Fla. DCF releases 1st foster care report card, By Kelli Kennedy (AP), January 11, 2012, Miami Herald: “Private contractors that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a year to oversee foster care in Florida scored poorly in ensuring proper medical, immunization and dental services for children, but ranked about average in most other areas, according to a report card issued Wednesday for the first time by the state child welfare agency. The review is part of an effort to beef up oversight of the 20 providers that care for foster kids. Since taking office in 2010, Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins has repeatedly said improving accountability among the providers was a top priority and that he intended to include penalties for poor performance in the contracts going forward…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty