FSFAPA Board Meeting
MONDAY, Aug. 31 – 8:30 p.m.
Conference Call
Submitted for approval by FSFAPA Secretary Charles Parker.
Meeting started by at 8:30 p.m.
Following were in attendance: Harriett Wynn (President), Chris Johnson (Exec VP), Charles Parker (Secretary), Orlando Avila (Director of Programs), Maria Bond (Treasurer), Kara Elliot-Jordan (RVP), Thomas Croom (RVP), Keith Best (RVP), Lillie Blackshear (RVP), Dorothy Alvarez (RVP), Melissa Schol (RVP), Trish Allen (Adoptions), Amanda Williams (Nex Gen/IL), Coleen Lacosta (FAST), Victoria Herrin (Band Manager), Laurallyn Segur (CBC Advisor), Gay Frizzell (QPI Advisor), and Trudy Petkovich (Executive Director).
Not in attendance: Melanie Stimmell (RVP), Lynda Thompson (Parliamentarian/Bylaws), Wendy Vernon (Advocacy), Harry Dubia (Membership), David Brown (Nominations – excused), Xiomara Turner (DCF Advisor)
After attendance, the minutes from the prior Board Meeting were accepted with changes. Motion made by Chris and seconded by Maria; motion passed with no opposition.
TREASURER’S REPORT – July 31 Financial Report had income of $102,774.55 and expenses of $202,321.95. Does not include the $60,000 DCF reimbursement for conference which arrived in August. With that the current amount in the bank is $63,086.93.
FALL MINI CONFERENCE – Set for Nov. 14 in Palm Beach County. Hosted by Friends of Foster Children. Will be inconjunction witht heir “Triple-P” parenting program. Maria will send location & speaker info for website and newsletter etc.
OLD BUSINESS
DUFFELS – LaShaun sent an email to the entire board asking if we were interested in “spinning off” duffles as own program. Exec committee is investigating this further but initial reaction is in support of the idea. There was no further discussion.
BAND – Victoria reported that the band will perform at the Summit, and that it will be a new set, including a song writted for them by Kurt Kelly. There will be many people participating in the performance, including Kelly, Secretary Carroll and others.
CAREGIVER RECRUITMENT – no meetings since last update. Band did have an event in support of this in Jensen Beach. DCF reimbursement issues persist. There are meetings and presentations on this topic set for the Summit.
NOMINATIONS – David reports he has received all information necessary to confirm nominations.
BYLAWS – Charles reported that a possible redline available at the summit, but since there is no board meeting to confirm them at the summit, they will be reviewed later and presented to the general meeting later in the year. There had been some question about this creating a confusing timeframe with next year’s election, but Charles indicated that we’d likely choose an effective date of January 1 regardless of which GMs they are presented.
NEW BUSINESS
NACAC UPDATE – Submited in writing (emailed to board) prior to the meeting by Trish, there were no questions.
RVPS – Thomas reported that there is a new association being cultivated in his area (North Central) and things have been very positive. He also has been working with ELC on several issues, but nothing to report on those at this time.
Keith reported that he attended the South Dade FAPA meeting – they have an all new board of directors in place: they held a backpack distribution. The church they meet at is very supportive. He also attended the Miami-Dade FAPA where they had 25-30 at the meeting. Also held a backpack distribution and gave away free movie passes. The deadline for their travel club (Disney park visit) is Sept. 1. Keith also reported that Broward FAPA has managed to hold a meeting every month this year —which is a vast improvement over the past.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – Committee meetings for the session starts on Sept. 14. Legislature is “going nowhere” on a litany of issues, so it remains to be seen whether there will be progress on the Adoption Intervention issue.
FAST – Colleen reported that the phone has been really busy with complicated calls. Seems to be a trend developing removals surrounding allegations and the children never returning to the home – even if the allegations are found to not be credible. This is happening in SW FL, Panhandle and Volusia according to the calls she is seeing. Thomas indicated he is seeing this in his area as well and has a meeting with Big Bend CBC CEO to discuss this. It appears there is no real policy or procedure in place to compel the CBCs to handle this issue – Big Bend has agreed to work up a policy for review with recognition of the trauma removals can create. Thomas will share the draft when complete.
PRESIDENT REPORT – Fostering Success workgroups are continuing to meet and the work on the “matching” software continues. Lots of discussion of short term vs. long term goals in development of matches. There is also still discussion about the need for a hotline, but liability concerns have that stalled at the moment.
QPI – Gay reported that there will be a few QPI events at the summit, Thursday at 10 am there will be a QPI workshop, Thursday at 2 pm there will be 2 focus groups one for caregivers, one for teens. DCF is supporting this and will allow people to participate in these even without being part of the Summit – an email about this has been sent out and Gay has asked us (especially RVPS) to share this with caregivers that may be able to participate.
NEX GEN – Amanda reported that there are several groups around the state that have contacted her to expand the Nex Gen concept to local associations.
EXEC DIRECTOR REPORT – FCC Rally in Tally is set for Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Hotel is $129/room. Cost of registration/participation is not yet set. If interested, please let Trudy know.
On the legislative front, FCC has concerns about infighting between legislators and hopes it doesn’t affect their goals. FCC will share their agenda with us when it is complete (before public) but they are also concerned about issues with Group Homes and Fl Chilodren’s First is pushing a draft of legislation concerning some disparities between group and family homes. FCC is concerned, but has not yet seen the draft.
There is a Quarterly Memership meeting scheduled for the summit and all board members will be required to attend.
Motion to adjourn was made at 9:12 pm by Chris, seconded by Orlando. There was no opposition.
