Apr 21, 2007 9:00 am US/Eastern
DCF Changing Under Butterworth's Leadership
Fires 11 From Contracted Youth Camp
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TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
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Bob Butterworth, Director, Dept. Of Children and Families
CBS
Eleven more people have been fired from a Department of Children and Families contracted facility that holds mentally ill and disabled juvenile delinquents following a review of personnel records conducted after a report of excessive force.
According to a DCF spokeswoman, those fired from the Apalachicola Forest Youth Camp had previously been disciplined for falsifying records, using excessive force or restraint or for a previous criminal history.
DCF believed the employees should have been fired, not just suspended or reprimanded as was done.
Staff at the facility, which is managed by Twin Oaks Juvenile Development, Inc., had relied too much on time outs and seclusion of youths, and not all were properly trained on how to restrain youths, according to a report prepared by the director of DCF's Mental Health Program Office.
In December of last year, the former Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth was asked by Republican Governor Charlie Crist to run the state's most troubled agency, the Department of Children and Families.
"He's a fixer," Crist said when he appointed Butterworth, whom Crist succeeded as attorney general. "He's the kind of guy who comes in and gets things done."
Butterworth, 64, served an unprecedented four terms as attorney general. He was dean of St. Thomas University's law school in Miami Gardens before taking the new DCF post.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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