Florida Child Advocate.com -- The Florida Foster Care Survival Guide -- is the one-stop resource for protecting the rights of children under the state’s care. We created this site for children, the families who love them, the caregivers who serve them, guardians who advocate for them, and the attorneys who counsel them in how to access resources and agencies, understand their rights, and address dependency, damages or disability claims.
Every foster child needs attention. Let Florida Child Advocate.com be your legal resource.
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If you’re a child or an advocate for a child in the foster care system, Florida Child Advocate is here to help.
This site was created by the law firm of Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A., and nationally known Florida child advocate Howard Talenfeld to protect children and to address key issues facing those with foster care, physical abuse, child sexual abuse, social services, dependency, disability or personal injury and damages claims or lawsuits against the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF), agencies and other child welfare providers. We believe that children belong with their own families. However, we also believe that when protective investigations by the Florida DCF and its agencies reveal that children are at high risk of neglect, child sex abuse or physical abuse by their parents, they must be placed with suitable relatives when they are available, and if not, some children must be placed in foster care. Critically, if children are going to be taken into foster care, they should be protected by the Florida Department of Children & Families and their community partners from the risk of physical and sexual abuse and returned home or placed in loving and nurturing adoptive families as quickly as possible. Topics also include the rights of foster Children to be safe from harm in care, their right to medical, psychological care, and disability benefits, their educational rights, and their rights on the road to independence.
The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) has tagged a Panama City- and Bay Country-area lead agency for child welfare services at No. 1 in the state by a new system of measurements, wrote the Panama City News Herald. The organization, The Big Bend Community Based Care, earned the top spot in the inaugural report.
The rankings are tallied by various information and measures, including administrative costs, ratio of children receiving preventive services, and the percentage of children enrolled in school. The rankings are part of the new DCF and the Florida Coalition for Children monthly “scorecard” that measures success with the 20 community-based care organizations across the state.
“We were very consistent across the board,” said Mike Watkins, CEO of Big Bend. “We got good marks for safety and controlling administrative costs.” Read the entire story here.
Advocates and child welfare attorneys have long said Florida’s child welfare system needs fixing, strengthening and correcting in order to correct foster child and vulnerable children’s abuse, deaths and personal injury. Yet critics say several bills being reviewed by lawmakers and named for Nubia Barahona – the 10-year-old girl allegedly killed by her adoptive parents last February – could have little positive effect.
“Indeed, some of the bills’ provisions will give the agency greater discretion to ignore calls to the state’s abuse hotline, or to cease an investigation at any time when an investigator believes the report is false,” writes the Miami Herald.
A bill in the state Senate would eliminate state standards designed to lower caseloads for Department of Children & Families investigators, though it is an article of faith among trade groups that lower caseloads lead to better outcomes for children.
Howard Talenfeld, President of Florida’s Children First, and David Gagne, Florida Youth Shine Secretary, went on NBC’s Live Miami to speak about the mission and goals of Florida’s Children First. The non-profit organization founded by child advocate attorneys from around the state speaks on behalf of children at risk. The two called for viewers to visit the organizations’ websites to support their ongoing work
Depending on where in Florida you are, child abuse deaths rose – and declined – in 2010. Deaths were down statewide, but up in Palm Beach County over the past two years. Florida Department of Children and Families officials, advocates and child welfare attorneys are watching the numbers closely.
Abuse or neglect that led to child deaths in Palm Beach County hit 14 in 2010, up from 10 the year prior, according to data from a State Child Abuse Death Review Committee report, as reported by the Palm Beach Post. In 2008, nine children died from child abuse or neglect in Palm Beach County.
As written previously in this blog, the death of any child in state care — whether DCF, a foster household, an adoptive home or while under the guidance of a community based care organization charged with ensuring the child’s welfare — is one too many. We must work harder to ensure oversight is improved and children get the care they need to survive and thrive.
A damage award settlement is being discussed in a case that’s shaken the Florida and New York social services arena for foster, adoptive and disabled children.
In “one of the most disturbing child welfare fraud cases in New York City in recent years,” Judith Leekin “used four aliases to adopt the children, who had physical or developmental disabilities, including autism and retardation, and later moved them to Florida. The children were caged, restrained with plastic ties and handcuffs, beaten with sticks and hangers, and kept out of school, according to court papers. An 11th child disappeared while in Ms. Leekin’s care and is presumed dead,” according to the New York Times.
Florida children’s rights attorney Howard Talenfeld is handling the case.
