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Reprinted from the Orlando Sentinel
Money denied as mentally ill crisis mountedBush repeatedly slashed DCF budget requests. Now the agency is under fire.April HuntSentinel Staff Writer December 21, 2006 For five years, the Department of Children & Families has asked for the money to start more community-based programs for the mentally ill. Gov. Jeb Bush slashed every request -- in one year by 95 percent -- even as DCF pointedly said the services could help keep the severely mentally ill out of jail, according to an Orlando Sentinel analysis of agency records. Now DCF is under fire in courtrooms around the state for its inability to quickly transfer mentally incompetent inmates out of jail and into treatment. Secretary Lucy Hadi announced her retirement earlier this month, after a Pinellas County judge fined her $80,000 for leaving the inmates in jail longer than the 15 days Florida law allows. "It appears DCF made a valiant effort to assess the needs and make them known, but in the end, the Governor's Office did not agree," said Michele Saunders, who heads a consortium of advocates and law-enforcement officials who lobby for mental-health and substance-abuse services. "If the governor had listened, I actually believe it wouldn't have gotten this bad," added Saunders, executive director of Florida Partners in Crisis. Speaking earlier this week, Bush said neither his office nor DCF could have predicted the "explosion" of mentally ill inmates but that both responded when the problem reached a crisis point. "I think this is a growing awareness that this is a serious problem," Bush said Tuesday. DCF oversees the state's mental hospitals, including civil facilities for the indigent who need treatment or those committed under the Baker Act. The agency also oversees the state's three forensic hospitals, which care for those declared incompetent to stand trial on felony charges. State agencies cannot lobby for services or programs. Instead, they submit their requests to the governor, who makes recommendations to the Legislature. DCF's budget proposals, provided Wednesday after a Sentinel public-records request in November, consistently made a priority of trying to keep the state's most mentally ill residents out of jail and state hospitals. Among requests not granted: $15.7 million in fiscal year 2004-05, for residential services and case management for "persons with serious and persistent mental illness to divert them from state hospitals." $10.9 million in the current fiscal year, to hire more intervention workers and contract for 48 residential treatment beds statewide. The proposal called for 16 of those beds to be in Orange, Osceola, Seminole or Brevard counties. $5 million in fiscal year 2005-06, mostly to add two residential treatment facilities and two group homes to give the same care now available only at the state's three forensic hospitals. At the time, DCF noted that the number of those inmates who had been waiting for such treatment was as high as 117, with 40 waiting longer than the 15 days allowed. As of Wednesday, 308 inmates were waiting for treatment, 230 of them past the deadline. "When they're in jail, we're already too late in trying to structure treatment," said Bob Wesley, the Orange-Osceola public defender who has been among those in the state who sued DCF over the issue. Last week, 18 inmates in the Orange jail were among those on the state's waiting list. "Diversion is key," Wesley said. "No matter where you go, that funding has been inadequate." Bush was traveling and unavailable for comment Wednesday. His spokesman, Alia Faraj, reiterated that his office had no way to anticipate the need. "We wish we could have foreseen this issue and this problem. We didn't," Faraj said. "What's important is to look forward." Faraj said the governor has responded to the crisis and is working with DCF to find money to address the current waiting list. That work, she said, started before judges began fining Hadi and threatening her with criminal contempt charges. "The agencies will always put down their wish lists," Faraj said of the DCF requests. "The reality is, you have to prioritize." Records show that funding for the mentally ill services did increase when the crisis became clear. Among increases were $6 million to add 80 forensic beds between last year and this year. Another $5 million was moved around in the fall to add more secure forensic beds. There are now 1,439 beds available for the mentally ill who have been found incompetent to stand trial. That is a 10 percent increase from fiscal year 2003-04, when there were 1,304 beds at the state's three forensic hospitals. By comparison, the number of inmates who need the beds jumped 13 percent in just one year, between fiscal years 2004-05 and 2005-06. Hadi also was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Addressing the issue earlier this month, she said the budget requests showed her agency's effort to head off problems through prevention. But she also admitted that DCF and other agencies had to be realistic in knowing that the state did not have unlimited funds. "I would always believe the things in this agency are of the highest priority and importance. The governor has a different role," she said of the governor's task to balance every agency's request. "We don't necessarily get all we ask for," Hadi added. "That doesn't mean we stop advocating." Indeed, in the budget request that has been sent to the Governor's Office for the upcoming fiscal year, DCF again asks for more money for mental-health programs. The request for 2007-08 is $314.7 million. After a meeting with the governor's staff and other policy consultants, the request has been lopped by 61 percent, down to $124.1 million. Gov.-elect Charlie Crist will take over the recommendation when he takes office next month.
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