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For the most current news, read the DCF Foster NewsFeed in the right column of this site…

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – November 30, 2009 – Cries For Help to DCF Hot Line Go Unheeded by Design Thousands of abuse reports to a DCF hot line go unheeded every month because of a new screening process intended to keep the strained system functioning. “Hot-line calls are cries for help on behalf of a child,” said Howard Talenfeld, the Fort Lauderdale-based chairman of Florida’s Children First, an advocacy group. “Any call that is screened out is a cry that falls on deaf ears

- The Ledger / Lakeland, FL – November 23, 2009 – Dinner Gives Teens Leaving Foster Care Taste of Family On Monday about 100 teens gathered at the First Baptist Church of Bartow. Their differences are many and their life stories run the gamut. But the one thing they all share: They know what it’s like to be lonely on Thanksgiving. They gathered to cook, eat, decorate and socialize as part of Devereux Florida Independent Living Transition Service’s first Thanksgiving dinner for kids who have aged out of the foster care system..

- WCTV TV / Tallahassee, FL – November 19, 2009 – Governor Crist Applauds Children’s Home Society for Protecting Florida Youth Governor Charlie Crist applauded Florida’s successes in transforming state foster care while addressing child advocates, legislators and state child welfare system leaders from 18 states in Tampa. Florida was chosen as the host state because of its success in safely reducing the number of children in foster care, including the Governor’s statewide Explore Adoption initiative.

- The Associated Press / Tallahassee, FL – November 18, 2009 – Governor Crist Applauds Children’s Home Society for Protecting Florida Youth Florida’s welfare agency should hire a chief medical officer to monitor powerful medications prescribed to foster children. That’s the recommendation of a task force formed after a 7-year-old foster child hanged himself in April.

- The Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – October 21, 2009 – Gov. Crist Orders Statewide Review of System That Allows Felons to Work in Child, Elder Care Gov. Charlie Crist ordered a statewide review of screening loopholes that allow felons to work as caregivers of Florida’s children, elderly and disabled. The review follows a Sun Sentinel investigative series that found current laws and practices have let thousands of people with criminal records into jobs in day care centers and nursing homes. “When it comes to the safety and security of Florida’s vulnerable populations, we must make every effort to ensure that their professional caregivers do not have criminal histories,” Crist said in a statement.

- The Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – October 20, 2009 – Report: Florida Ranks Third in U.S. for Rate of Child Deaths From Abuse, Neglect Florida ranks third in the nation in the rate of children killed by child abuse and negligence, according to a report released Tuesday by non-profit child advocacy and lobbying group Every Child Matters. The group determined that the 153 child deaths the state logged in 2007 amounted to a child death rate of 3.8 per every 100,000 children.

- The Huffington Post – October 8, 2009 – What is the Cost of Privatizing the Care of Our Foster Children? A boy died in Siskiyou County this summer. Across the rural, sparsely populated county in far Northern California, people looked to blame someone, something for the two-year-old’s death. Was it the fault of the woman taking caring of the toddler, the third foster parent in twice as many months? Was it the fault of Child Protective Services (CPS)? Or was it the fault of the private, non-profit foster care agency that the county had entrusted with the toddler’s life?

- TC Palm / Martin County, FL – October 2, 2009 – Editorial: Flawed System Puts State’s Most Vulnerable at Potential Risk Some of Florida’s most vulnerable citizens have been placed at risk due to a flawed screening system that has allowed hundreds of felons to obtain work in day care centers, assisted living facilities and group homes. “We’ve got to do a much better job than what we’re currently doing,” said George Sheldon, secretary of the state Department of Children and Families, which, along with Agency for Health Care Administration, is responsible for granting exemptions for convicted felons seeking work as caregivers.

- Herald Tribune / Sarasota, FL – September 28, 2009 – Holes in System Let Felons Care For The Most Vulnerable
 Disturbing flaws in Florida’s background screening system have put children, seniors and the disabled in the care of convicted felons with records that include rape, child molestation and murder, an investigation by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper has found. Employees of day care centers, assisted living facilities and group homes are required to undergo a background check under state law but can begin work before their screening is complete, the paper is reporting this week.

- The Herald / Miami, FL – September 12, 2009 – Guardian Ad Litem Gives a Voice to Abused Hundreds marched through Bayfront Park Saturday with cutouts representing the 850 children who enter the foster care system everyday in the United States The event was organized by the Voices for Children Foundation.

- Herald-Tribune / Sarasota, FL – September 3, 2009 – Mentors Help Foster Children The always-expanding Next Step program has helped teenagers like Mercades Kennedy, 18, enter adulthood with its mentoring and tutoring services.”It was wonderful,” Kennedy says of the experience transitioning out of foster care. “I couldn’t wait to get my own place and not have people over me trying to make decisions. Mentor groups consist of mental health, legal, financial, education or business professionals who are available as a support system for two years..

- The Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – August 31, 2009 – Doping Up Our Children The state’s Department of Children and Families is under fire again, and rightly so. Recently, a task force issued its final report documenting how weak oversight and lax compliance with guidelines fostered a culture where officials often blindly doled out powerful drugs as chemical pacifiers to help caregivers manage difficult children..

