Date: 2000-07-10
Published Friday, June 30, 2000, in the Miami Herald
Suicide try leads to check of facility in Oakland Park
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER cmarbin@herald.com
An Oakland Park shelter for runaways where a 15-year-old boy was allowed to remain hanging until police arrived to cut him down has not been licensed by the state since 1996.
And Lutheran Services Florida, a not-for-profit agency that runs the shelter, may have some difficulty obtaining a license, officials say. In March, a Department of Juvenile Justice inspection faulted Lippman Family Center staff for failing to complete required first aid and emergency resuscitation training.
``If we went out and found the staff did not have CPR or first aid [training], then they would go under corrective action,'' said Jennifer Chang, a family services specialist with the Department of Children and Families in Broward County. ``If we found out [staff was not properly trained], they would not [get] licensed.''
The center, named after former state Rep. Fred Lippman, is one of four runaway shelters in the state without a required license, said Children and Families spokeswoman Page Jolly. Another unlicensed shelter is run by the Center for Family and Child Enrichment in southwest Miami-Dade County.
Officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families discovered the licensing problems Wednesday, when the agency began looking into the circumstances of Anthony Dumas's June 12 near-death. Dumas remained tethered to his black leather belt several minutes after shelter workers discovered him.
PROBE UNDER WAY
The incident is under investigation by the Juvenile Justice Department's inspector general, the Broward County Sheriff's Office Child Protective Investigations Unit, the Broward State Attorney's Office and an investigator hired by Lutheran Services.
Late last week, the juvenile justice department, which houses youths at Lippman under a state contract, placed a moratorium on new admissions to the 28-bed shelter. About eight to 10 youths remain at the shelter, at 221 NW 43rd Ct., said Catherine Arnold, a juvenile justice spokeswoman.
Anthony's parents, desperately searching for answers to the tragedy, were astonished to learn the shelter lacked a license. Walter Dumas and Shirley Finley agreed to place Anthony in the shelter, they say, after law enforcement officials told them placing the rebellious boy in ``the system'' was the only way to get him help.
``How could the government put my child into a facility that isn't licensed?'' asked Dumas, 34, of Pompano Beach. Anthony remains in a coma at Broward General Hospital.
Howard Finkelstein, the chief assistant public defender in Broward, blamed the incident on the effort of state social service officials to move more and more child welfare programs into the hands of private agencies not accountable to taxpayers.
``What are these people doing?'' asked Finkelstein, also a well-known mental health and children's advocate. ``At least if there were a license, somebody other than the people contracting with [the shelter] could make sure that minimum quality standards are observed.
``Now they've got the devil dancing with himself,'' said Finkelstein, who added that juvenile justice authorities had reasons to keep the shelter open.
LICENSE NOW SOUGHT
Phyllis Scott, who took over the reins of the Children and Families' Broward County administration about nine months ago, said her agency asked Lutheran Services to apply for a license as soon as officials learned the shelter was operating without one.
``I can only say that as soon as this was brought to our attention, we expeditiously moved to license them,'' Scott told The Herald Thursday. ``We are hoping that they are just as anxious as we are to make sure the license [application] is in as soon as possible.''
By law, the children and families department must license runaway shelters and other ``child caring'' agencies to ``protect the safety, health, and well-being of children,'' said Chang.
``The bottom line is they are operating without a license,'' Scott said. ``We regret that we have a facility in the county that is not licensed.''
Said Washington Sanchez, the agency's deputy district administrator: ``This is indeed an unfortunate incident. It's always that way when someone is injured.''
Arnold, the juvenile justice spokeswoman, said she was unaware her agency was placing troubled youths in an unlicensed facility.
``I'm sure that is an item that our internal investigation will look at,'' Arnold said.
Officials at Lutheran Services, which has been in business in Florida since 1982, say they were told they did not have to be licensed to continue housing runaways and other troubled children at the Lippman Center.
CHARGES DENIED
Joy Margolis, a Lutheran Services spokeswoman in Tampa, said her agency received a letter from the Department of Children and Families in 1996 saying Lippman operators no longer needed to apply for a license. She could not, however, provide a copy of the letter Thursday.
``The letter says it is not necessary to obtain licensing,'' Margolis said Thursday.
Margolis said that two of three ``youth care specialists'' on duty the night Anthony attempted to kill himself had met all juvenile justice requirements for first aid training, and the third worker was too new to have completed all required courses.
Sandra Trotter, the worker police say took Polaroid pictures of the youth rather than cut him down, is a certified nurse's aide trained in first aid, Margolis said. Trotter, who could not be reached for comment, and the other two workers have been suspended by Lutheran Services because of the investigation.
But according to the March juvenile justice inspection, only one of four ``direct care'' workers whose files were reviewed had completed the required 40 hours of annual training. Only one of the four full-time workers whose files were reviewed had documented completing first aid and CPR courses.
``Although there was documentation that the required training was being offered and that there were a number of staff receiving the training, this could not be supported by reviewing the individual training files,'' the report stated.
``That would be an indicator of concern,'' said Arnold, the juvenile justice spokeswoman.