The Following Documents Are Attachments to the 2008 Dept of Children and Families Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR)
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The following documents are attachments to the 2008 Dept of Children and Families Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR). The report can be obtained from: http://centerforchildwelfare.fmhi.usf.edu/kb/flres/DCF_APSR_June2 008.pdf Florida Department of Children and Families Strategic Intent 2008 - 2010 January 17, 2008 Charlie Crist Bob Butterworth Governor Secretary , 2008 Strategic Intent for 2008 - 2010 The Secretary’s Strategic Intent gives guidance and summarizes the Department’s major initiatives for 2008 - 2010. This document provides the Secretary’s intent on what the Department and its partners must accomplish during this year. The Secretary’s guidance drives the development of the Department’s Strategic Plan, which depicts how the Department will achieve these initiatives, when they will be accomplished and the metrics used to measure progress. Major Accomplishments in 2007 Over the past year the professional and caring people of the Department of Children and Families along with our partners have achieved much. Before we identify key initiatives for 2008, it’s important to reflect on some of these major accomplishments. (See Appendix A for a more detailed list of accomplishments.) DEPARTMENT • Implemented various cultural change initiatives; Secretary’s Six Guiding Principles, Common Sense and Sense of Urgency; Transparency and Open Government; and Plain Language. • Reorganized the Department by establishing Regions and Circuits, restructuring DCF Legal Services, and adding a Criminal Justice Director and Regional Criminal Justice Coordinators. MENTAL HEALTH / SUBSTANCE ABUSE • Reduced the adult forensic wait list to zero • Expanded competency restoration services both in-jail and in the community • Eliminated the Juvenile Incompetent to Proceed waiting list for community competency services CHILD WELFARE • Finalized 3,229 adoptions • Promulgated written Rights of Foster Care Children • Refocused Department attention on prevention • Implemented Florida’s child abuse prevention (IV-E) waiver ACCESS • Won the Innovation in Government Award • Significantly reduced the Food Stamp error rate • Redesigned Call Centers ______________________________________________________________________________ 1 Updated January 17, 2008 Governor’s Intent Governor Crist’s leadership has established an environment in which his administration will serve the people. The Governor has pledged to “establish an ethical and hard working administration that will reflect Florida’s diversity, that will listen to your ideas, and that will fight for you, the people of Florida.” Governor Crist firmly believes that leaders in administration demonstrate integrity and “work hard with me everyday to provide hope, safety, and opportunity for every Floridian.” Governor Crist has provided guidance to the Department through public statements, Executive Orders, the General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007-08, and in conversations with the Secretary. The key Executive Orders and Budget are summarized below. The Department will continue to implement the tasks specified in these documents during 2008. EXECUTIVE ORDERS 1. Executive Order 07-01: Continue to implement Code of Ethics, Plain Language and Customer Services tasks as outlined in Executive Order 07-01. See Appendix B for tasks. 2. Executive Order 07-126: Continue to implement actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as delineated in Executive Order 07-126. BUDGET SUMMARY FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007-08: Continue to implement tasks associated with the Fiscal Year 2007-2008 budget. See Appendix C for a more detailed listing of tasks. ______________________________________________________________________________ DCF Mission Protect the vulnerable Promote strong and economically self-sufficient families Advance personal and family recovery and resiliency ______________________________________________________________________________ 2 Updated January 17, 2008 Secretary’s Guidance The Department of Children and Families serves the most vulnerable people and families in Florida. We must constantly keep our focus on these needy Floridians. Whether it’s an abused child or vulnerable adult who needs to be protected, a homeless veteran who needs a place to live, a single mother who needs welfare assistance to feed her children, a parent with a substance abuse problem who needs treatment, a person with a mental illness who needs medication, or other needy people who rely on our services; when these Floridians need our services, they need them NOW. Therefore, during 2008 we shall streamline our processes and deliver services to customers quicker. We will embrace a sense of urgency in all that we do. Not only do our customers need services quicker, many of them require more than one service to address their needs. However, in the past, the Department frequently thought about and delivered services from a single-program perspective. We can no longer do work this way. Our customers need services provided in an integrated and complementary approach. So, we shall integrate child welfare, domestic violence, substance abuse, mental health, homelessness, and other services provided by the Department into both the development of policy and delivery of services. This year we must refocus our efforts to integrate Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services into local Circuit operations. We shall broaden the use of common sense throughout the Department, including our partners, contractors and stakeholders. During 2008, we must aggressively reduce regulatory and administrative burdens on the public, our partners and staff. Additionally, we shall continue to assure compliance with the Plain Language Initiative so our correspondence with the public is clear and concise. An important feature of common sense government is customer service. As we mentioned above, serving vulnerable people and families is why the Department exists. Therefore, we shall provide extraordinary customer service to these needy people. To this end we will ask customers to determine how they define good service; develop, publish and distribute customer service standards; survey customers to find out how well we are living up to those standards and use responses to improve service; and compare operations and results to “world-class” organizations. Last year was a noteworthy year for the Department. We shall continue to build on our efforts from 2007 in gaining and maintaining the public’s trust and confidence. Every action we take, every service we deliver, and every impression we make has the potential to increase or decrease people’s perception of both our competence, and the efficiency and effectiveness in which the Department delivers services. In 2007 we will continue to gain the public’s trust by – • Demonstrating that we are building an action-oriented agency focused on helping communities pursue opportunities and resolve issues; • broadening the public’s knowledge of the program and services provided by the Department; 3 Updated January 17, 2008 • improving accountability by developing meaningful performance measures, focusing on priority outcomes, enhancing quality assurance, and increasing local control of operations. To maintain the trust of the people they must believe we are open and transparent. This year we shall continue to educate the leadership of the Department to assure full and expeditious compliance with Florida’s open government and public records laws. We shall also seek legislative changes to further make the Department more open and transparent. Finally, we must change the Department’s governance model to align with one of our key principles – pushing decisions to the lowest appropriate level. Department field staff along with our partners have extensive knowledge on how to deliver efficient and effective services. We must tap into this expertise. Therefore, we shall increase the use of workgroups, teams, etc. with representation from the field to implement a “push up” model of policy development. Workforce . ______________________________________________________________________________ Key Department Initiatives The Secretary has determined that the successful execution of the initiatives outlined below is critical to the overall success of the Department. Therefore the Secretary will be personally involved in planning, implementing and overseeing these key strategic areas. Actions to protect the vulnerable CHILD WELFARE 1. Independent Living: Enable children in foster care and young adults who were formerly in foster care to develop the skills necessary for successful transition to adulthood and self-sufficiency. (a) Increase the number of youth graduating from high school and post-secondary education. (1) Increase the educational stability of children in foster care by increasing the number of foster children remaining in their same school, when feasible, or improve the transition between schools and school districts when school moves occur. (2) Facilitate youth having supports to enter into, and complete high school and post- secondary education. (3) Balance Road to Independence stipends with the number of young adult seeking post- secondary education. 4 Updated January 17, 2008 (b) Enhance opportunities and supports for youth to fully participate in all aspects of the primary and secondary school experience as well as activities to enhance normalcy. (c) Increase the number of youth who obtain a job that provides a living wage by implementing “Operation Full Employment” to employ 100 youth in foster care in the Department;