From South Florida to State College to around the world, child advocates and others have been transfixed and disgusted by allegations of sexual abuse against Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. One such person is Hollywood’s Tyler Perry, who recently wrote a letter in Newsweek magazine to a young boy involved in the scandal. In his letter, Perry revealed his own story, and told the boy he isn’t a victim – but a survivor. Read Perry’s letter here.
Tyler Perry
In response, a therapist from Minnesota wrote a letter of thanks to Perry. In the letter, the therapist wrote, “…As a therapist, I’ve seen shame and self-blame experienced by abuse victims who become survivors by acknowledging the abuse. Such disclosures are momentous acts of bravery and the first step in healing. I hope Perry’s words encourage more people to disclose their abuse and help decrease the stigmatization of survivors.”
Howard Talenfeld, a partner in the foster care / disabled persons practice with Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate P.A., in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, recently was named a Pro Bono Finalist in the Most Effective Lawyers 2011 by the Daily Business Review.
The publication reviewed the case of Markus Kim, a former New York City foster child who was swindled by his adoptive parents out of $400,000.
Florida’s Children First, a statewide organization dedicated to protecting foster children and other at-risk youth, recognized Palm Beach County individuals for their tireless work to advocate for the state’s most vulnerable citizens at its annual Palm Beach Fundraising and Awards Reception at Boca Raton’s Bridge Hotel November 29.
Emcee Jim Sackett, FCF Executive Director Christina Spudeas and Richard Slawson
More than 50 of the area’s prominent business and community leaders, as well as individuals and families concerned about Florida’s foster care youth were in attendance to support the organization and its cause, including recently retired WPTV News Channel 5 Anchor Jim Sackett.
Sackett served as Emcee for the evening’s award ceremony, including a special award he presented to a former foster child, Earle James, who he once profiled in a “Thursday’s Child” segment 10 years ago. Earle overcame a difficult background of abuse and loss to become an advocate for children, speaking at parent and youth workshops. His father, Michael, who adopted Earle after seeing the “Thursday’s Child segment” accepted the “Youth Honoree of the Year” award on Earle’s behalf.
When graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Penn State head coach Joe Paterno about the alleged sexual child abuse he said took place by assistant coach Jerry Sandusky on a minor in the school’s showers, some believe he adhered to his legal responsibility. But legal scholars, children’s rights attorneys and lawmakers wonder: Did he rise to his moral responsibility to see his allegations through?
According to USAToday, “Lawmakers and university officials across the USA are moving quickly to tighten up rules on who must report sexual abuse on campus in the wake of the Penn State scandal…A key issue likely to be debated in state legislatures is whether reports should go straight to police, and whether new laws are needed to shore up vague guidelines and polices about child safety on campus.”
When a Brandenton childcare facility was cited numerous times for various violations in a single year, the owner moved sites – and left record of some 57 complaints behind, according to ABC Action News in Tampa. The move is completely legal, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families.
As parents, guardians and advocacy attorneys concerned with the safety of children, having information about caregiver licensing, security background checks or facility maintenance and upkeep is vital to avoiding personal injury, dangerous situations or potential abuse or harm. Yet, according to the news investigation, “Since DCF licenses the location and not the person who owns or operates the daycare, erasing complaints made against you is as easy as moving.” Read the entire story here.
Outside observers, child advocates and attorneys following the Penn State University alleged child sexual abuse case of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky already see a pattern unfolding: adults keeping quiet and engaging in cover-up, children affected by a horrible personal injury growing in number, and a community left to wonder how this could happen. From Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to State College to around the nation, “The case has drawn comparisons to the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church, whose top officials are also accused of covering up child abuse over decades,” notes one paper.
The case also will bring to light the fact that, even though adults knew a child predator was afoot, no Pennsylvania law requires anyone alert the police. Florida has such a law. Sadly, in retrospect, Pennsylvania lawmakers might take this matter up during their next session.
That remains to be seen. In the meantime, the multi-point focus should be on helping the victims find the help they need, bringing all those involved to justice, and implementing safeguards and systems that help protect our most vulnerable citizens.
Florida wants its foster kids to find a home. During National Adoption Month, the state Department of Children and Families has launched an effort to help some 800 foster kids find permanent homes.
DCF Secretary David Wilkins launched the effort this week to get foster teenagers into permanent homes with loving parents. The issue is vital: Kids who “age out” or leave the state’s care when they become adults – and without having found foster homes – are at a greater risk of dropping out of school, being arrested or becoming homeless, according to a story in the Associated Press.
