The report was sparked when two anonymous letters sent to state legislators and Gov. Lawton Chiles alleging a litany of problems, including allegations that supervisors forced employees to lie in court about child abuse cases, falsified information to fire certain employees, intimidated children during child abuse interviews and bribed clients to lie about cases. The letters led to an Inspector General's investigation, which said that Kibbey verbally abused his staff and Hansel engaged in and allowed sexually inappropriate behavior in her office. Employee dissatisfaction at the local HRS office led to the two anonymous letters complaining of conditions there. The letters said things were so bad that children in Manatee County would suffer or die because of the poor management of child abuse and neglect cases. A former HRS child protection counselor who retired in 1995 after 17 years with HRS said the allegations sounded to her as true.
Managers view some staff as resistant to change, obstructive and vindictive.
The Grand Jury determined that these problems were of such severity that unless immediate corrective actions were undertaken, that essential mandated services to children would have been jeopardized. The former mayor was informed again in November of 1989, and once again in January of 1990 that the Division was experiencing serious staff shortages. But the problems associated with high employee turnover are not limited to child protective workers, extending to other related fields as well. And seven or eight out of every 10 prospective foster parents drop out during 10 hours of training before they are licensed. Report after report describes the high turnover rate of staff, the lag time between knowledge development and use in the field, the archaic information systems in many agencies, and the feeling of powerlessness many administrators voice.