Can lawmakers keep DCF’s promises?
by Michael C. Bender | April 19th, 2009From The Post‘s Kathleen Chapman:
When former Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth took over the Department of Children and Families in January 2007, he vowed that the state would stop paying attorneys to fight lawsuits filed by families with valid claims against his agency.
Since then, DCF has settled with 104 plaintiffs, paying a total of more than $6.1 million. Butterworth’s successor at DCF, former state legislator George Sheldon, has continued that approach. In some cases, Sheldon said, it is better to help children who truly have been harmed by the agency’s mistakes than to continue racking up legal fees.
But the settlements are increasingly putting DCF’s commitments in conflict with a state legislature that often has been unwilling to pay.
Tags: claims bills, DCF
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