Child abuse contractor faces state investigation

State officials are investigating an allegation of falsified reports involving a Pinellas Park company that investigates child abuse cases.

The nonprofit company, the Florida Task Force for the Protection of Abused and Neglected Children, works to reduce a backlog of child abuse cases that at one point exceeded 51,000.

J. Scott Taylor, attorney for the task force, said the group still is trying to understand exactly what the Florida Department of Children and Families is investigating.

Taylor said Sara Nelson, an employee of the task force, recently was fired after co-workers heard her making a call to DCF alleging falsification of records.

Taylor said Nelson was fired not because she complained of wrongdoing, but because when task force officials later asked her for more information on the alleged improprieties, she refused to discuss them.

"We asked her who told you that these wrongdoings were happening and she said, 'I refuse to say,' " Taylor said.

"If she knows of something that's going on that puts children at risk, then she should tell us who's doing that so that we can stop it," Taylor said.

Nelson could not be reached for comment.

Since June 2000, the company has been at work on $6.1-million in contracts with DCF in Central and South Florida. It also has worked on cases in Pasco County. The company obtained at least $2.40-million of the contracts under a provision of the law that says the department does not need to seek out bidders when purchasing "prevention services."

The task force is administered partly by former employees of a St. Petersburg-based Salvation Army program that did similar work for DCF.

The task force was hired because the state had amassed a backlog of 51,338 child abuse cases in January 2001. By hiring the task force and through other methods, the department has reduced its backlog to roughly 30,000 cases, according to a recent legislative report.

Taylor said the task force works to make sure its employees file accurate reports. He said an employee was fired Thursday for claiming to have been someplace she wasn't. He said that incident was unrelated to the current inquiry.

-- Times staff writer Curtis Krueger can be reached at krueger@sptimes.com or by calling (727) 893-8232.

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