MINUTES of
Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association Inc.
Meeting date: 1/30/2012
Call to order: A Board of Directors meeting of the FSFAPA, was held in Tallahassee, FL on January 30, 2012. The meeting convened at 9:00 am EST, President Trudy Petkovich presiding, and Curtis Byrd, Secretary.
Members in attendance: Trudy Petkovich, Maria Bond, Curtis Byrd, Harriett Wynn, Dorothy Alvarez, Calvin Burton, Chris Goncalo, Karen Condry, Lillie Blackshear, Gerald Waters, Lynda Thompson, Dave Allen, Coleen LaCosta, Gay Frizzell
Members absent: LaShaun Wallace – unexcused
Visitors in Attendance: Jane Soltis, Chair, Independent Living Services Advisory Council via telephone, Dee Wilson, Jack Levine, George L. Askew, MD & guests
Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Dave, and seconded to approve the minutes of the _10/15/11__ meeting. Motion carried.
Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Dave, and seconded to approve the minutes of the __10/30/11 meeting. Motion carried.
Approval of minutes: Motion was made by Dave, and seconded to approve the minutes of the ____12/26/11 meeting. Motion carried.
Trudy asked that everyone sign the Affidavit of Good Moral Character form and return to Curtis now. Trudy thanked Gay for preparing dinner for the Retreat. Harriett recognized and welcomed Karen Condry as the new RVP for the North Central Region in which is Tallahassee. Karen reported that Everett took her place in meeting the families at the Circus and it was a big success.
At 10 am Gay facilitated a phone conference with Jane Soltis. Jane went over the Independent Living legislation and explained as Dave had where we stand and what needs to be done.
At 10:30 am Jack Levine arrived with Dr. George Askew M.D. Jack had the Board introduce themselves and then the distinguished guests he brought with him. Jack then introduced George Askew. George spoke of his position with the Department of Health and Human Affairs under George Sheldon. He discussed the need for partnership and collaboration to support our children in the child welfare system. Jack then made sure we all had our picture taken and we thanked Jack, George Askew and their guests for taking the time to come and meet us.
Pete gave a report about tomorrow’s activities. Everyone will meet at the Capital to setup our table at 8:00am. The Pancake breakfast is from 8-10 am. The Quarterly membership meeting will begin at 1 pm with Nan Rich as our speaker. Maria has all the giveaways for the table, Lillie has the tent and Curtis has the Save The Dates for the conference. Pete has provided everyone with an updated schedule of appointments. Gay Frizzell will facilitate the Installation of Officers at the meeting. Discussion followed regarding having our own day at the Capital for all the children and families involved in the system of care. This may need a legislator to support but we think Mike Cusick at FCC is going to be able to work something out for us. It might now be 2013 but hopefully by 2014. At this time Pete Pazer and Dee Wilson left to go to the Children’s Week Luncheon.
Trudy asks if there were any amendments to the Quarterly reports that had been submitted to Curtis earlier. Trudy and Dave had an earlier conversation about having either a banner or a poster board with Our Mission and Vision statements printed on them. These items will be present and visible at all future meeting once
acquired.
David Stimmell informed Harriett that due to his working out of State he did not feel he would be
able to fulfill his position as RVP. Trudy wrote him an email asking for a letter of resignation but has not received it yet. It was discussed about putting a time limit on responses. But, it was decided that according to the By-Laws that after missing two required meeting it is considered abandonment of the position. Charles Parker has been approached to take over this position and we are awaiting his answer by February 15th.
Everyone will meet at the Capital to setup our table at 8:00am. The Pancake breakfast is from 8-10 am. The Quarterly membership meeting will begin at 1 pm with Nan Rich as our speaker.
Maria has all the giveaways for the table, Lillie has the tent and Curtis has the Save the Dates for the conference. Pete has provided everyone with an updated schedule of their appointments. At this time we know we have two buses from Miami, Jacksonville and other families coming from Tampa and the Panhandle, so please make sure we greet our families that traveled to attend. Discussion followed regarding having our own day at the Capital for all the children and families involved in the system of care. This may need a legislator to support but we think Mike Cusick at FCC is going to be able to work something out for us. It might now be 2013 but hopefully by 2014.
Unfinished business:
Public Relations position was offered to Kim Hernandez by Trudy. Kim has asked for some additional time to consider the position. Chris motioned that this be tabled until word has been received from Kim. Motion carried.
License Plate: Chris motioned that a committee be formed to handle this issue. Gerald Waters volunteered to head this committee. Motion carried.
Second Survey: Chris motioned that we table the need for the second survey. Maria believes that we should check with Mike at FCC Motion carried.
Harriett brought up the RVP bi-monthly conference call. She is having trouble getting the RVP’s to be on the call and also to get in their reports. There was much discussion regarding which reports are due and when. All was explained again and Dorothy made a motion that we table the decision on the RVP call until April and see how effective it is between now and then. Motion carried.
New business:
Local Association Membership was discussed and what would be the need or reason for a local association to join FSFAPA. One reason seems to be the need to have the smaller associations under the umbrella of the FSFAPA 501C3. Dorothy made a motion that the Treasurer research the possibility of offering this to the local associations. Motion carried.
Announcements:
Trudy Announced that due to the lower amount of funds DCF is willing to supply for the conference she is very concerned about the conference going forward. We are able to get out of our contract but it must be done soon.
Trudy went on to inform the Board that the Executive Committee during their meeting in November with Jamie Self was tasked with providing a Strategic Place to DCF. At 1 pm today the Executive Committee, Dave and
Chris will be meeting with Debra Ervin who is not the acting…….. Maria will be presenting the plan she designed and trying to get the funding increased to the $62,000 that we received last year. She will also be asking DCF to consider including the funding for our conference in our contract. We will let everyone know the outcome of this meeting.
There will be a meeting with Dave, Chris, Harriett and anyone else interested about the Conference in June later this afternoon.
Actively seeking to fill the vacant (Suncoast) RVP position. Any leads let Harriett or Trudy know.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at ____12:30 am Est.
Curtis Byrd
Secretary
Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association Inc.
