2008.01.07: January 7, 2008: Headlines: COS - Thailand: State Government: Law: Miami Herald: Thailand RPCV Bob Butterworth is new child-welfare administrator for Florida
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2008.01.07: January 7, 2008: Headlines: COS - Thailand: State Government: Law: Miami Herald: Thailand RPCV Bob Butterworth is new child-welfare administrator for Florida
Thailand RPCV Bob Butterworth is new child-welfare administrator for Florida
Abramowitz, who now is DCF's top administrator in Brevard and Seminole counties, has had an eclectic career since lettering in football at Kansas State University: He served in the Judge Advocate General Corps, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand from 1990-92 and has both a prosecutor and an assistant public defender. Abramowitz said he's not sure the ''fixit'' label fits exactly, but he's looking forward to helping reorganize DCF operations in a region that long has been beset by intractable problems -- such as poverty, a reluctance of some families to reach out for help, and internal strife between the state and contracted foster care providers.
Thailand RPCV Bob Butterworth is new child-welfare administrator for Florida
Miami gets new child-welfare chief
Posted on Mon, Jan. 07, 2008
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com
Florida child-welfare administrator Bob Butterworth, long hailed as ''Mr. Fixit'' after several stints cleaning up troubled local and state agencies, has appointed his own troubleshooter to help reorganize social services in Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
The new chief of the Department of Children & Families in Miami, Alan Abramowitz, will oversee a program with a higher profile than before: Abramowitz will preside over DCF's newest regional office. Until now, the Miami circuit was administered out of a large South Florida region based in Fort Lauderdale.
The Miami post will be the fourth time a DCF secretary has tapped Abramowitz to return a local district to an even keel following some crisis. He served in West Palm Beach when the private foster care agency, Child & Family Connections, became swamped with new foster children, and racked up a $3.7 million deficit.
He was then sent to Pinellas County when the private foster care agency in St. Petersburg lost its contract with the state. Most recently, Abramowitz was dispatched to head DCF operations in Seminole and Brevard counties.
''He's our fire-fighter,'' DCF Deputy Secretary George Sheldon said of Abramowitz. ``We're excited about this. We think he's the right person at the right time.''
Abramowitz, who now is DCF's top administrator in Brevard and Seminole counties, has had an eclectic career since lettering in football at Kansas State University: He served in the Judge Advocate General Corps, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand from 1990-92 and has both a prosecutor and an assistant public defender.
Abramowitz said he's not sure the ''fixit'' label fits exactly, but he's looking forward to helping reorganize DCF operations in a region that long has been beset by intractable problems -- such as poverty, a reluctance of some families to reach out for help, and internal strife between the state and contracted foster care providers.
''By the time I get involved in anything, the horrible thing has already happened,'' Abramowitz said.
The Miami district has been led on an interim basis for about two years by Gilda Ferradaz, a longtime food stamp and public assistance administrator who had said early on that she had no ambition to lead Miami in the long-term. Before that, the district chief was businessman and early-learning administrator Chuck Hood.
Sheldon said Abramowitz is expected to begin work in Miami Jan. 14
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Headlines: January, 2008; Peace Corps Thailand; Directory of Thailand RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Thailand RPCVs; State Government; Law; Florida
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Story Source: Miami Herald
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