As a candidate for governor in 1998, I proposed moving Florida’s foster care system to a community-based model in response to the tragedies of children being abandoned, neglected and abused in record numbers. My belief was if business and community leaders would view these precious children as their own, there would be a more innovative response.

The idea received strong bipartisan support in the Florida legislature and a doubling of state funding in four years. By 2005 ours was the first state to fully transition its public foster care system to a network of homegrown, “community based” agencies in partnership with government.

The eventual result: an impressive and marked decline in the use of foster care as a solution for a family in crisis. Additionally, Florida leads the country in adoptions out of foster care and has dramatically increased the number of intact families served.

Quietly, over the past decade, community-based care transformed our system from one of the nation’s worst to best. As a result, Florida was the first state granted a waiver of how its federal child welfare funds can be spent, further enhancing the partnership between state government and the network of local non-profits to innovate and solve problems.

The non-profit organizations the Department of Children & Families selects to serve as community-based care lead agencies have grown from small start-ups to mature agencies responsible for thousands of lives, millions of state funds and a wide array of services. Each has succeeded by nurturing its own local ecosystem of foster parents, service providers and professional staff tailored to meet the unique needs of their community.

This approach has been a bargain for Florida taxpayers. The foster care system today receives roughly the same amount as it did during the transition seven years ago. Working together, DCF and local agencies effectively utilize resources to safely reunite children, while preventing entry/re-entry into foster care. The savings are continuously re-invested into local systems of care.

Truly, a bargain for taxpayers and a blessing for children.

There is no “one size fits all” solution for families in crisis. Communities, like children, are diverse and have different needs. Lawmakers must continue to support this successful partnership that brings lawmakers, volunteers, advocates and business leaders to the table to solve the most important problems facing children and families. The model is dynamic, agile and allows for continuous improvement and strengthening.

Community-based care has always been about local ownership, community input, transparency, accountability and solution-oriented responsiveness. Tallahassee based care does not work. A recent Herald editorial correctly noted that “community-based...agencies...are under attack in a misguided attempt to consolidate monitoring and services in Tallahassee. We’ve been down this road before — remember another tragedy: the disappearance, and likely death of Rilya Wilson? — that provoked lawmakers to push responsibility down to the local level, where committed and involved people who knew their community best could serve.”

Despite its success, community-based care is threatened by increased bureaucratic control and an erosion of the original model in favor of monolithic bureaucracies that promise “cheaper” solutions.

The memories of Florida’s dysfunctional, overcrowded and unsafe child welfare system are fading. Overseeing a diverse and independent collection of statewide networks is a challenge for state administrators, but with great challenges come even greater successes. Lawmakers should remember problems from the past. They are the lessons from which we build our future.

Jeb Bush was Florida’s govenror from 1999 to 2007.