- The News-Press / Fort Myers, FL – August 27, 2009 – Reporter’s Blog: How Do Foster Kids “Make It?” Lynne Roeschlaub, a former foster child from Lee County, doesn’t play the “pity card.” Study after study has shown foster children struggle with poverty and repeat the pattern of abuse and neglect after they leave care at age 18. How do some “make it?” A strong role model to guide them into adulthood and sheer will power seem to be key.

- Financial News & Daily Record / Jacksonville, FL – August 10, 2009 – Guardian ad Litem Thanks Volunteers For Service
 Providing children with a voice in court. The Fourth Judicial Circuit Florida Guardian ad Litem program said “Thank You” to volunteers who did just that over the last year with a reception at their office on the second floor of the Duval County Courthouse Annex Building on Bay Street recently. “We are so grateful for those who participate,” said Hilary Creary, supervising attorney for the local Guardian ad Litem program. “This is the least we could do.”

- Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – August 7, 2009 – Despite Austere Budget, Florida Adoptions Grow At age 17, Amber Holley knew that the odds of being adopted were grim. After 11 years in Florida’s foster-care system, living mostly in group homes, she had started telling people she just wanted to be left alone — even if she didn’t really mean it.
But three months ago, after being won over by a compassionate caseworker, Amber became one of a record 3,774 foster kids in the state to be adopted during the past fiscal year.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – July 27, 2009 – Florida to Give Foster Care Workers a $6.3M Upgrade A company giving cellphones and laptops to workers would not normally qualify as news. But this is actually a big deal for caseworkers working with the nonprofit agency Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe, which contracts with the state to oversee foster care and related services for the area. This group was the first in Florida to provide an easy way for caseworkers to keep records of their children on a laptop and on smart phones.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – July 15, 2009 – Don’t Bend the Law When Giving Foster Kids Drugs Gabriel Myers was a 7-year-old boy whose world was collapsing when he hanged himself in a foster home in Margate. He was among 268 children between the ages of 6 and 7 medicated while in state care. A new state study looking at whether these children were treated according to the law points to a total disregard of the law by a majority of case workers and medical professionals making life-and-death decisions. The irony is case workers now are employed by private firms under contract with the state. Weren’t they supposed to do better by Florida’s children than the old system of state workers?

- The Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – July 12, 2009 – More Than 70 Caseworkers Lied About Efforts to Protect Children During the past two years, more than 70 Florida child-welfare workers have been caught falsifying records — lying about their on-the-job efforts to protect children, according to state and county records reviewed by the Orlando Sentinel. As a consequence, the Florida Department of Children and Families temporarily lost track of at least six children, sometimes for months. Fourteen children were left in unsafe homes, the Sentinel found in a review of agency records.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – July 7, 2009 – System Faulted in Margate Boy’s Suicide While in Foster Care Child-welfare doctors and case managers routinely failed to complete legally required treatment plans, share information or properly document the prescribing of powerful psychiatric drugs for children, according to a new state study of 6- and 7-year-olds medicated in state care.

- The Buzz: News From The St. Pete Times Staff / St. Petersburg, FL – July 7, 2009 – Florida DCF’s Child Drugging Problems Child welfare doctors and case managers routinely failed to complete legally required treatment plans, share information or properly document the prescribing of powerful psychiatric drugs for children, according to a new state study of 6- and 7-year-olds medicated in state care.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – July 2, 2009 – Aged-Out Foster Child Faces Possible Homelessness For Selim Isimer’s next birthday, his parent — the state of Florida — plans to kick him out of the house. Being shown the door on your 18th birthday would prove daunting for any foster kid. Twenty percent end up homeless without public assistance. For Selim, it would be disastrous: He has autism and mental retardation.

- South Florida Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – July 1, 2009 – Florida Department of Children & Families Names New Southeast Regional Director The state Department of Children & Families didn’t have to look far to find a new southeast regional director, announcing Wednesday that its top official in Palm Beach County will be taking over the job. Perry Borman, 45, will oversee DCF administrative and program offices in both Broward and Palm Beach counties, replacing Jack Moss. Moss retired Tuesday after eight years as DCF’s Broward County administrator, the last two of which he also served as the region’s director.

- The Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – June 26, 2009 – Once Troubled ChildNet Foster Care Agency Signs 5-Year Contract With Broward The private nonprofit agency running Broward County’s child welfare system in April 2007 seemed on the verge of chaos — FBI agents raided its main office, the state threatened to pull funding and the group’s board fired the chief executive officer. On Thursday, the group’s president signed a $333 million contract with the state Department of Children & Families to continue managing Broward foster care for the next five years.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – June 19, 2009 – Kids Need Care, Not Pills, Ex-Foster Children Tell Panel A state group looking at the suicide of a young foster child met Thursday to discuss ways to improve care and listened to adults who said they were overmedicated in the foster-care system.

- MyFox Tampa Bay / Tampa, FL – June 19, 2009 – New Home Offers Hope to Foster Teens With every shovel of dirt, volunteers work hard to finish the first case managed, aging out foster care facility in the state. Right now, foster care children turning 18 in Florida, age out of the system and start to live independently for the first time. In some cases those teens fall into trouble.