A key senator is raising questions of the Department of Juvenile Justice apparently using psychotropic drugs and “chemical restraints” on youth in its lockup facilities statewide – and whether the state agency responds seriously enough to the issue. Agency officials have failed to acknowledge the situation, which infuriated Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Children, Families and Elder Affairs, according to WCTV-TV.
The action follows reports that some 34% of children in DJJ facilities are on psychotropic drugs, the station reported. Storms then demanded agency officials report on details of their prescribing practices and keep her updated her on their own investigation. One DJJ official said it is “against agency policy to use mind-altering drugs for discipline or punishment, which opponents of the practice describe as chemical restraint, the news organization reported.” Read the entire story here.
The Florida Department of Health inspected a Florida Department of Children and Families-regulated boys group home in Fort Myers after complaints if filth, cockroaches, mold and unsanitary conditions were reported. The home is for foster youth and boys with no other options.
Lee County inspectors gave the Source of Light and Home Development Center-run house a failing review, which led the state to temporarily stop placing new foster children there, the News-Press reported. One former resident, who recently aged out, said he was “grossed out.”
Soon after the DCF action, agency officials lifted the hold after inspectors gave the home an OK and the number of violations dropped to about a dozen, the paper reported. Read the entire story here.
Eight kids dead in two years – kids who should have been protected while under the supervision of community based care provider, Hillsborough Kids Inc. The headlines out of Tampa Bay have shocked and sickened foster child advocates, attorneys and guardians concerned about the care kids receive across the state. The deaths in Tampa Bay – and others across the state have suffered serious personal injury while under the watch of similar organizations – could be a defining moment for privatization.
The significant civil rights case argued by lead counsel Howard Talenfeld, partner with Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky & Abate, P.A., recently was persuasive in the 4th Circuit Court of South Carolina’s decision to change its prior decisions regarding social worker qualified immunity and substantive due process rights of foster children in Doe v. South Carolina Department of Social Services [597 F.3d 163 (4th Cir. 2010)].
In the original case, H.A.L. v. Foltz, No. 07-15791 (11th Cir. 12/15/2008) (11th Cir., 2008), the 11th Circuit Court in Atlanta let stand an action brought by three young boys sexually abused by two older boys in the same Florida foster home. The court agreed in this significant civil rights case that the state had violated the children’s Fourteenth Amendment substantive due process rights to physical safety and to be free from an unreasonable risk of harm. Talenfeld won for his clients a settlement of $2.925 million – and a change in how the state must treat foster children.
Following the torture and death of Nubia Barahona, and the serious personal injury to her twin brother, Victor, the Florida Department of Children and Families should realize that high stakes involved in these cases mean “it’s high time that DCF put a higher priority on the people who make life-and-death decisions for the state’s most vulnerable citizens,” writes the Orlando Sentinel.
The stakes are high, and state legislators are realizing this. In September, they heard from – and had strong words for – new Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins for what an independent panel called “fatal ineptitude” in the Barahona abuse and death case.
With higher pay to those investigators tasked with keeping tabs on foster children might come better oversight. Read the entire story here.
Dolce is a nationally recognized civil litigator. He will serve with various prominent statewide advocates for victims of sexual abuse.
“I’m gratified to have the opportunity to join Florida’s foremost professionals in the ongoing effort to provide dignity and justice to sexual violence survivors and to combat ongoing sex crimes,” Mr. Dolce said.
The FCASV is a nonprofit organization that serves as an informational resource to the State of Florida and agencies that provide support programs for victims and survivors of sexual violence. In addition to administering a toll-free rape crisis hotline, the FCASV hosts an annual statewide conference for sexual violence counselors and other professionals.
Florida’s Children First, a statewide organization dedicated to protecting foster children and other at-risk youth, recognized Orlando individuals for their tireless work to advocate for the state’s most vulnerable citizens at its annual Fundraising and Awards Reception. About 80 of the area’s prominent business and community leaders, as well as individuals and families concerned about Florida’s foster care youth were in attendance to support the organization and its cause, raising nearly $5,000. Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Jeff Faine and Orlando Sentinel writer and foster parent George Diaz among those recognized.
The 2011 Orlando Child Advocates of the Year were Jeff Faine and Susan Khoury. Jeff is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers center and founder of The Faine House, a special home for youth aging out of the foster care system offering young adults a safe place to live while they complete their education or pursue career training.
Susan has been a Guardian ad Litem program director for the Orange County Bar Association for the past 23 years. She supervises more than 13 staff members who recruit, train and support approximately 700 lawyers in Orange County who volunteer to represent the best interest of children in the Orange County juvenile courts.
