Miami-Dade mayor picks a child-welfare advocate to run Animal Services Department

A former prosecutor and longtime administrator in Florida’s child-welfare system has a new assignment in Miami-Dade County: finding homes for abandoned dogs and cats.

Bronwyn Stanford began her $198,000-a-year position this month as the county’s director of Animal Services, which runs Miami-Dade’s main animal shelter in Doral and oversees the government’s ongoing efforts to control the population of stray dogs and cats.

She’s formerly a senior vice president at Children’s Home Society and a regional director for the Department of Children and Families. Stanford also found a pet rescue charity, CJPAWS, in the Tampa area, where she worked as a prosecutor and for Children’s Legal Services.

Levine Cava calls Stanford a ‘proven advocate’

“She’s a proven advocate,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, where Stanford’s appointment was formally presented to the board. “I cannot think of a better person to fill this role.”

Stanford, who has four cats at home, said her background in children’s welfare should serve her well as she shifts to the county’s animal population.

“It’s so similar. So many of the same issues,” she said in an interview. “Too many children in care, too many animals coming into intake. Increasing adoptions, finding good adoptive homes. A lot of the things correlate so much, honestly.”

Stanford takes over Animal Services after the former director, Alex Muñoz, was promoted to Internal Services, the agency that manages county facilities and contracts.

She begins her tenure at an increasingly challenging time for Animal Services, as the spike in adoption demand that coincided with more people working at home in early 2020 is receding with the pandemic. With shelter facilities filling again, Miami-Dade reports wait times are growing before they find new owners for pets in county care. “We have so many large dogs in the shelter,” Stanford said. “It’s difficult to find them homes.”

South Dade Animal Clinic is closing

Miami-Dade also is bracing for the loss of a satellite clinic in South Miami-Dade run by the Humane Society of Greater Miami. The clinic in the Cutler Bay government center plans on ending services Nov. 24 after declining to renew its county contract, citing hiring difficulties that started after the COVID pandemic hit in 2020.

“We just don’t have the hands,” said Laurie Hoffman, executive director of the nonprofit, which runs its main clinic in North Miami Beach. The South clinic offers free services to qualifying low-income residents, and paid pet services for others. Hoffman said the clinic has been forced to cut back offerings due to staffing shortages. “You have to provide quality services, and we didn’t feel we were able to do that.”

Commissioner Danielle Cohen Higgins brought up the looming closure when Stanford’s appointment came before the board. “I know you’re brand new,” she said. “I look forward to working with you extensively and closely to make sure we’re able [to] continue those services for all of our South Dade residents.“

Animal Services is one of Miami-Dade’s smallest agencies, with about 260 employees and a budget of $32 million in a county that spends $9 billion a year. But it receives significant attention from elected officials, due in part to the political activism of groups and individuals pressing Miami-Dade to save more stray animals and increase spay-and-neutering efforts.

Rita Schwartz, a founder of the Pets Trust advocacy group, praised Stanford in an interview Tuesday.

“She seems to be very committed to animals and open-minded for new solutions,” Schwartz said. “My initial impressions are very good.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 6:12 PM.