SARASOTA -- The Sarasota Family YMCA's Metropolitan Board pledged to make changes to fix its foster care program the day after a state report blamed arrogance and defensiveness for the agency's recent poor performance.

A special team appointed to review the YMCA's performance aired those and other criticisms at the board's meeting Tuesday night, which also drew caseworkers and agency critics.

The state is deciding whether to renew $72 million in contracts to provide foster care in five counties if the YMCA does not make changes in how it deals with subcontractors and the community, the team's report states.

"This was not a pleasant read but a necessary read," YMCA board Chairman Ron Gelbman told the state-appointed review team.

"We come with an open mind."

From the review team and foster care workers who spoke during the meeting, the board heard more details about how the YMCA management's attitudes affected the care given to abused, neglected or abandoned children.

A Sarasota Family YMCA foster care worker was transferred to three service providers in the last two years, and each time she got new children to look after, review team member and 12th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth said.

The job hopping had nothing to do with the worker, but happened because the YMCA changed which businesses it subcontracted with -- something that has happened here more than anywhere in the state, Haworth said.

Businesses reported their contracts were judged more on political standing with the agency than on past performance.

Caught in the middle were the children, suddenly getting a new case manager: In one case a child had four case managers in the span of one court case.

"The children we're trying to stabilize don't have consistency with caseworkers," Haworth said.

"Suddenly, there's another case manager there."

The review team also discussed the need for an ombudsman to hear complaints and concerns about the YMCA, since community members reported that the YMCA is arrogant and retaliatory against anyone who vocalizes disagreement or criticism.

That was a common theme the review team found, with some concerns coming from caseworkers who feared they would be retaliated against if they spoke to the review team.

The team noted in its draft report released Monday that concern was reinforced by the wording of a YMCA public records request for all the team's interview notes "in order to deal with these people or respond to the committee about any allegations."

That helped foster negative perceptions when the YMCA's decisions were seen as "wrongheaded, or worse," and there was "no way for the board to get an unvarnished view of what's going on," Haworth said.

Board member Jim Bos said the leadership at the YMCA is working to "turn that ship around."

"We will take it to heart and move forward," Bos said.

For YMCA Chief Executive Officer Carl Weinrich, that meant going up to Judi Lee after the meeting and reopening a dialogue with a foster parent who has repeatedly criticized the YMCA's actions.

It was the first time they spoke face to face about foster care issues in years, Lee said.

The team's report will be forwarded to the Department of Children and Families today.

A decision on whether to renew the YMCA contracts would have to be made soon, since they end June 30, the state said.

The YMCA was once touted as the solution to a troubled state-run foster care system. But the report is the latest in a recent string of criticisms of the agency, including its handling of a Manatee County girl who died from neglect in December and concerns after a former Pinellas County girl disappeared for nine months, and a caseworker failed to report her missing for four months.

It has also recently been criticized for not making required monthly checks to see that children are safe, despite getting the most money per child of the 22 private child protection groups around the state.

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