- CBS 4 / Miami, FL – June 18, 2009 – Florida Officials Struggle To Reform Foster System As state officials wade through the systemwide failures that led to the suicide of 7-year-old foster child Gabriel Myers in April, two issues come up repeatedly: the alarming use of psychotropic medications and the inability of doctors, foster parents and case workers to track problems with such powerful medications.

- St. Petersburg Times / St. Petersburg, FL – June 7, 2009 – Foster Care Failures Two disturbing facts about the Florida foster care system have emerged following the suicide of a 7-year-old boy on psychiatric drugs. First is the extraordinary prescription rate for children under the supervision of the Department of Children and Families. Second is the alarming revelation that a 2005 law aimed at tackling that problem has been repeatedly and systemically ignored.

- Daytona Beach news-Journal / Daytona Beach, FL – May 29, 2009 – More Florida Foster Kids on Meds More local foster children are on psychotropic medications than the state average, according to a state review done following the suicide of a 7-year-old foster child in South Florida. The state Department of Children & Families released a report Thursday showing 2,669 foster children 17 and younger are on one or more psychotropic drugs, including 127 in Volusia, Flagler and Putnam counties.

- The Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – May 29, 2009 – State survey: Almost 1 Florida Foster Child in 6 Being Given Drugs Almost one of every six foster children on mood-altering drugs in Florida is being given the medications without the court order or parental consent mandated by law, according to a study released Thursday by the state Department of Children & Families. DCF Secretary George Sheldon acknowledged there was “no rational basis” for 433 foster children in Florida being administered the psychotropic drugs without the required permission, as the study found.

- Sun-Sentinel.com / Fort Lauderdale, Florida – May 23, 2009 – Child Welfare Case Shows Oversight Lax Gabriel Myers came into this world shortly after his mother tested positive for Benzodiazepine, a powerful tranquilizer while she was in labor. Seven years later he was dead, his body found hanging in a bathroom of his foster-care home in Margate.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, Florida – May 22, 2009 – Florida Child Abuse is More Severe in Bad Times Every time a child dies from abuse in Florida, Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon receives an e-mail on his Blackberry. One of those messages came last month during Shaken Baby Syndrome Awareness Week, letting Sheldon know that an 8-month-old Bradenton girl died after her mother’s boyfriend shook her vigorously several times. It’s a situation Sheldon says has become more common as the economy gets worse.
- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – May 20, 2009 – Lawsuit Says Too Many Psychiatric Drugs Killed Boy The mother of a disabled boy who died in 2007 is claiming in a lawsuit the boy was overdosed by a cocktail of psychiatric drugs, including two powerful anti-psychotics. Martha Quesada, the mother of 12-year-old Denis Maltez, filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit Monday in Miami-Dade circuit court, claiming Denis’ psychiatrist, Dr. Steven L. Kaplan, and the now-shuttered Rainbow Ranch group home overmedicated Denis and failed to properly monitor his condition.

- Examiner.com / Tampa Bay, FL – May 18, 2009 – Court Rules That Florida Must Recognize Gay / Lesbian Adoptions Last week’s decision by a Florida judge requires Florida to recognize the legality of gay and lesbian adoptions finalized in other states, regardless of whether or not Florida itself allows them.

- NewsPress.com / Fort Myers, FL – May 18, 2009 – Editorial: Improvement Still DCF Goal A recent statewide quality assurance report delivered sobering news for the Department of Children and Families’ Southwest Florida office – Circuit 20 – ranking this area dead last in overall performance.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – May 13, 2009 – Lawmaker Wants Investigation of Psychiatrist Who Prescribed Drugs to 7-Year-Old Who Killed Self A powerful Florida lawmaker has asked two state agencies to investigate a Broward County psychiatrist who had been treating Gabriel Myers, a 7-year-old who hanged himself last month in the bathroom of his Margate foster home.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April 29, 2009 – DCF Hosting Summer Camps For Foster Children The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) is hosting its second annual “Camp Sib,” a five-day camp experience for separated siblings in out-of-home foster care. During the week of May 22-29, 2009, about 100 Florida foster children, ages 6-17, will spend quality time together, reunite with their siblings and enjoy fun activities at Camp La-No-Che, a Boy Scout camp, in Paisley, Florida.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – May 20, 2009 – Lawsuit Says Too Many Psychiatric Drugs Killed Boy The mother of a disabled boy who died in 2007 is claiming in a lawsuit the boy was overdosed by a cocktail of psychiatric drugs, including two powerful anti-psychotics. Martha Quesada, the mother of 12-year-old Denis Maltez, filed a wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit Monday in Miami-Dade circuit court, claiming Denis’ psychiatrist, Dr. Steven L. Kaplan, and the now-shuttered Rainbow Ranch group home overmedicated Denis and failed to properly monitor his condition.

- Examiner.com / Tampa Bay, FL – May 18, 2009 – Court Rules That Florida Must Recognize Gay / Lesbian Adoptions Last week’s decision by a Florida judge requires Florida to recognize the legality of gay and lesbian adoptions finalized in other states, regardless of whether or not Florida itself allows them.

