Drew Wilson
Former Department of Children and Families Secretary Lucy Hadi died Monday in Tallahassee, the department said Tuesday. She was head of DCF from 2004 to 2006.
Hadi, 70, had a long career at DCF and its precursor institution, the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. She started at HRS in 1971 after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Florida State University, and by the 1990s had worked her way to high-level posts in the department.
In September 2004, then-Gov. Jeb Bush picked Hadi as DCF interim director, a position she would hold through the end of the Bush administration.
“Those of us who had the pleasure of serving under Secretary Hadi remember her for her passion and commitment to outstanding service for our clients,” current DCF Secretary Mike Carroll said. “She was tough, but for all the right reasons. She pushed us hard because she felt we could always do better.”
Hadi’s tenure as DCF director was during the historic 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, and her administration focused on delivering services such as counseling to storm victims.
She also sought to improve DCF’s internal and external communications and better evaluate DCF programs during her time at the helm.
“If at the end of the time that I’m here it can be said that we’ve improved our ability to be a good partner, we have improved outcomes for children and families and vulnerable adults, and that the staff of this organization is better prepared to lead … then I will feel honored and blessed,” Hadi said.
Her tenure was not without controversy, though.
In late 2006 she was fined $80,000 on a contempt of court charge for failing to transfer seven mentally ill inmates from Pinellas County Jail to a treatment facility.
Hadi and many lawmakers said the ruling was unfair because the department was underfunded and simply didn’t have the resources to treat the inmates in state hospitals. She resigned the day after the ruling.
