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New Florida DCF boss names child death prevention czar

In his second week on the job, the Department of Children & Families’ top administrator made good on his first formal pledge by appointing a professional social worker and agency veteran to be the state’s first statewide fatality prevention specialist.

Lisa Rivera, who started her career at DCF as a child abuse investigator and has worked at the department 17 years, will be the agency’s top child death administrator. Mike Carroll, her former boss at DCF’s Tampa Bay-area region before he was elevated to DCF secretary, promised to make fatality prevention a top priority by creating the position.

“We are committed to improving our response, consistency and transparency,” Carroll, who holds the top job on an interim basis, said in a prepared statement. “Lisa has the experience and expertise to lead this effort and engage communities in protecting children from abuse and neglect.”

With a master’s degree is social work, Rivera is the type of administrator lawmakers envisioned when they passed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s troubled child welfare agency earlier this month. The legislation, which passed both chambers unanimously, contains language favoring master’s-level social workers for sensitive investigative jobs. It has yet to be signed by Gov. Rick Scott.

Rivera also has expertise in a subject that often is directly linked to child abuse: domestic violence between family members. Before joining DCF, a statement says, Rivera supervised a domestic violence center in Honolulu, and helped develop curriculum for treating the effects of family violence on children. Rivera continues to oversee domestic violence efforts by helping train Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies, who investigate child abuse for DCF, on domestic violence.

Carroll took over the reins of DCF on May 5, just after the annual legislative session ended, following a tumultuous year of public outrage over the deaths of small children whose families had been known to the agency. His predecessor, Esther Jacobo, took on the job, also on an interim basis, after former Secretary David Wilkins resigned amid a spate of child deaths reported by the Miami Herald.

In March, the Herald published a series of stories, called Innocents Lost, that detailed the deaths of 477 children whose families had been the subject of at least one abuse or neglect report. Concern over the deaths led lawmakers to change state law to emphasize the safety and welfare of children rather than the rights of parents.

The Herald had reported that child deaths had spiked after the agency implemented a far-reaching “family preservation” effort without first ensuring that communities had drug treatment, mental health, domestic violence and other services in place to protect small children who were left with drug-addicted or violent parents. The series also revealed that both investigators and their lawyers often made poor decisions about whether children would be safe without significant action.

Miami Herald

May 15, 2014

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Alexia Nechayev

FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach)

Hello, My name is Alexia Nechayev. I am 25 years old and I am an alumna of Florida International University where I received my B.A. in Psychology. My future career goal is to be a Lawyer. I was in care for about one year from age 17 to 18. Prior to entering care, I only knew about the negative stigma regarding foster care and while in care that narrative was unfortunately my experience.

In school I felt like I was on display because my status in care was broadcast to other students and in my placement behavior was leveraged for “privileges” that should be a natural right of all children. Because I did not know my rights I did not know that what I was experiencing was wrong. Today this is exactly why I advocate, because I don’t want this to be the same for other youth who are experiencing foster care.

This is my second year on the FYS Statewide Board and I’m happy to be the Events and Meetings Chair this year because my main goal through advocacy is to reach as many people as possible. My favorite thing as a board member is to see how comfortable members become while working together. The community needs to know that youth in foster care are real people, going through some of the hardest moments of their life and youth need to know that their voice is powerful. I believe that we have to speak up and bring these issues to people’s attention so that they do not forget us. Advocacy, education and consistency is the only way.

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