The public is kept in the dark about how much Escambia Children’s Trust has spent on various programs, how many children were actually helped, and the objective, independent measurements that proved the participants were helped.
- The public can find monthly financial reports filled with volumes of information, but little of it is summarized, so the above questions go unanswered.
Here is one example of how difficult it is to determine if the Trust is a good steward:
Legal Services of North Florida is trying to implement a legal services program that has been successful in Palm Beach, Legal Aid’s Foster Children’s Project (more below).
Two goals for the Escambia version:
- Improve access to legal resources for Escambia children in the dependency system.
- Improve access to educational advocacy resources for children with disabilities.
The Escambia Children’s Trust is in its second year of funding Legal Services of North Florida to represent 70 children annually. The board approved the second-year funding in March without discussion.
- For 2024-2025: The grant is $771,989.00. Cost per child: $11,028
How much was spent in the first year (2023-2024)? The budget was $ 617,064.
- Staff didn’t provide the board and public with the actual funds spent, and no written report from Legal Services of North Florida is included in the agenda.
I went through every Trust financial statement and found these checks written to Legal Services for services provided from May 2023 through April 2024:
| May | $ 32,957.99 |
| June | $ 22,256.35 |
| July | $ 26,004.09 |
| Aug | $ 32,975.72 |
| Sep | $ 43,390.48 |
| Oct | $ 37,401.81 |
| Nov | $ 42,193.64 |
| Dec | $ 40,421.35 |
| Jan | $ 36,420.41 |
| Feb | $ 35,911.11 |
| Mar | $ 38,691.69 |
| April | $ 36,873.43 |
| $ 425,498.07 |
Legal Services did appear before the Trust board earlier this year, and member Stephanie White said they had made “tremendous progress” during its first nine months.
In February, Legal Services staff talked about hours worked and shared anecdotal stories, but they offered no information on the number of children that helped because of the grant that they would not have helped otherwise.
For year one:
- If they helped 70 kids, the cost per child would be $6,078.
- If they helped 50 kids, the cost would be $8,508 per child.
- If the actual cost per child is $11K, they helped 39 kids during the first nine months.
Legal Services will get another $7K annually as part of the Healthy Escambia Schools grant.
PALM BEACH: Legal Aid’s Foster Children’s Project
I’m not sure the Trust staff and board ever looked at the Palm Beach County program. It is very different from what Legal Services of North Florida is doing.
- Legal Services cited this report on the Palm Beach program: “Expediting Permanency: Legal Representation for Foster Children in Palm Beach County,” Zinn, Andrew and Slowriver, Jack; Center for Children at the University of Chicago (2008). Read the last page of Legal Service-11-08-2022.
Well, I found the actual report and discovered this:
Started small: The Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County contracted with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County in July 2001 to provide legal representation to children 3 years of age and younger entering shelter care in Palm Beach County. The primary purpose for establishing this grant was to help expedite children’s exit to permanency (i.e., reunification or adoption).
Then it expanded: Since its inception in 2001, Legal Aid’s Foster Children’s Project (FCP) has expanded twice, revising its eligibility criteria to include children 12 years old and younger.
In fiscal year (FY) 2007, FCP had an operating budget of $1.7 million and provided legal representation to a continuous caseload of approximately 350 children.
- The Escambia Children’s Trust is paying $771,989 for only 70 children. The Palm Beach County cost is $4,857 per child, nearly two-thirds less than our Trust is forking out.
I understand legal advocacy is needed for children caught in the justice system, but is this program the best use of Trust funds? Is the ROI justifiable when you look at the county’s many needs for its children?
- How much research did the staff do on this proposal?
- Why doesn’t the Trust board ask for better, more timely and more informative reports?
- The voters were promised objective, measurable results. Why isn’t the board delivering that?