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CNN Sunday Morning

Florida Child Welfare Agency Under Heavy Criticism

Aired June 30, 2002 - 11:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Florida Governor Jeb Bush is calling the state child welfare agency outrageous, because this time it failed to supervise a group of girls waiting to be placed in foster care. The girls, ages 11 to 15, were found living in a motel with no supervision.

The state agency is already under heavy criticism in the case of Rilya Wilson, whose disappearance remains unsolved.

We get more now on the situation from CNN's Susan Candiotti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): For police officer Nicole Maale, it started with a call from a motel supervisor in West Palm Beach, Florida.

NICOLE MAALE, POLICE OFFICER: She was a little concerned about the young teenagers that were staying there, because there was a lot of question of what they were doing at night.

CANDIOTTI: It turns out, six girls ages 11 to 15 were put up in this motel last month by Florida's child welfare agency. They were rented two rooms, and a private company was hired to supervise the girls in day and night shifts.

When the sun went down, motel employees sensed trouble when they saw the girls in other motel rooms.

MAALE: They could smell marijuana. They could hear music in there. And then when the doors would open and close, they could see some of the girls in the room with some of the male -- adult male patrons.

CANDIOTTI: And at pool side...

MAALE: They saw them drinking in the pool with some of the adult males that were staying at the hotel.

CANDIOTTI: Employees told police they suspected sex might also be going on.

(on camera): What did you think when you heard this?

MAALE: I was upset.

CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Officer Maale called Florida's Division of Children and Family Services, responsible for putting the children there.

She learned the girls were there because of a shortage of foster homes.

She filed this report, stating: "This environment does not appear to be the safest place to house children that are waiting to be placed in foster care."

Child advocates call it another bungle by a system setup for failure.

CHRISTINA ZAWISZA, CHILD ADVOCATE: I just think that DCF's system of child welfare is in meltdown. I mean, there is just crisis after crisis after crisis.

GOV. JEB BUSH, FLORIDA GOVERNOR: We've suspended the contract based on what happened. It was outrageous.

CANDIOTTI: Florida Governor Jeb Bush, already battling critics after social workers lost track of still-missing 5-year-old Rilya Wilson, says those responsible have been fired.

BUSH: It is not a perfect system, but the way these children come into the custody of care is the problem, and we need to prevent it and focus on that, rather than attack, attack, attack.

CANDIOTTI: In the two months since Rilya Wilson disappeared, nearly 140 child welfare workers statewide were fired for various reasons.

Supervisor Lee Hickey, one of those axed in the Rilya Wilson case, calls it a political bloodbath that ought to include the Governor Bush appointee who heads the agency.

LEE HICKEY, FMR. FLORIDA WELFARE WORKER: If my head needs to role, then theirs does too. If I'm responsible, so are they.

CANDIOTTI: As for the girls at the motel...

(on camera): Since the girls were taken away, at least some are in drug rehab, others in mental health facilities, and still others now in foster homes.

ZAWISZA: You take kids away from their parents because they're not properly supervised, and you give them to the state, and they're supervised in a worse condition.

CANDIOTTI: Not, child advocates insist, the way any child welfare system is supposed to work.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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