Hello concerned citizens. Today we, Robert Raskin and Kathey Raskin of Las Vegas, are writing about how the money that is meant to be distributed to child protection agencies in Florida is distributed. What started off as a stopgap measure to protect funding levels in 2015 has today become a problem, because in Hillsborough County it has led to there being less funds available to help children and their families than is available in other areas.

The Problem in Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County has some of the highest rates of child abuse investigations in the state, and they also have high rates of child removals. Despite this, because of the policies that are in place, the county was shorted nearly $6M in state funds in 2016. In the meantime, other counties in Florida received approximately $44M to look after foster children that they do not even have. The problem was created due to shifts in the foster child population, and this has left already dangerously underfunded agencies and the children in their areas even more at risk than they were.

Last year alone, on average there were 3,6000 foster care in Hillsborough County, which is more than in any other county in the state. This is yet another reason watchdog organizations need to be put in place who will really advocate for children and make sure these agencies and their policies are doing the same. We are Robert Raskin and Kathey Raskin, and we hope you will stop by again soon, because raising awareness of these issues is so important.