Hillsborough’s $87 million foster care contract has just 1 bidder

TAMPA — A Las Vegas nonprofit that state officials rejected to run foster care in Pinellas and Pasco counties is the only bidder for Hillsborough County’s $87 million child welfare contract.

WestCare, a behavioral health and social services agency that operates in 15 states including Florida, was the only agency to meet a Feb. 4 deadline to enter into negotiations with the Florida Department of Children and Families to take over Hillsborough’s foster care system.

There are currently more than 3,100 children under state care and supervision in the county.

The nonprofit provides services for people dealing with drug addiction, mental health, domestic violence, homelessness and other issues, according to its website, but does not operate any foster care operations.

It was one of seven agencies that applied in November to run the child welfare system in Pinellas and Pasco. It did not make the state’s list of three finalists, from which Jacksonville nonprofit Family Support Services of North Florida was chosen.

The state needs a new provider in place in Hillsborough by June 30 when Eckerd Connects’ contract expires. The Clearwater nonprofit announced it would no longer provide child welfare services after it lost its Pinellas-Pasco contract, which was worth $80 million per year. The state announced last year it would not renew that contract after Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri launched a criminal investigation into Eckerd Connects because the agency housed children in an unlicensed office amid “deplorable conditions.”

Department of Children and Families Secretary Shevaun Harris said Thursday that agency officials are reviewing WestCare’s application. If her agency concludes the applicant is not qualified, she said, then state law allows it to reach out to other vendors.

State officials did that when they had just two months to replace Eckerd Connects in the Pinellas-Pasco district. Officials reached out to at least two existing foster agencies from other parts of Florida and asked them to submit applications.

Another option allowed by a state law passed last year would be for the department to work with Hillsborough’s Community Alliance to directly contract with service providers instead of hiring another primary foster care agency like Eckerd Connects. The alliance is a state-mandated body of child welfare stakeholders that includes representatives from county government, the school board, the sheriff’s office, dependency courts and the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.

“Right now, we’re not quite ready to say which way we’re going,” Harris on Thursday told a community meeting held at the Old Hillsborough County Courthouse. She expects to make a decision by mid-March.

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WestCare spokesperson Robert Nerri said his agency cannot comment on its bid because the process is ongoing.

“We are excited about the prospect of leading Hillsborough’s system of care,” Nerri said.

Problems with Hillsborough’s foster care system predate Eckerd Connects. In 2012, the state stripped Hillsborough Kids Inc. of its contract — then worth about $65 million a year — after eight children died in two years under its watch.

Eckerd Connects, which was already running foster care in Pinellas and Pasco, was hired that year to oversee Hillsborough’s system. It too began to struggle around 2016 when the number of county children in care swelled to roughly 3,600, making it tough to find enough foster beds and to keep caseloads manageable.

The nonprofit was put on a corrective action plan in 2018 because it struggled to find long-term homes for dozens of older teens, some of whom refused to go to group homes. Instead, they ended up as night-to-night placements, either sleeping in offices or being passed from one foster home to another, often arriving late at night and leaving early the next day.

The state was also unhappy with Eckerd Connects’ failure to ensure the county had enough case managers. The nonprofit contracts with four nonprofits to provide case managers and also has its own in-house team.

The community meeting showed there is considerable concern about the county’s foster care system.

Mindy Murphy, president and CEO of the Spring of Tampa Bay, the domestic violence agency serving Hillsborough, said it’s not enough just to change the lead agency. She said about half the time children are removed from their home to protect them from domestic violence, but the county does a poor job of helping the parents. There is also a tendency to remove children and punish parents rather than try to help them, she said.

“If we don’t focus on those things and we just get caught up in the mechanics of a transition, we’re going to be right back where we are today in another decade,” Murphy said.

Eckerd Connects employee Lynn Chernin told Harris that those still working at the agency are dealing with uncertainty about their future. New agencies typically hire many of those who already work in the foster care system to ensure continuity, Chernin said, but employees have so far received little reassurance they’ll keep their jobs.

“There’s lot of us that are very scared; there’s a lot of unknowns and a lot of us who are sticking it out,” she said.

Several foster parents spoke at the meeting and expressed frustration at how long children are spending in foster care because case managers are overworked, they said, which results in mistakes and missed deadlines.

Riverview foster mom Sarah Weaver, who has three adopted children, spoke about the boy she is trying to add to her family. He has been with her since he turned 2. He’s now 6 and his future is still undecided, she said.

She said the boy has had more than 11 case managers in four years. He needs therapy but it took almost two years for his caseworker to find the time to sign a referral, she said. The boy knows that the other children in the home are adopted and asks why he can’t be like the other kids, she said.

“This little boy deserves a period where there’s been a question mark for five years,” said Weaver. “Stuff like this is why foster parents don’t stick it out. We get tired, we get hopeless.”

Harris said the disruption caused by Eckerd Connects’ departure has brought home the problems and failures of the past few years. Most of all, she said, the county needs to provide more services to families so children aren’t removed in the first place, and if they are, then they should be returned home, or relocated to a new home, much faster.

“(This) has illuminated and highlighted so many gaps and opportunities that need to be addressed,” she said. “My hope is that we are going to leave the system better.”

Editor’s note: Information about Hillsborough Kids Inc.’s past role in the county’s foster care system was added to this story on Feb. 11.