During a February 10, 2026 hearing of the Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs, Sen. Barbara Sharief (D-Davie) — a West Broward nurse turned lawmaker — pressed the Department of Children and Families’ acting secretary, Taylor Hatch, to commit to fixing long-standing problems in the state’s foster care system. Sharief voted to advance Hatch’s nomination, but used the hearing to push for firm commitments on reform.
“I see there is a brokenness to the system in terms of the ability to process families’ cases and reunify those children with their families on a consistent and more fast-paced basis.”
Sen. Barbara Sharief
Drawing on more than three decades in health care, Sharief pointed to systemic issues she said have persisted for years. She highlighted sobering figures raised at the hearing: nearly 15,000 children and young adults were in Florida foster care as of January 2026, only about a third reach permanency within their first year, and turnover among DCF child protective investigators hovers near 55% — even against a roughly $4.8 billion agency budget. Hatch’s nomination advanced from committee nearly unanimously and moved on to the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections.
