FSFAPA Board Meeting
MONDAY, Oct. 26 – 8:30 p.m.
Conference Call
Submitted for approval by FSFAPA Secretary Charles Parker.
Meeting started at 8:30 p.m.
Following were in attendance: Harriett Wynn (President), Chris Johnson (Exec VP), Orlando Avila (Director of Programs), Charles Parker (Secretary), Kara Elliot-Jordan (RVP), Thomas Croom (RVP), Keith Best (RVP), Lillie Blackshear (RVP), Victoria Herrin (Band Manager), Amanda Williams (Nex Gen/IL), Harry Dubia (Membership), Trudy Petkovich (Executive Director), Xiomara Turner (DCF Advisor), Melissa Schol (RVP), Laurallyn Segur (CBC Advisor) and Gay Frizzell (QPI Advisor).
Not in attendance: Maria Bond (Treasurer-excused), Melanie Stimmell (RVP), Dorothy Alvarez (RVP-excused), Trish Allen (Adoptions), Wendy Vernon (Advocacy), Lynda Thompson (Parliamentarian/ Bylaws – excused), David Brown (Nominations – excused), Coleen Lacosta (FAST-excused)
After attendance, the minutes from the prior Board Meeting were accepted with changes. Motion made by Chris and seconded by Lillie; motion passed with no opposition.
Treasurer report was given in summary by Chris (in Maria’s absence) As of Sept 30 there was $70,504.76 in the bank and the June conference appear to be settled.
OLD BUSINESS
2016 Conference – Chris is continuing to work through the planning and things seem to be progressing on schedule.
TEEN RECRUITMENT – Amanda reported that work with Fostering Success and have met with Sec. Carroll, and everyone left the meeting with more work to do. Developing a plan to get more recognition nationally. Chris added that he was very encouraged by the support Sec. Carroll offered and that DCF is planning on being more involved in providing support to this effort.
BAND – No report. Next Fostering Success event is in Miami on Jan. 30, working on what band involvement would look like.
NEW BUSINESS
MEETINGS SCHEDULE – The board meeting at the WPB mini conference on Nov. 14 will be the only board meeting for the month.
FUNDRAISING – Orlando has set up a GoFundMe account for the association in hopes of raising some money to offset childcare expenses for the conference. There are still some edits that need to be made, but it will go public soon. Also looking at Amazon Smile as a fundraising option.
NEW HOME PROGRAM – Trudy reported that the wife of our conference speaker is a realtor in the Orlando area, and has developed a program to assist foster parents in first-time and other home purchases. (including buyer trainings, reduced commissions etc.) The program will start with her broker in the Orlando area and then hopefully spread to other areas of the state.
REPORTS
SUNCOAST – RVP Melissa reported she attended the Pasco association meeting and there were lots of questions, including about the Duffels program and Adoption Intervention issues.
NORTHEAST – RVP Lillie reported that she is working in C4 to assist the association with getting their 501c3, there is progress, but lots of work still to be done. Everything else in C4 and C7 appears to be going well.
NORTHWEST – RVP Kara reported that C1 is still on a “high” with the rollout of QPI in the area, and that the CBCs are engaging local FPA leadership. Kara reported that there are 2 local FAPAs that are facing major leadership changes and she is helping train the incoming leaders. At the moment the Adoption Intervention issue is the “ugliest” issue.
NORTHCENTRAL – RVP Thomas reports there is not much new outside of a new group forming in Lake City that had its first meeting earlier this month. There is a need for a group in Perry. Tallahassee group has some leadership changes with a VP moving out of the area.
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE – Thomas reported the Adoption Intervention language is still being hammered out, and that there will be a list of senators on the committee to focus our grass-roots efforts on. He hopes to get RSVPs for 2-5 parents to visit each member of the committee and once the house sponsor is identified they will do the same on that side.
EXEC DIRECTOR REPORT – Trudy reported that 10 board members are set to attend Rally in Tally. David Brown has offered to help on setting appointments along with Thomas and Jennifer McDougal (FCC) and also to meet with Alan Abramowitz. … FCC weekly Monday Morning call at 9am on legislation efforts including AI language. … Miami/SoFla association started an AI petition and their president Denise asked us to continue to share … There is a DCF survey that will be sent out after the meeting that we need to share with parents and associations. … Quarterly reports will go to Trudy and she will compile them into a year-end report. … We have a new contract manager at DCF (Tori Callan) and Trudy is working with her on our next contract … Statewide Dependency Court Improvement Panel is restarting and Trudy will sit on it as FSFAPA rep.
DCF ADVISOR – Xiomara thanked the association for their continued support of the recruitment effort Fostering Success, and shared that she is working on the 2016 Youth Leadership class. Apps are out, ask your CBC about the opportunities for 14-17 year olds. … She is also working on the issue of training hours accumulated in the time between the licensing paperwork submission and the receipt of the new license, at this point that training time is “lost” and she is looking for alternatives. … she also reported that the federal normalcy rules are in development and the “prudent parent” guidelines they are using match Florida.
QPI – Gay commented that all of her topics have been covered by others on the call, but she also reported that David is all over the state making site visits at every CBC.
FCC/CBC – Laurallyn reported that after the Fostering Success meeting with Sec. Carroll reported earlier by Amanda, several of the groups are reconvening to for a more formal “Ask” of what support to request from DCF – including a “bigger” campaign. Also reported that many CBCs are getting excited about the Rally in Tally.
DISCUSSION – Harriet discussed the email that all board members got about the reducing expenses, but she is concerned that attendance since that time (on calls) has fallen way off. She reminded all the board members that they have made a commitment, and that they need to honor it. There will be further discussions of absences and excessive excused absences, but otherwise the excused absence rules remain the same. … she also informed the board that Dee Wilson is now home recuperating from her health issues.
Motion to adjourn was made at 9:18 pm by Orlando, seconded by Harry. There was no opposition.
