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Disabilities Agency Chief Resigns Amid Blanket Battle By Carol Marbin Miller In a short e-mail sent Friday to Crist's chief of staff and appointments director, Brantley canceled a meeting scheduled with Crist's transition team for Monday, saying: ``I am not seeking reappointment in this position, and wish you all the best in your search.'' Brantley's spokeswoman, Lindsay Hodges, said Tuesday that Brantley had decided months ago to leave the disabilities agency when Gov. Jeb Bush leaves office in January. Last week, however, in an interview with The Miami Herald, Crist said Brantley was still under consideration for the job. Hodges said Tuesday that ''while Director Brantley has felt for some time that it is time for her to move on, she felt it was in the best interest of the agency for her to wait'' until after a Tuesday meeting with senior staff to announce the decision. Last week, The Miami Herald reported that the Agency for Persons with Disabilities had spent thousands of dollars in court fighting the efforts of a profoundly disabled 12-year-old Miami boy, Kevin Estinfil, to obtain thermal blankets that cost $360 a year. Kevin is blind, has cerebral palsy, suffers from a severe seizure disorder and cannot regulate his body temperature. The morning the report was published, Crist called the case ''unconscionable'' and mailed a $360 check for the boy. Carol Montiel, the nurse who heads Baby House, where Kevin lives, said Crist's check arrived Tuesday. Montiel said she was pleased with Brantley's decision to step down, saying the director appeared to have lost ``the meaning of what her job was: the needs of the children.'' Residents Donate In all, Baby House has received more than $2,000 in donations from state residents who were touched by Kevin's plight -- most of them wanting to buy blankets, Montiel said. ''Sometimes you get on your high horse and you forget, really, why you're there. I think that's what happened to Shelly,'' Montiel said. ``She missed something someplace along the line. Maybe she's never been in a facility like this or had a child with a problem.'' Lizel Gonzalez, an attorney with Legal Services of Greater Miami who represented Kevin in court, said officials with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities have told her they will pay for Kevin's blankets through June 2007, when the boy will have to resubmit his care plan to the state for approval. ''It appears that the state does not want to prolong this litigation and instead wants to use its resources to help the disabled within our community,'' Gonzalez said Tuesday. ``We hope this continues so that others can also get the benefits they need.'' More Receive Services Hodges said Brantley will leave the agency -- which was founded two years ago as a spinoff from the Department of Children & Families -- on far better footing than she found it, as the number of disabled people being served tripled, with 95 percent of them receiving services outside of large institutions. ''Persons with disabilities are leaving their footprints in their communities. They are changing attitudes and perceptions,'' Hodges said. ``They are making valuable contributions to society and enjoying friendships and relationships in welcoming environments. Most importantly, like you or I, they are living their American dream.'' An eight-year veteran of Florida social services, Brantley presided over unprecedented growth of the state's long-penurious disabilities program, spearheading a 332-percent increase in spending on disabled Floridians who live in the community, and shepherding the birth of Florida's first separate disabilities department. But Brantley ultimately was felled by the same hammer that crashed down on DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi two weeks ago: Politicians and advocates became incensed when the state's perennial cost-cutting of social services spending appeared to be harming the most vulnerable Floridians. ''Agency heads are having trouble carrying water for an administration that has neglected our neediest citizens,'' said state Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat who is the incoming House minority leader. ``The truth is, to a great extent, you're giving agency heads impossible tasks, ignoring the needs of the most powerless. . . . You can't expect agency heads, responsible for people who are literally the most in need of a safety net, to pretend that nothing is wrong.''
