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Don’t rush the decision to replace Eckerd Connects | Column

Florida’s vulnerable children deserve better than a rush job, writes a children’s advocate.

Eckerd Connects Community Alternatives, the agency that runs foster care in Pinellas and Pasco counties, will soon be replaced.
Eckerd Connects Community Alternatives, the agency that runs foster care in Pinellas and Pasco counties, will soon be replaced. DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times

Whoa! The Florida Department of Children and Families needs to slow down. The rush to select a contractor to replace Eckerd Connects may make the child welfare crisis in Pinellas and Pasco counties worse, not better. DCF must give the community enough time and information to evaluate the applicants and give real input. Children deserve a careful and thoughtful process.

DCF is on the path to a quick announcement for a replacement contractor, a process that may have taken only days instead of the many months that a regular selection process takes. The normal process is competitively procured in an open and transparent process. The applicants and submissions are public record. Independent evaluators review and score applications and those scores are made public. That is not happening here. The children deserve better.

In contrast, DCF has conducted this search in the dark. One week after receiving applications, DCF continues to refuse to provide public records. It held a “public” meeting where only certain people were invited to meet the applicants. DCF did not issue a public notice of that meeting and media was kept out of the building.

Despite DCF’s refusal to provide public records, the names of applicants have leaked out. The top contenders are agencies that hold contracts in other parts of the state. DCF publishes a lot of information about agency performance on its website and on the USF Center for Child Welfare website. This data shows the strengths and weaknesses of the agencies.

People in Pinellas and Pasco should have the opportunity to look at the data and question the applicants. They should have the ability to consider what values they want the provider to promote. The process doesn’t need to take nine months — but the health, safety and well-being of children is surely worth more than nine days of consideration.

Everyone wants DCF to get this decision right. They must take the time to make a real decision and not hop out of the frying pan and into the fire. Children’s safety and wellbeing are at risk.

 

Christina Spudeas is the executive director of Florida’s Children First. Contact her at
Christina.Spudeas@FloridasChildrenFirst.org

 

 

 

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Alexia Nechayev

FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach/Miami)

Alexia Nechayev, from Miami, Florida, is a dedicated advocate for youth with lived experience in foster care and with homelessness. After being placed in foster care as a teenager, Alexia experienced firsthand the stigma surrounding the system, as well as the challenges of navigating a system that didn’t provide support for her to advocate for herself. This experience motivated her to create change, ensuring that other youth in care have the tools and resources she lacked.

She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University, and upon graduation worked as a Hope Navigator with the Department of Children and Families which allowed her to assist clients through individualized care plans, further deepening her commitment to improving the lives of marginalized youth. Alexia is now applying to law schools with the goal of advancing her advocacy work through a legal career. As the Events and Meetings Chair for Florida Youth SHINE (FYS), she creates opportunities for foster and homeless youth to collaborate and push for meaningful change. She is also an active member of the Policy and Initiative Team for Florida Youth SHINE, where she helps create and shape policies that directly impact youth in foster care. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping to develop the Foster Care Bill of Rights, a law that she feels would have made a difference during her own time in care.

In addition to her work with FYS, Alexia serves on the Board of Directors for the parent organization of FYS, Florida’s Children First. In this role, she contributes to strategic decision-making while advocating for the rights and welfare of children statewide.

Every year, she travels to the state capitol to advocate for bills she and her peers have helped shape, including key pieces of legislation that benefit foster and homeless youth. However her advocacy extends beyond her state, as she represents Florida Youth SHINE at national conferences such as the National Leaders 4 Change Conference.

Through her internship with the National Foster Youth Institute, Alexia continues to refine her advocacy skills, preparing for a future where she can contribute meaningfully to both policymaking and the legal system. Guided by the belief that “the blue sky is always there,” she remains committed to ensuring that every youth in foster care has the power and support to advocate for themselves.

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