Urgency Missing In DCF Search For Toddler

By SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 27, 2007

TAMPA - Child welfare workers in the Tampa Bay area lacked any sense of urgency in the search for a missing toddler located this month in Wisconsin, a Department of Children & Families investigation has found.

DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth, displeased by his agency's performance, released a 33-page report Tuesday that outlines the mishandling of the case of 2 1/2 -year-old Courtney Clark.

Courtney's mother, who had been arrested in Pinellas County on fraud charges, snatched her daughter from the state-approved home of a family friend and went on the lam for nine months.

Authorities eventually discovered Candace Clark, Courtney and her two siblings living in a Portage, Wis., home with a slain woman buried in the backyard and the woman's 11-year-old son injured and cowering in a closet.

Simple procedures, such as communicating by telephone instead of wasting weeks waiting for e-mail could have led workers to Courtney months earlier, Butterworth said.

"It's inconceivable that human failures throughout the system allowed Courtney to be missing," he said. "The last time I checked, e-mail did not eliminate the telephone. So much could've happened if someone had picked up the phone."

The criticism was among a litany of missteps highlighted in the internal report. The report proposes sweeping changes to improve DCF and partner agencies that handle local foster care.

Among the changes, Butterworth wants to reassign DCF staff to create child locator specialists in each of the state's five regions to streamline the search for missing children and ensure all procedures are followed properly.

In Courtney's case, a couple was assigned custody of her even though they had two sexual abuse complaints lodged against them with Florida's Abuse Hotline. One, in 1995, was closed by DCF with no indications of abuse, Tuesday's report said. The other, in 2003, was closed but had "some indicators."

Days, Months Passed

Still, the couple, Cynthia and Mark Martell of Lake County, passed a home review in July, records show. Later, Cynthia Martell allowed Courtney's mother, 23-year-old Candace Clark, to take the girl and then waited 10 days before alerting authorities, the report said.

Courtney's caseworker waited four months to notify the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office that the girl was missing. She was supposed to notify authorities within four hours. She told investigators she struggled to get law enforcement agencies to file a missing-person report because Courtney's mom had legal rights to her daughter, Butterworth said.

He is proposing legislation for next year to require that every law enforcement agency in the state file missing-person reports regardless of a child's custody status.

Some law enforcement agencies operate differently, he said. They might require a 24-hour waiting period or that a parent's rights be terminated. That can't happen anymore, Butterworth said.

Courtney's case spanned five statesandat least three Florida counties. It was unclear Tuesday which Florida agency refused to file the missing-person report.

Butterworth also called for additional staff training and wants more oversight of cases in which children have not been seen by a caseworker for 55 days or more. A caseworker last saw Courtney in July. Caseworkers are required to see children every 30 days.

Butterworth also proposes creating a panel of judges, law enforcement officers and state child welfare employees to examine what he called gaps in DCF's system.

"There is an urgent need for improvement," he said. "What concerns me a lot about this case is there was no sense of urgency from either the Sarasota Family YMCA or from this agency."

Agency Working On Problems

The YMCA is a private agency that provides local foster care and adoption services for the state as part of former Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to privatize child welfare. Sarasota YMCA Executive Vice President Lee Johnson said late Tuesday that he supports the recommendations and already is working on correcting problems by providing additional training and educating workers on the need to immediately notify law enforcement about missing children.

Johnson said he would have to do more homework about police agencies refusing to file missing-person reports. In the YMCA's investigation, released last week, caseworker Carmen Caballero said she couldn't place Courtney in a state database of missing children because she couldn't get law enforcement agencies to file a police report.

Caballero's employer, Tom Riggs of Directions for Mental Health in Clearwater, said he had never heard of that problem before.

"A number of things about this case are exceptionally unusual," said Riggs, who called DCF's findings accurate.

Caballero has been with Directions for three years with no performance issues, Riggs said. She became Courtney's caseworker in September, following Judith McInerney, who later left the agency.

The YMCA report called Caballero knowledgeable about procedures and said she tried diligently to ensure Courtney's safety. But DCF's report rapped the YMCA, saying it failed Courtney.

Butterworth was quick to add that such a conclusion didn't absolve DCF.

"We're not here really to point fingers," he said. "This is really a wake-up call."

Butterworth expects yet another investigation by the state inspector general's office to be completed in two weeks. Those findings may result in other action, he said.

Courtney and her two siblings remain in the care of Wisconsin child welfare authorities while their 23-year-old mother is jailed on charges that include murder.

Researcher Diane Grey and reporter Catherine Dolinski contributed to this report. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at sackerman@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7144.