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DCF exonerates former foster care director
By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff WriterA January report had accused the Hillsborough Kids leader of violating several state laws.
Published August 3, 2005
TAMPA - In an unusual about-face, the state Department of Children of Families now says it was wrong when it claimed former Hillsborough Kids executive director Chris Card violated several state rules as he led the county's foster care agency.
DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi asked Card in a letter to "please accept my apology for the effect the impact (of) this mistake has had upon you and your family."
DCF's inspector general earlier this year issued a report claiming Card wasted $23,000 by awarding a data services contract before another one had expired, and criticizing him for other alleged violations of the agency's procedures.
But Hadi rescinded those findings after an outside investigator, the state's chief inspector general, concluded there was no evidence that Card had violated "any law, rule, regulation or policy."
Card said he was "grateful, very grateful that they took the time" to hear his objections to the original report, and that investigators "then had the courage to say that they were wrong."
Hadi could not be reached for comment Tuesday but said in a statement that "the appropriate persons" who worked on the original report " have been counseled." Card has been an influential leader in Florida social services and has promoted the idea that government should hand over the job of foster care and adoption work to nonprofit, community-based agencies, a concept endorsed by Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature.
Card led Hillsborough Kids, a nonprofit, state-funded consortium that oversees the caseworkers who deal with foster children and other kids considered abused or neglected. He resigned in January.
Card said he and his attorney complained to the inspector general about the original report's findings, and he said he was disturbed to learn he could not appeal to have them changed. He says he asked for a hearing before a state agency but was turned down.
Card said he told Gov. Bush about his displeasure with the inspector general's conclusions and mentioned his plans to seek a hearing. But Card says he never asked Bush to launch the new investigation, which ultimately cleared him. He said Hadi requested the outside review after his repeated complaints.
In its report issued in January, DCF's inspector general claimed Card wasted $23,000 by ending a data services contract early, although it also noted that Card did not show "bias and favoritism" in the contract process. But the new report says that fee was "negotiated away" and never repaid.
The first report also criticized Card for accepting two Tampa Bay Lightning tickets from a company the agency did business with; the new report said this was not a violation. The first report also noted that Card received a $6,455 "actor's fee" for appearing in a national Verizon ad campaign. But it noted that Card turned over all the money (minus taxes) to Hillsborough Kids.
The original report also criticized Card because it said some former employees at least temporarily kept laptop computers that had confidential information on them. The new report said there was evidence of this but that Card had no intention of violating confidentiality rules.
Card said one of the most disturbing aspects of the first report was the statement that it had discovered potential criminal violations and asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into them. The new report says FDLE cleared Card.
"You just can't go out there and say this guy might be a criminal so lightly ... that was very disturbing," Card said.
The new report also slammed DCF's inspector general's office for failing to understand the state public records law. The office deleted information that Card should have been allowed to receive, even crossing out his own e-mail address from copies it gave to him.
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