Donors and State Warm up to Boy's Need for Blankets By Carol Marbin Miller The plight of a severely disabled 12-year-old boy who was denied special thermal blankets by the state moved scores of Floridians to open their checkbooks Wednesday, including Gov.-elect Charlie Crist, whose attorney general's office fought in court to deny the boy $360 a year for the blankets. Crist, who said he was not aware of the litigation until he read about it Wednesday in The Miami Herald, said he ordered an immediate halt to the attorney general's office's role in the case, calling the legal fight ``unconscionable.'' The incoming governor said he also sent a $360 check himself to pay for one year's worth of blankets for Kevin Estinfil, a chubby-cheeked little boy who suffers from cerebral palsy, blindness, hydrocephaly, mental retardation and a severe seizure disorder, and cannot regulate his body temperature. ''I called our office after I read the article, and we will not be defending that position,'' Crist said Wednesday morning. ``As far as the office of the attorney general is concerned, we don't want any part of that.'' Later Wednesday, officials at the state Agency for Persons with Disabilities, which had fought vigorously to deny Kevin the special blankets, abruptly changed course, announcing that they had found sufficient dollars from state general revenue sources to pay for Kevin's blankets. The blankets, agency officials say, will cost $1,000 a year -- not the $360 claimed by Kevin's caregivers. Carol Montiel, the nurse who runs United Cerebral Palsy's Baby House where Kevin lives in North Miami Beach, continued to insist that each blanket costs $10, or about $360 a year for three blankets a month. Kevin, who was born with severe hydrocephaly, is profoundly disabled. He is blind, has daily seizures, eats and breathes through tubes and is mentally retarded. He cannot regulate his body temperature, and his doctors said he needed special blankets that pump warm air to his body. The disabilities agency argued that the blankets were not covered by the state program that pays for the care of disabled Floridians who live outside institutions. Similar blankets, they said, were offered by Medicaid, the federal/state insurance program for the needy. Lindsay Hodges, the disability agency's spokeswoman, praised Miami Herald readers and South Florida leaders who came forward Wednesday with offers of help. ''Our hearts go out anytime a family feels like we aren't adequately meeting their needs,'' Hodges said. ``While we can provide those medically necessary supports for individuals, . . . sometimes families need more. We've seen a community come together, combining state, public, private and even individual resources to help this family.'' Hodges continued to defend her agency's legal fight, saying state and federal guidelines require the agency to pay only for services that are ''medically necessary'' and unavailable from any other money source. Making exceptions, she said, places every client of the agency ``in jeopardy.'' ''That's why the process is in place,'' Hodges said, ``to make sure we are abiding by the regulations, and to protect the integrity of the program. . . . You can't set aside procedures one time. That invalidates the process as a whole, and puts the entire program in jeopardy.'' Alia Faraj, the spokeswoman for Gov. Jeb Bush, defended the disabilities agency as well. ''The Agency for Persons with Disabilities is committed to providing services to medically complex children and other persons with disabilities, and in this case has found a way to further enhance the support it is providing for this child,'' Faraj said. ''Providing services to special-needs children is a joint responsibility,'' she added. ``State agencies providing special services to Florida's vulnerable are required to follow strict guidelines to ensure equity in the services being provided to all their clients.'' Still, Kevin's story struck a profound note with readers. Montiel, who directs Baby House, said well-wishers dropped by the group home all day Wednesday, bringing checks, blankets and offers of help. The visitors included North Miami Beach Mayor Raymond Marin, firefighters and paramedics from Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami, and several anonymous donors. ''These kids are so often forgotten,'' Montiel said. ``It is a wonderful thing to know that there are people out there who truly care about other people's children.'' JoAnn Carrin, Crist's spokeswoman at the attorney general's office, said attorneys and staff members at her office in Tallahassee discussed sending money to Baby House to help. ''We were all ready to write checks this morning,'' Carrin said. 'I said, `If that's not enough, let me know.' '' Andrea Moore, executive director of Florida's Children First, a statewide advocacy group, wrote to state lawmakers Wednesday morning to express outrage over Kevin's story. ''There is something wrong when a state agency would pay thousands of dollars to litigate rather than pay $300 to purchase thermal blankets for a profoundly disabled child who cannot regulate his body temperature,'' Moore wrote in e-mails to House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, and Rep. Aaron P. Bean, a Fernandina Beach Republican. Wednesday afternoon, Bean replied: ``The issue has been resolved and the blankets will be purchased. . . . Bottom line: a happy ending.'' Crist also signaled his disapproval with the state disabilities agency, saying he is still considering whether to replace agency Director Shelly Brantley when he takes office. Members of Crist's transition team met with Brantley and advocates for disabled Floridians on Wednesday afternoon. ''It sounds like some review is necessary,'' Crist said of the agency's action in Kevin's case. ``We need to strive to do better. We have to give more of a helping hand wherever we can.'' By late Wednesday, Kevin's lawyer at Legal Services of Greater Miami, Lizel Gonzalez, still had not heard from the state, and was wondering whether she would need to continue to pursue the case with Miami's Third District Court of Appeal. ''We hope that APD will recognize the severity of Kevin's condition and grant his simple request,'' Gonzalez said.
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A Feast
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