- Miami Herald – Miami, Florida – December 30, 2011 - Barahona Judge’s Efforts to Ferret Out Leaks Detailed Court records released to The Herald document a judge’s efforts to identify lawyers or child welfare administrators she suspected of leaking secret material to the newspaper.
- Miami Herald – Miami, Florida – December 17, 2011 - South Florida Charter Schools Admit Few Special Needs Children From South Dade to the northern reaches of Broward County, only a handful of students with profound disabilities make it into charter schools, according to a Miami Herald / State Impact Florida analysis of student enrollment data. The trend holds true across the state, where 87 percent of charter schools don’t serve any students with the most intense support needs.
- Associated Press – State College, Pennsylvania – December 16, 2011 - Penn. Deputy Attorney General Cites PSU 'Inaction' A graduate student waited a day after allegedly seeing a child being sexually assaulted on Penn State's campus before telling his supervisor, football coach Joe Paterno. Paterno waited another day before calling the university's athletic director, who looped in a school vice president. "I think it's a sad, sad, sad day, when you think about all of these victims, and you saw the inaction by a number of supposedly important, responsible adults. And there's a lot of inaction in this case," Marc Costanzo, a senior deputy attorney general, said after the preliminary hearing.
- Palm Beach Post – Miami, Florida – December 9, 2011 - Barahona Records: Neighbor Says Jorge Barahona Was 'Super Paranoid' Jorge Barahona was given to paranoia and fears of conspiracies around him that he expressed to a neighbor, according to investigative materials released this week by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office, fears that may have led him to murder his adopted daughter and almost kill her brother, Victor.
- The Miami Herald – Miami, Florida – December 9, 2011 - Pleas by Nubia Barahona’s Family Went Unheeded — Until It Was Too Late Relatives of Nubia and Victor Barahona were convinced that the children were being abused by their adoptive father. But they couldn’t get anyone to listen. Nubia Barahona, 10, was found dead in the back of her adoptive father's pickup truck in Broward on Valentines Day.
- Associated Press – State College, Pennsylvania – December 8, 2011 - Ex-Penn State Coach Sandusky Jailed on New Child Sex Abuse Charges Based on 2 New Accusers Former Penn State University assistant coach Jerry Sandusky spent Wednesday night behind bars after new child sex abuse charges were filed against him based on the claims of two new accusers, including one who says he screamed in vain for help while Sandusky attacked him in a basement bedroom.
- Gainesville.com – Plant City, Florida – Mentally Disabled Man Forced to Stand on Ant Hill A 21-year-old worker at a group home was arrested, and the facility where he worked was later shut down after authorities said he forced a mentally disabled man to stand barefoot on fire ant hills as punishment for stealing money. Florida MENTOR's Ike Smith Group Home's license has been suspended. Florida MENTOR continues to operate other facilities throughout the state. The Department of Children and Families and the Agency for Persons with Disabilities are investigating.
- Orlando Sentinel – Orlando, Florida – December 3, 2011 - Orlando Mom Was Foster Parent to Hundreds of Kids Dorothy Pearl Johnson didn't have children of her own. However, as a foster parent for four decades, she mothered about 400 children. Johnson, 87, continued to nurture children until a few months ago, when her failing health forced her to stop. After battling leukemia, she died on Tuesday in the home on Trentonian Court where she had cared for hundreds of children as if they were her own.
- New York Times – New York – November 22, 2011 - Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters on Medicaid, a new study suggests.
- USAToday – State College, Pennsylvania – November 16, 2011 - Penn State Case Presses Others to Tighten Abuse Laws Lawmakers and university officials across the USA are moving quickly to tighten up rules on who must report sexual abuse on campus in the wake of the Penn State scandal.
Reuters – State College, Pennsylvania – November 13, 2011 - A Long History in Penn State Child Abuse Case It will not be so easy to wipe out the stain on Penn State's reputation from the alleged abuse and what critics see as a cover-up by university officials who were told that Sandusky was seen raping a young boy in a shower in 2002. The case has drawn comparisons to the child abuse scandals that rocked the Catholic Church, whose top officials are also accused of covering up child abuse over decades.
Forbes – State College, Pennsylvania – November 11, 2011 - Conrad Murray, Penn State and Why the Powerful Enable Evil After Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, the blogosphere, rightly, called him an enabler in a long line of celebrity enablers. Allegations that Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky raped a pre-teen boy in the college shower seem less shocking than the nauseating cover-up that follows.
