Florida Child Welfare Chief Resigns Amid Criticisms

Kathleen A. Kearney resigned Tuesday as head of Florida’s child welfare agency following months of criticism for blunders and oversights by the department, which notoriously lost a 5-year-old girl in its care.

Kearney’s continued presence in the position was seen by some as a political liability for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who appointed her and is seeking reelection in November. He accepted her resignation immediately. It will take effect Sept. 3.

As of last month, Kearney’s department said it could not account for 532 children it said had run away from foster homes or had been abducted by parents against court orders.

Over the weekend, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper reported that it had been able to locate nine of the children, two of them after less than three hours of searching.

Democrats had seized on the holes in the state’s child protection system as a welcome campaign issue against an incumbent who appears comfortably ahead in the polls.

Former U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said in the spring that Bush “came into office saying he was going to do something about the child welfare system, but it’s only getting worse.”

In her letter of resignation, made public in Tallahassee, Kearney said she decided to quit after much reflection and prayer, but she gave no reason.

“This job, often referred to as the toughest in state government, has been the most rewarding and challenging of a lifetime,” said Kearney, a former prosecutor and juvenile court judge.

“I would like to believe that during my stay here it can be said that: She believed, she hoped, she tried, she failed often enough, but with God’s grace, she accomplished more than she rationally could have dreamed,” she wrote in her letter to the governor.

Bush praised Kearney’s “tireless devotion to the protection of Florida’s children” and said he would quickly appoint a successor to “continue the work of making our child welfare system function better for these most vulnerable Floridians.”

The Department of Children & Families has been under intense criticism and scrutiny for years, but both intensified four months ago when it became known that Rilya Wilson, a 5-year-old foster child, had vanished while in state custody. The Miami-area girl had been missing since January 2001, and no caseworker had checked on her for 15 months. She is still missing.

More headline-generating problems followed.

A department caseworker filed a report saying a 2-year-old boy was fine, but Polk County sheriff’s deputies found the child had been beaten to death before the caseworker’s supposed visit. Another department worker who police said was drunk and unconscious was arrested in her car in Coral Gables with a baby who was officially in her care in the back seat.

Bush had publicly defended Kearney against the rising chorus from child advocates and legislators that she be fired, but on Tuesday, the day she quit, a Democratic lawmaker charged that the governor’s 1999 appointee was no longer trusted.

“The public, department employees and members of the Legislature had grave concerns in Secretary Kearney’s ability to effect substantive policy changes and protect the vulnerable citizens entrusted to her care,” state Sen. Ron Klein said in a letter to Bush. “All confidence in Secretary Kearney is lost, and, once again, Florida is being held up as a national example of how not to do things.”

Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida’s Children, an advocacy group, has been a frequent critic of Kearney and of the department she has headed. He said Tuesday he believed the secretary had not been sacrificed for political gain but had simply been worn down by the job and the mounting controversy focused on it.

“I think this is the personal decision of someone who on each of the 100 days since Rilya’s disappearance has lived under tremendous pressure,” Levine said. “Trust me, this is a department, where there is a tragedy a day, that is supposed to help the people most vulnerable. Control of child abuse, control of drug abuse, control of elder abuse is their task. Anyone who can stay in that job for 3 1/2 years needs to be credited for that tenure.”

Bush came to office in 1998 vowing to fix an already troubled department and has more than doubled its budget. But by all accounts, Florida’s child protection system remains greatly overburdened, with caseworkers struggling with a caseload far above the recommended norms.

On Tuesday, as word of Kearney’s resignation became public, so did news of yet another apparent error in judgment by the Department of Children & Families.

It conducted three separate abuse investigations into the home of a 4-year-old Riviera Beach boy, but took no action to remove the child, who was later fatally beaten. Tarquez Woodson was removed from life support Friday and died of head and body trauma. His stepfather, D’Andre Bannister, 20, has been arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter.