Faculty & Staff

Back to News & Events

CFS Evaluates Community-based Care in Florida: Report Now Online

One of the Florida Department of Children & Families' (DCF) responses to ensuring the safety and well being of children in the child welfare system is the implementation of the Community-Based Care (CBC) initiative.

Designed to build partnerships in the community by transitioning child protective services to local providers, the goals of the CBC initiative are to:

1) improve the safety and well being of Florida’s children;
2) create community ownership around child welfare issues;
3) shift the responsibility for direct service delivery in child welfare from the Florida DCF to newly-created lead agencies;
4) create a more integrated and comprehensive child protective service system, and;
5) to more flexibly manage available resources.

DCF contracted with CFS staff to conduct an evaluation of the four counties in which Community-Based Care (CBC) was operational in FY00-01: Sarasota, Manatee, Pinellas, and Pasco Counties.

Staff includes PIs Mary Armstrong and Mary Ann Kershaw, Amy Vargo as project director, Mario Hernandez as internal consultant, Rick Brown as Lodi Lipein as research associates.

For additional information, contact Mary Armstrong at 813-974-4601.

The Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) is a department of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute, University of South Florida. The faculty and staff of CFS are committed to enhancing the development, mental health and well-being of children and families through leadership in integrating research, theory & practice.

Share this page