- NewsPress.com / Fort Myers, FL – May 18, 2009 – Editorial: Improvement Still DCF Goal A recent statewide quality assurance report delivered sobering news for the Department of Children and Families’ Southwest Florida office – Circuit 20 – ranking this area dead last in overall performance.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – May 13, 2009 – Lawmaker Wants Investigation of Psychiatrist Who Prescribed Drugs to 7-Year-Old Who Killed Self A powerful Florida lawmaker has asked two state agencies to investigate a Broward County psychiatrist who had been treating Gabriel Myers, a 7-year-old who hanged himself last month in the bathroom of his Margate foster home.

- Tampabay.com – St. Petersburg, FL, – May 12, 2009 – DCF Must Do Better A little boy in foster care is dead by his own hand, but a poorly functioning child welfare system also is responsible.

- The Ledger / Lakeland, FL – May 10, 2009 – Boy’s Suicide Puts Focus On DCF Drug Oversight Last month, Gabriel Myers, age 7, died by suicide in his South Florida foster home, hanging himself on an extendable shower hose. The boy, 4 feet tall and 67 pounds, was taking two powerful psychiatric drugs at the time of his death, neither of which had been approved by his parent or a judge, as required by state law. George Sheldon, head of the agency charged with Gabriel’s care, said Friday he expects the tragedy to lead to major reforms in the state’s foster care system.

- MiamiHerald.com / Miami, FL – May 8, 2009 – Drug Limits Skirted For Foster Kids In the aftermath of a little boy’s death, child welfare chiefs acknowledge they can do better at complying with a law aimed at curbing psychiatric-drug use.

- The Florida News-Journal Online – May 2, 2009 – Bill Gives Foster Kids Access Former and current foster children could soon get access to their own records to help with their medical histories, Social Security cards, birth certificates and other information after legislation passed Friday. The bill passed the House on Friday and Senate on Thursday and will head for final approval by the governor.

- The Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – May 2, 2009 – Foster-Care Grads Still Need Help Barely out of pigtails, Suzi McQueen already was living life on the edge. At 10, child-welfare caseworkers removed McQueen and her siblings from an abusive mother, scattering the kids. After several years in a group home, she hopscotched between Central Florida foster homes. Along the way, McQueen missed big chunks of school, bore a child and mourned the baby’s death a few short weeks later. An already wobbly life derailed when she turned 18.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April 30, 2009 – State probes apparent suicide of foster child, 7 Florida’s top child-welfare administrator has appointed a work group to look into the April 16 death of Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old boy who took his own life at a Broward County foster home after a stormy nine-month odyssey through the state foster-care system.

- CBS 4 / Miami, FL – April 30, 2009 – I-Team: DCF Probes Drugs Prescribed To Foster Kids The Department of Children and Families chief apparently has found it troubling; he’s ordered an internal review of what drugs Florida foster care children receive.

- The New York Times / New York, NY – April 30, 2009 – Suit Contends City Failed to Prevent Adoption Fraud New York City violated the rights of 10 disabled children who were adopted more than a decade ago by a former Queens woman who abused them and used government subsidies meant for their care to support a lavish lifestyle, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April 29, 2009 – Child’s death was anything but a suicide Calling the death of Gabriel Myers a ‘’suicide” lets his killers off the hook. The 7-year-old was propelled by a vast conspiracy of abuse and neglect and malpractice. The boy only finished the job on April 15, when he locked himself in the bathroom of his Margate foster home and coiled a shower hose around his neck.

- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April, 27, 2009 – 7-year-old Who Killed Himself Made Death Threats Three weeks before his death, 7-year-old Gabriel Myers made a chilling threat: He said he wanted to kill himself — and another foster child in his Margate home.

- USAToday – April 27, 2009 – Would-be Parents Turn to Foster Kids as Adoption Costs Rise The recession has pushed the high cost of private adoptions out of reach for many prospective parents, prompting more of them to look into adopting hard-to-place foster children.

- St. Petersburg Times / St. Petersburg, FL – April 25, 2009 – At DCF, A Refreshing Counterpoint to Government As Usual The indictment of former House Speaker Ray Sansom and scathing grand jury report on secrecy in the Legislature casts a very troubling shadow over the state Capitol these days. For an uplifting counterpoint, look no further than George Sheldon, secretary of the Department of Children and Families, long one of the most difficult jobs in state government.

- Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – April 16, 2009 – Florida legislators propose fees that would hit your wallet hard The state’s budget crisis is about to hit Floridians where it really hurts: their wallets. Facing an unprecedented economic crisis, legislators are proposing to balance the state’s $65 billion budget with hefty fees that will touch almost everyone.

- Fort Myers News Press / Fort Myers, FL – March 24, 2009 – Help Kids, Let Gays Adopt Some gay couples in Florida have successfully parented foster children for years, with the blessing of the state. Yet despite the desperate need for adoptive homes in Florida, gays still cannot be full adoptive parents because of a 30-year-old ban grounded in ignorance and prejudice. Once again, some legislators are trying to lift the ban on gay adoption..

- Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – March 21, 2009 – Foster Kids Need a Chance at Open Government Too You’d think a teenager in the state’s foster-care system would be able to get a copy of his or her records, those important documents needed to obtain a driver’s license, apartment or job. Not so in Florida, and the irony is striking. Access to foster care records is legal, but extremely difficult. One literally needs a judge’s order to make the information public.

- Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach, FL – March 18, 2009 – Give Florida Foster Kids Their Past Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, a member of the Commission on Open Government, has filed a bill that would clarify state law to ensure that foster children get the records – free – and establish an appeals process when they don’t. The Florida Department of Children and Families supports the legislation.

- Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach, FL – March 14, 2009 – Government secrecy can prevent Florida foster children from graduating high school, preserving past. A commission appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist has urged the legislature to clarify the law and allow former foster children access to their files free of charge. The recommendation would require changes or at least tweaks to state law.

- Miami Herald / Miami, FL – March 14, 2009 – For Bob Butterworth, openness is a way of life To every office and agency he’s worked for, Bob Butterworth has brought a dedication to the idea that more gets done with transparency, observers say…Longtime observers of Florida government say Butterworth has always worked that way, first as a Broward County prosecutor, and later as head of the Florida Highway Patrol, mayor of Sunrise and state attorney general. He is credited with being the first DCF head in recent memory to open the windows to sunshine.

- Miami Herald / Miami, FL – March 2, 2009 – Welfare workers warn not reporting child abuse can be deadly Priscila Amador may have kept a deadly secret….Child welfare authorities say the Amador family’s tragedy should serve as a dire warning: Secrets can kill. Failing to report a reasonable suspicion of abuse, is not merely misguided. It’s against the law in Florida.

- News-Press / Fort Myers, FL – Feb. 22, 2009 – Foster child success story ends with military appointment People in Southwest Florida have foster-child phenom and military trainee Josh Kelchner to be proud of. Wrote one columnist, if the 19-year-old man doesn’t bring a smile to your face, “then you may never smile again.”

- Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – Feb. 11, 2009 – Florida’s Children First recognizes ‘Friends’ Florida’s Children First (FCF), the statewide legal advocacy organization focused on protecting the legal rights of at-risk children, especially children in foster care, will honor Robert “Bob” Butterworth and foster care graduate Mez Pierre at its upcoming Child Advocate Awards and Reception.

- Palm Beach Post / West Palm Beach, FL – Feb. 7, 2009 – New System Helps DCF Follow Up With Troubled Families A month after being cleared by the Department of Children and Families as safe, 21-month-old Darius Clark was found dead of an accidental drug overdose. Palm Beach County’s DCF Circuit Administrator Perry Borman launched an effort to create what became an innovative online system that allows investigators to communicate with drug treatment programs and track in real time the parents they refer there.

- First Coast News / Jacksonville, FL – Feb. 5, 2009 – New System Helps DCF Follow Up With Troubled Families – Several men, once residents at a Florida reform school, have filed a lawsuit against several state agencies, claiming they were tortured and raped during their stay there. The suit names as defendants the DCF, and the departments of Agriculture, Juvenile Justice and Corrections, as well as the alleged assailants. Gov. Charlie Crist has asked for an investigation.

- Times Union – Feb. 3, 2009 – ‘ State to Pay $2.9 Million in Nassau Foster Care Abuse Case.’ Three children sexually assaulted in a foster home a decade ago sued the Florida DCF. Conceding a settlement should have been reached long ago, the state has agreed to pay $2.9 million to three children sexually abused by older kids in a Nassau County foster home.

- Daily Business Review – Feb. 3, 2009 – ” Fla. Bar Joins Fight Against State’s Ban on Adoptions by Gays.” The Florida Bar is coming out in a big way — for gay adoption. The Bar’s board of governors voted unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting a Miami-Dade circuit judge’s ruling that declared unconstitutional the state’s ban on gay adoptions.

