor speak.

I think they were saying 1.8 last week.

And so with that being the case, 1.8 million of 4.4 point

2,000,000 people in Florida in that age demographic.

So you guys can kind of see the progress we're making.

And you can kind of see on a timeline that's that means we

got little ways to go.

You guys are tied up.

And so I can tell you from within our Department the way

I kind of teased it up is we have our mental health facilities

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] where we do have a lot of our state mental health hospitals.

Those patients are very ill and a lot of them are elderly.

And so we were able to get vaccines made available for those

populations. We have stage.

I think they just started we have a group of people called

Adult Protective investigators.

And so whenever there's a senior citizen that's being abused,

neglected financially, people kind of game plan to take all

their money.

Believe it or not, these are the folks that are going into

the house of the very, very senior folks in Florida.

And so it is very important that they don't take Cova into

the homes they're going into as well.

And so they are, I think just now in that process of starting

to get vaccines.

And so then the child welfare system is the stage right there

below that foster parents.

I will check with the surgeon general on that.

I'll send myself a note and just kind of see where we might

be. But obviously, I think the broader point I want to make

is you can kind of see from the numbers were getting close

to about halfway through that senior population in Florida.

And that's where the Lion share of of vaccines are going.

And obviously, as the federal government increases the vaccine

production, it gets out quicker.

We can move through things quicker if there are specific

needs. Amanda, please reach out.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] Let me know.

And I'm happy to I'm starting to work with the next Secretary,

Shavon Harris, who is a friend.

So we're already going to start next week, so I can see some

of these things up for her to be aware of.

But I think broad, more broadly speaking, you just kind of

pay attention to that 4.2 that the governor has prioritized

that that group and rightfully so.

And so we're just kind of working through that right now.

What about rapid testing for you if we're getting youth?

And I think that that's more a CBC question, but anything

from the DC lens would be good testing there's.

Testing is really widely available right now.

So I think from the early days, things have gotten a lot

better. It may just that may just be more of a funding issue.

And I'm happy to look at that.

And as you see, new pots of federal money get your marked

and things.

Those are all good things for issues like testing.

I cannot tell you how much we're going to miss you.

It is going to be a really strange gear.

I think one thing we all know and, you know, is there is

nothing consistent child welfare change is inevitable, whether

it's change of the placement in your home or change of Woods

leading the shift.

And I hope that one of the things that you help infuse for

the new Secretary is just that we want to see to the table.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] We want her to to want us there.

And the biggest things that we have seen as a foster parent

community when things don't go well is when foster parents

aren't in the loop of making some of those big decisions.

I think that there has been times not in the recent past

where that has been the case.

And it's we still see fallout from some of those policies

and rules when that hasn't happened.

So we have really enjoyed working with you and all of the

new ideas and sometimes uncomfortable discussions.

When it's like work, you want to do what.

But it is really turned out to just be a great relationship.

And we have all really enjoyed you.

Any final words, Secretary possible.

I would just say this.

I'm having conversations about my my next endeavors, right?

This job allows your purpose and your profession or spirituality

everything to the reason.

I think I've been so sad that you throw everything into this.

That's probably going to be a hard thing to recreate another

job. So I will be looking for ways to stay involved.

I don't want to just kind of walk away.

So I I am looking for ways.

So if you guys have ideas, I'm very open to him.

I mean, that sincerely.

I want to try to keep helping on this aspect.

So I give that to you and you guys can brainstorm on it,

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM] but changed my life forever.

And you guys were a big part of that.

So thank you so much.

Take care, everybody.

God bless.

Thank you so much.

And I know that we will talk soon, and I have a list of ideas

for how you can stay involved, so we will if you post it.

Thank you, Secretary Paul.

Thank you.

file:///centervideo.forest.usf.edu/video2$/jit/florida/2021FLFAPA/welcome/transcript.txt[3/23/2021 9:26:26 AM]