Citrus in line to take over massive child welfare contract in Miami-Dade and Monroe
South Florida’s sprawling child welfare operations are likely to have new leadership in a matter of months, after a bruising year-long fight plagued by allegations that the selection process was marred by the appearance of conflicts of interest.
Citrus Health, a mental health nonprofit, won a recommendation Monday for a half-billion dollar contract to oversee child welfare cases in Miami-Dade and Monroe from the state Department of Children & Families, under the state’s privatized system where such cases are managed by a patchwork of “lead agencies.”
Those agencies are tasked with a heavy lift: a child welfare system that has long been strained by insufficient resources, understaffed case management agencies and caring for one of the state’s most fragile populations. If the contract goes through, Citrus — which has not worked in child welfare before — stands to inherit oversight of about 3,000 vulnerable children in the state’s most populous region.
The final decision to award the contract falls to DCF Secretary Chad Poppell, who was recently appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to take over the agency. Citrus’ win would unseat the longtime incumbent and competitor Our Kids, which had struggled to defend past management troubles and recent child suicides to argue it should stay in place.
Both outfits have been squabbling over the contract for a year, and went through a selection process last summer that yielded a first recommendation in Citrus’ favor. But several complaints addressed to the state and the news media questioned the appearance of conflicts of interest that they said skewed the process for Citrus.
Among those complaints: that a member of the selection committee used to work for Citrus; that a former state senator also on the committee received campaign contributions from Citrus’ CEO; that the chairwoman of the committee used to work directly under a top official with Citrus when both were at DCF; and that selection committee members were much more rigorous in their questioning of Our Kids. Facebook photos of DCF’s regional managing director also showed her at parties with former Our Kids leaders now working as Citrus vendors.
DCF eventually tossed out the first recommendation in response to the letters and started an accelerated second selection process last month. It also conducted a management review that found no violations of law or policy but acknowledged that “not all possible conflicts of interest were identified or vetted.”
Last week, the selection team in the accelerated process re-heard arguments from Our Kids and Citrus. On Monday, it voted to recommend Citrus take over the contract. The contract would begin in July.
Our Kids spokesman Alex Alamo said the agency “respect[s] the process and are awaiting the Secretary’s final decision,” adding: “We are prepared to begin a seamless and expedited transition.”
Citrus CEO Mario Jardon declined to comment.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Poppell’s decision is expected by next week.
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 1:59 PM.
