DCF knew Eckerd was trouble, then a child fell off a roof — It got worse after that
By January 2020, the red flags surrounding Eckerd Connects’ performance as the lead foster care agency in Pinellas and Pasco counties had become too much to bear, according to Department of Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Shevaun Harris.
The organization, which had been under contract with the state in the 6th Judicial Circuit since 2008, was put on notice.
Then, in October, an unsupervised foster child who left to spend the night with three others in an Eckerd Connects office climbed to the building’s roof and fell. From there, things got worse.
“We didn’t feel like we got the response that you would think, so the department had to step in and intervene,” Harris told a House subcommit...