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- Tampabay.com – St. Petersburg, FL, – May 12, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/article1000069.ece” target=”_blank”> DCF Must Do Better </a></strong> A little boy in foster care is dead by his own hand, but a poorly functioning child welfare system also is responsible.
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- The Ledger / Lakeland, FL – May 10, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.theledger.com/article/20090510/NEWS/905119988/1374?Title=Boy-s-Suicide-Puts-Focus-On-DCF-Drug-Oversight” target=”_blank”> Boy’s Suicide Puts Focus On DCF Drug Oversight </a></strong> Last month, Gabriel Myers, age 7, died by suicide in his South Florida foster home, hanging himself on an extendable shower hose.  The boy, 4 feet tall and 67 pounds, was taking two powerful psychiatric drugs at the time of his death, neither of which had been approved by his parent or a judge, as required by state law. George Sheldon, head of the agency charged with Gabriel’s care, said Friday he expects the tragedy to lead to major reforms in the state’s foster care system.
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- MiamiHerald.com / Miami, FL – May 8, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1039522.html” target=”_blank”> Drug Limits Skirted For Foster Kids </a></strong> In the aftermath of a little boy’s death, child welfare chiefs acknowledge they can do better at complying with a law aimed at curbing psychiatric-drug use.
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- The Florida News-Journal Online – May 2, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Politics/Florida/floPOL02050209.htm ” target=”_blank”> Bill Gives Foster Kids Access </a></strong> Former and current foster children could soon get access to their own records to help with their medical histories, Social Security cards, birth certificates and other information after legislation passed Friday. The bill passed the House on Friday and Senate on Thursday and will head for final approval by the governor.
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- The Orlando Sentinel / Orlando, FL – May 2, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-darryl-owens-column-050209,0,2166354.column” target=”_blank”> Foster-Care Grads Still Need Help</a></strong> Barely out of pigtails, Suzi McQueen already was living life on the edge. At 10, child-welfare caseworkers removed McQueen and her siblings from an abusive mother, scattering the kids. After several years in a group home, she hopscotched between Central Florida foster homes. Along the way, McQueen missed big chunks of school, bore a child and mourned the baby’s death a few short weeks later. An already wobbly life derailed when she turned 18.
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- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April 30, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1024800.html ” target=”_blank”> State probes apparent suicide of foster child, 7 </a></strong> Florida’s top child-welfare administrator has appointed a work group to look into the April 16 death of Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old boy who took his own life at a Broward County foster home after a stormy nine-month odyssey through the state foster-care system.
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- CBS 4 / Miami, FL – April 30, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://cbs4.com/local/iteam.suicide.dcf.2.998614.html” target=”_blank”> I-Team: DCF Probes Drugs Prescribed To Foster Kids </a></strong> The Department of Children and Families chief apparently has found it troubling; he’s ordered an internal review of what drugs Florida foster
care children receive.
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- The New York Times / New York, NY – April 30, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/nyregion/30foster.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper ” target=”_blank”> Suit Contends City Failed to Prevent Adoption Fraud
</a></strong> New York City violated the rights of 10 disabled children who were adopted more than a decade ago by a former Queens woman who abused them and used government subsidies meant for their care to support a lavish lifestyle, according to a federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
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- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April 29, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/columnists/story/1021038.html” target=”_blank”> Child’s death was anything but a suicide </a></strong> Calling the death of Gabriel Myers a ‘’suicide” lets his killers off the hook. The 7-year-old was propelled by a vast conspiracy of abuse and neglect and malpractice. The boy only finished the job on April 15, when he locked himself in the bathroom of his Margate foster home and coiled a shower hose around his neck.
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- The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – April, 27, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/1013139.html” target=”_blank”> 7-year-old Who Killed Himself Made Death Threats </a></strong> Three weeks before his death, 7-year-old Gabriel Myers made a chilling threat: He said he wanted to kill himself — and another foster child in his Margate home.
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- USAToday – April 27, 2009 – <strong><a href=” http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-26-adoption_N.htm” target=”_blank”> Would-be Parents Turn to Foster Kids as Adoption Costs Rise </a></strong> The recession has pushed the high cost of private adoptions out of reach for many prospective parents, prompting more of them to look into adopting hard-to-place foster children.
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  • DCF Foster NewsFeed

    - The Miami Herald / Tallahassee, Florida – May 11, 2010 - Governor Signs Bill to Lift Limits on Sex Cases Florida's governor has signed a bill eliminating all time limits for filing criminal or civil action alleging sexual abuse of children. Gov. Charlie Crist signed the bill (HB 525) on Tuesday. It lifts statutes of limitations for pursuing criminal or civil sexual abuse cases in which victims are younger than 16 at the time of the abuse.

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, Florida – April 18, 2010 - Red Flags Overlooked in Prescription Drug Death of 12-Year-Old The prescription-drug death of 12-year-old Denis Maltez raises troubling questions about the state's safety net for disabled kids. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office attributed the death to a life-threatening side effect of over-medication. Attorney Howard Talenfeld urged healthcare and disability administrators in a letter to better protect disabled children, ``who are powerless to protect themselves from being unnecessarily drugged for the convenience of staff. . . . Without proper oversight and action by your respective state agencies, these individuals will continue to be in harm's way.''

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, Florida – April 17, 2010 - Amendment to Bill Targeting Foster Kids' Medication Draws Fire Critics are questioning an amendment to a bill designed to protect foster children from being inappropriately medicated with mental-health drugs. One of the largest providers of inpatient psychiatric care for Florida foster kids successfully pushed for the amendment that will make it easier for group homes and treatment centers to begin medicating foster children without the consent of a parent or judge. The original legislation was prompted by the 2009 death of a 7-year-old Margate foster child, Gabriel Myers.

    - Miami Herald / Miami, Florida – April 8, 2010 - Incest Case Raises Questions About Child Welfare Policy A case of a man accused of sexually abusing his daughter raises questions about keeping families under one roof. When child welfare investigator Simon Roberts went to the home of a 39-year-old Miami man accused of having sex with his own teenage daughter, he found the man locked in a bedroom with the girl -- both of them undressed.

