Nearly four months after a long-delayed confirmation by the state Senate, Department of Children and Families Secretary Taylor Hatch left the office last week.
“I leave with complete confidence in the talented public servants at the Department and partners who will continue advancing our mission – individuals with lived experience, churches, nonprofit organizations, private sector businesses, providers, and advocates as they continue the important work ahead,” Hatch wrote in a resignation letter on June 3.
The letter stated her resignation would take effect July 3.
In March, Hatch and Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Shevaun Harris were confirmed for their offices a year after failing to win Senate support amid a scandal involving the transfer of Medicaid settlement money to the Hope Florida Foundation.
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The nonprofit foundation is tied to an initiative led by first lady Casey DeSantis. The group’s board in 2024 approved the transfer of $10 million it received as part of an atypical settlement involving Medicaid funds to two other nonprofits.
Those organizations then gave the money to a political committee chaired by James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ then-chief of staff who later was named attorney general. That political committee used the funds to campaign against two ballot measures that would have legalized recreational marijuana and installed a right to an abortion in the state constitution.
In her resignation letter, Hatch didn’t mention Hope Florida by name, but highlighted the governor’s “reimagining government alongside the bold vision of the first lady to reduce unnecessary dependency through a first-of its-kind Care Coordination model.”
Hatch, who previously served as director of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, didn’t outline future plans in the letter.
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DCF oversees adoptions, daycare centers and child welfare programs, including the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, which helps low-income households pay for groceries.
New data released in June showed DCF reduced its error rate for SNAP payments from 15 percent to 13 percent, but it’s still much higher than the 6 percent threshold set by Congress in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" from 2025 that will punish states with high error rates.
The lingering high error rate could mean Florida would have to contribute $1 billion more to the SNAP program starting next fiscal year.
