Doris Freyre v. Chad Cronister

TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

*1376 This interlocutory appeal asks us to determine whether the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office ("HCSO"), in conducting child-protective investigations under a grant agreement with the Florida Department of Children and Families ("DCF"), acts as an arm of the state entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity. The District Court held that HCSO was not an arm of the state and, for the reasons explained below, we affirm.

I

In 1998, the Florida Legislature required DCF to transfer all responsibility for child-protective investigations in certain counties to the county sheriff.…