A Media Alert From Florida's Children First

Florida’s Children First says State Budget for foster care may run afoul of law and may jeopardize federal foster care payments

Fort Lauderdale----In a letter to all Florida Legislators, Andrea Moore, Executive Director of Florida’s Children First said today that “budget cuts to children’s programs will leave many children at home with abusive parents and many more in serious jeopardy of never being able to exit Florida’s foster care system in apparent violation of federal and constitutional law” and urged them to rethink the Budget Conference Report or find some alternative means of solving this crisis. She is referring to use of the Chiles Endowment and other “rainy day” funds that could be used to avoid this crisis.

In her letter Moore said that legislators may not have seen the “child welfare forest for the budget cutting trees” and that “the results of these cuts will have a very severe and negative impact on the children.” FCF Board President Howard Talenfeld added “This budget puts abused children into state custody with no realistic way out.”

Citing the over $18 million cuts in spending for services and reductions of nearly $14 million in adoption subsidies, Board Member Bob Dillinger, the elected Public Defender in the 6th Circuit said “The Budget figures we have seen do not provide a way out of the system, not through re-unification with family nor through adoption. If we do not provide adequate services for children in foster care, they will become wards of the state in some other fashion”

“This budget is the worst I’ve seen; it undermines the crucial work the Department of Children and Families could have done under Bob Butterworth’s leadership,” said Wayne Hogan, Jacksonville attorney and FCF Board member.

Other Board Members Available Upon Request. Contact Andrea Moore 954-464-6803

Florida’s Children First (FCF) is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works every day as a united voice for the children: to prevent child abuse in the first instance; to improve the foster care system; to reunite children with their families as soon as practicable when harm does occur; and to promote adoption and permanency when in the child’s best interests. The “watchdog” group’s mission is to advance children’s legal rights consistent with their medical, educational and social needs and to achieve significant improvements in all systems affecting children’s lives, emphasizing the child welfare system. FCF achieves its goals through public policy advocacy, executive branch advocacy, training and technical assistance to lawyers and others representing children, public awareness, litigation and education.

Media Contact: / Julie Silver or Michelle Friedman at Boardroom Communications, Inc. at 954-370-8999, or jsilver@boardroompr.com or mfriedman@boardroompr.com