Abused and neglected children in North Central Florida have a strong ally in Stephen Pennypacker.
Pennypacker, a longtime Gainesville resident who is a nationally recognized expert in helping children from troubled families, stepped into a new role in April as president/CEO of Partnership for Strong Families.
He chose to work closer to home — and at the grassroots of helping parents and arranging foster care and adoptions — after spending six years working in Tallahassee. In his last position, Pennypacker served as assistant secretary for programs at the Department of Children and Families.
“Because this was my home and because I had cut my teeth here in the dependency system, I wanted to continue the Partnership for Strong Families as the best agency in the state,” he said.
The Partnership for Strong Families, which serves thirteen counties in North Central Florida, consistently rates high in benchmarks compared to other agencies around the state. The nonprofit organization started in 2003, when the state privatized services for abused and neglected children.
In 1998, Pennypacker had been a divorce attorney for fifteen years when Rod Smith, who was then the state attorney in Gainesville, asked him to take on a new role representing the state in child abuse and neglect cases.
Pennypacker was open to the career move, which he felt would allow him to pursue his growing passion for helping children affected by family struggles.
Accepting Smith’s offer — and becoming the managing attorney for child abuse and neglect cases for the Eighth Circuit State Attorney’s Office — was the first step toward Pennypacker becoming a respected advocate for children in Florida.
“I had a reputation as a warm and fuzzy divorce attorney,” he said. “Because I was a parent, I always told my clients, ‘no matter what you do, you are still going to be parents of these kids. Getting that final judgment of dissolution doesn’t end your parenting. You two are going to have to get along,’” he said.
The services provided by the Partnership for Strong Families range from counseling and classes that provide support for parents trying to keep their children to providing foster care and facilitating adoptions of children whose parents have permanently lost custody.
The organization is dedicated to keeping families together, if it can be done safely.
“I believe strongly that if we can leave a child in the home and we are working with that family, we should do that,” Pennypacker said.
“The trauma that you cause to a child by taking him or her out of the home often is greater than the trauma you’re removing them from,” he said. “Most kids who have been removed from their homes will tell you that the most traumatic day of their life was the day that an investigator put them in a car and took them away.”
That doesn’t mean that the Partnership for Strong Families is lenient when it believes children are in danger.
“When investigators go out, they have to make that initial determination of safety,” Pennypacker said. “If it’s not safe and they can’t do something to make it safe, there’s no question that the children should be removed.”
The Partnership for Strong Families works hard to be accessible. It operates three resource centers in Gainesville.
In 2009, it opened the Library Partnership with the Department of Children and Families, Casey Family Programs and the Alachua County Library District. Since then, the number of children removed from their parents in that zip code has dropped by 76 percent and the number of incidents of verified child abuse or neglect have steadily decreased.
“If you have a facility within walking distance of where people live, it’s a lot easier for them to obtain help than getting on the phone or finding services elsewhere,” Pennypacker said.
Ron Locke, president of the Alachua County Foster Adoptive Parent Association, has known Pennypacker since he was the general magistrate for the Eighth Judicial Circuit and adjudicated cases involving children.
“It’s great to have his long practical experience working with DCF and fighting for children,” Ron Locke said.
“It’s great to have his long practical experience working with DCF and fighting for children,” Ron Locke, president of the Alachua County Foster Adoptive Parent Association said.
Foster Parenting: Both Rewarding and Challenging
When Caia came to the home of Amanda Williams and Deena Ruth as a foster child, her grades were poor and she lacked self-confidence.
Caia has thrived with the couple, who adopted her and provided a “forever family.”
She graduated from high school in 2013 with top grades, moved into her own apartment and enrolled at Santa Fe College.
“It’s great to see each child grow — to become stable and blossom into responsible young adults,” Williams said.
Simon Flatt has a family of six boys consisting of four adoptees and two foster children, all of them age 11 or younger, who share his home on five acres in Gilchrist County. Since he began foster parenting in 2008, he says the most important thing he’s learned is that every child needs to be treated differently.
“Parenting has made me a better person,” he said. “I’m constantly learning how to handle new situations.”
The Partnership for Strong Families and the Florida Department of Children and Families provide considerable support for foster parents, beginning with classes before they foster their first child and continuing through the experience with workshops and conferences.
Three parents’ organizations also lend a hand. Ron Locke, the president of Alachua County Foster Adoptive Parent Association, and his wife, Carol, have been foster parents for 25 years. Throughout that time, they have provided a home for 70 children.
“We’re continuing as foster parents because there is still a need for kids to have a safe home,” Locke said.
To learn more about foster care, contact the Partnership for Strong Families at 352-244-1500 or [email protected].