 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Reno pitches preventative child welfare
By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- As Florida faces the national embarrassment of losing a girl in its child welfare system, Democrat Janet Reno on Tuesday sought to increase her standing as the gubernatorial candidate best suited to advocate for children. Reno, speaking to the Commercial Real Estate Women of Tampa Bay, called for funding to adequately train and pay employees of the state Department of Children and Families. Caseworkers should have lighter workloads to allow them to adequately monitor the children they're supposed to be protecting, she said. And the state should do more to keep children like 5-year-old Rilya Wilson out of the child protective system in the first place by helping families with housing, health care and parenting skills, she said. The state says Rilya was taken from her Miami home 16 months ago by a woman who identified herself as a DCF caseworker. The girl's real caseworker apparently misled the judge overseeing Rilya's case, telling her Rilya was doing fine. "So much, if invested up front, can make a difference down the road," Reno said. Reno is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor. Although she avoided criticizing Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who had pledged to repair the state's ailing child protective system when he ran in 1998, she said the state must do better. The state "needs to get out of the politics of it and start focusing on a bipartisan Republican and Democratic effort and figure out, once and for all, how we get this system right," she said. Bush has named a four-member panel to investigate the state's child protection system in Miami-Dade County. Reno, the former U.S. attorney general and Dade County state attorney, suggested expanding the commission to include outside experts in child welfare. Tuesday's luncheon was Reno's first stop on a two-day campaign swing through the Tampa Bay area, and it was followed by a Tuesday evening talk to a men's group at Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Tampa. At noon today, Reno is scheduled to address the Tiger Bay Club of St. Petersburg at the downtown campus of the University of South Florida. She then speaks at a dinner meeting of the Greater Pinellas Democratic Club. Paula A. Buffa of Advantis, president of the real estate group, said 180 people paid to attend Tuesday's luncheon, the highest turnout yet for one of its monthly luncheons. The group is apolitical and invited Reno before she announced her candidacy last fall. Reno's speech was not overtly political, either: She never asked for a vote or mentioned Bush or her strongest Democratic rival, Tampa lawyer Bill McBride. But she pitched herself as an experienced political leader who could make the tough calls, and it resonated with some members of the crowd. She defended her decisions as U.S. attorney general to storm the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and to send Elian Gonzalez home to Cuba. "It's her demeanor, and her willingness to stand behind past decisions she's made without shame or regret," said Katherine Kearney, 33, an aerial photographer.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times Ernest Hooper |