    - Cape Coral Daily Breeze / Cape Coral, Florida – April 3, 2010 - Child Welfare Agency Seeks Additional Funding Officials from the Children's Network of Southwest Florida are lobbying to increase funding for foster children living in the five counties of District 8. Children served by the Children's Network receive the lowest funding out of all 20 districts, an amount that is 32 percent below the state average of per child allocations.

    - CBS News / Fort Lauderdale, Florida – March 17, 2010 - After 7-Year-Old Gabriel Myers' Suicide, Fla. Bill Looks to Tighten Access to Psychiatric DrugsFORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS/WFOR) The apparent suicide of 7-year-old boy Gabriel Myers, who was taking several psychiatric medications, has led to the introduction of a bill in the Florida legislature, which would assure that powerful mental health drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children would be more closely monitored..

    - St. Petersburg Times / Tampa Bay, FL – February 27, 2010 - Lawsuit Alleges DCF and YMCA Sent Girl into Sexually Abusive Situation The first time the Florida woman took her adoptive daughter to the dentist, an assistant asked if the girl had been sexually assaulted. "She just asked that because of how she reacted toward him,'' the girl's mother said. The abuse, which occurred when the girl was 7 years old and in foster care, could have been prevented and should have been recognized sooner, according to a suit filed in Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court that accuses the Department of Children and Families and the Sarasota YMCA of negligence and oversight failures — allegations that the DCF flatly denies. Attorney Howard Talenfeld says the girl should have never been in the Oldsmar home of Brian and Antonia Starmer, who are also named in the suit.

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – February 21, 2010 - Our Kids: Florida Foster Care System Has Improved The incredible story of how Rachelle Louis-Jeune managed to rescue her family in Haiti was heartwarming and inspirational. Sadly, her story of bouncing and drifting through 23 foster homes in four years was unacceptably common during that era (1998-2002). It is important for readers to know that Florida's foster-care system was transformed after the transition to foster care and adoption services provided by private not-for-profits in a system called community-based care. Florida ranks third in the nation in the rate of children killed by child abuse and negligence, according to a report released Tuesday by non-profit child advocacy and lobbying group Every Child Matters.

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – February 21, 2010 - Give Florida Kids a Voice in the System by Howard Talenfeld The most significant way Florida can improve the lives of at-risk children is to provide each of them with legal representation, something currently missing from our judicial system. This spring, Florida lawmakers are expected to take up consensus legislation crafted by the Florida Bar and Florida's Children First that provides attorneys to children with critical needs and to protect the rights of all children in dependency proceedings.

    - Sun-Sentinel / Fort Lauderdale, FL – February 21, 2010 - Florida DCF Employee Sentenced for Theft from ‘Vulnerable Citizens’ A former Florida Department of Children & Families employee who stole nearly $35,000 by creating dummy accounts for cash and food stamp benefits will spend five years in prison, a Broward County judge has ordered. In a prepared statement, a circuit administrator for DCF condemned Charles for stealing from "Florida's most vulnerable citizens."

    - The Daily News / Philadelphia, PA – February 16, 2010 - Ronnie Polaneczky: Florida High-Tech System Shows Promise in Tracking Children Over the past two years, Florida's Department of Children and Families has been phasing in a child-tracking program so brilliant, you gotta wonder why no one came up with it sooner: Caseworkers document each visit to a kid in DCF care by snapping a cell-phone photo of the child. The technology in these special phones not only stamps the picture with the visit's time and date but also uses GPS technology to pinpoint the place where the picture was taken.

    - The News-Press / Fort Myers, FL – February 16, 2010 - ‘Night on the Town' in Fort Myers to Benefit Foster Children Florida Repertory Theatre, Foster Care Advisory Services, and Vino de Notte restaurant are presenting "Night on the Town" Tuesday, Feb. 23 to benefit abused and neglected children in Southwest Florida. Foster Care Advisory Services has worked to fill the needs of those children since 1984.

    - The Tampa Tribune / New Port Richie, FL – February 10, 2010 - DCF to Pay $250000 in Case of Slain Pasco Child The Florida Department of Children & Families has agreed to pay settlements totaling $250,000 in the case of a 2-month-old girl who died after she was improperly placed in her biological father's care. Pasco Circuit Judge Walter Schafer approved the settlements during a hearing today.

    - Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach, FL – February 10, 2010 - Broward Nurse a Lifesaver for Haiti Victims Sent to South Florida DELRAY BEACH — Miraine Lamour was pulled from the ruins of what had been a third-floor classroom at Institut Louis Pasteur in Port-au-Prince five hours after the Haiti earthquake. Her leg was broken; her pelvis crushed. She couldn't move her legs. Lamour doesn't recall seeing a doctor for days until she wound up on the Navy medical ship Comfort.

    - ABC Action News / Tampa, FL – February 9, 2010 - Does Your Child’s Day Care Stack Up? AMPA, FL -- We trust them to care for our children, but how do you know if the daycare center you or someone in your family sends their kids to has a history of potentially dangerous violations and fines? An ABC Action News investigation has discovered that scores of daycare centers have been cited just in the last year.

    - First Coast News / Clearwater, FL – February 8, 2010 - Crist Touts State's Adoption Record More children are moving from foster care into adoptive homes than ever before, and today the governor praised the efforts that have made that possible. In 2009, there were a record 3,777 adoptions statewide, breaking the previous record set the year before. At the same time, Florida's foster care system is responsible for a third fewer children than just two years ago, totaling 19,797 as of July.

    - The Independent Florida Alligator / Gainesville, FL – February 2, 2010 - Haitian Orphans Get Help in Florida In response to Haiti’s earthquake, Florida is preparing foster homes to take in Haitian orphans by waiving homes’ occupancy limitations. In the aftermath of Port-au-Prince’s collapse, various organizations are working to get orphaned children out of Haiti and into a more stable environment. “Everyone here is sleeping in the dirt,” said Kyle Shropshire, an aid worker at an orphanage in Bon Repos, Haiti. “This is no place for a child.”

    - Florida Times-Union / Jacksonville, FL – January 22, 2010 - Jacksonville Foster Care Advocates Honored Nationally A 27-year-old man who spent his boyhood in Jacksonville's foster-care system and a child-abuse investigator who spent her career serving it have been nationally recognized for their dedication to making improvements to how it works. Former foster child Mike Dunlavy and foster parent and Florida Department of Children and Families child abuse investigator Joyce Andrews received Ruth Massinga Awards from the Casey Family Programs. Nancy Dreicer, DCF director for Northeast Florida, said the recognition is a "significant national recognition of the positive changes that we've made in foster care in Jacksonville."

    - NewsJournal Online / Volusia County, FL, January 19, 2010 - Locals, DCF Reach Out to Help Victims of Haiti Earthquake Local workers for the state Department of Children & Families are assisting in the Haiti earthquake relief effort, including receiving American citizens, many Haitian-Americans, who are arriving at Sanford and Orlando International airports from Haiti. Reggie Williams, DCF administrator in Daytona Beach, said staff members were at the airports Sunday and Monday. Workers are taking shifts, along with DCF staff from the Orlando area, to provide assistance to families, including mental health, temporary cash assistance and housing.

    - Capital News Service / Tallahassee, FL, January 19, 2010 - State Helps Haitian Orphans, Doesn’t Expect Refugees Florida is opening its ports to expatriates and orphans and is prepared to send refugees back to Haiti. More than 5,000 U.S. citizens caught in last Tuesday’s earthquake have returned to the States. “They haven’t slept in days. They are hungry, so the food banks have stepped up. The Red Cross is offering meals as they arrive,” said Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon.

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – January 18, 2010 - Schools, Shelters Get Ready – Just in Case With the devastation in Haiti, South Florida is preparing once again to play a role assisting a troubled country. Though there is no sign of an exodus of Haitians heading to U.S. shores, governments and social service agencies are preparing for the possibility.

    - The Miami Herald / Miami, FL – January 17, 2010 - How a South Florida Foster Care Tragedy Led to Reform Florida child welfare administrators had seen children in their care get raped, tortured, strangled, starved. But never before Rilya Wilson had a foster child simply vanished. Social workers across the nation still study the case as a cautionary tale for what not to do in child protection. But if Rilya's name has become synonymous with scandal, children's advocates and Department of Children & Families leaders say, it also has become a touchstone of reform.

    - E! Online – January 12, 20101 - Tiger Woods has one person sticking up for him. A Florida lawmaker is demanding the state's Department of Children and Families investigate whether someone filed a false report alleging child abuse against the disgraced golfing great and his wife, Elin Nordegren, after news broke about his sex scandal.

    - The Florida Times Union / Jacksonville, FL – January 12, 20101 - Four Cheers: Foster Care Leaders One of the proudest achievements in Northeast Florida is the fact that this area leads the state in adoptions from foster care. The success in the Jacksonville area has been a major reason why Florida leads the nation in this statistic.

    - News-Journal Online, Daytona Beach, FL / January 10, 2010 - Child's Suicide Raises Medication Questions The April 2009 death of a South Florida 7-year-old foster child, Gabriel Myers -- who was prescribed several mind-altering drugs and hanged himself in his foster home -- sparked a statewide review in November that will result in new rules and legislation in the coming months for children under foster care. "We must do better for our children," said Alan Abramowitz, former local DCF administrator and state director of the DCF Family Safety Program Office. "Medication is not the cure-all."

    - TC Palm / Treasure Coast, FL – January 5, 2010 - Editorial: DCF Must Continue to Improve its Abuse Hotline Procedures cap:In a troubling account, the Miami Herald reported that thousands of calls to Florida’s statewide abuse hotline were screened out and not referred for investigation. Among them were calls claiming kidnapping, rape, aggravated child abuse and medical neglect, some of them coming from schools, judges and day-care workers.

    - WCTV-TV / Tallahassee, FL – January 4, 2010 - Task Force to Stop Child on Child Sexual Abuse Child on child sexual abuse touches and troubles the lives of thousands of children each year and the state of Florida is launching a new effort to stop it. The Florida Department of Children and Families identified more than 8300 children as either alleged perpetrators or victims of child on child abuse from 2008 to 2009.

    - Associated Press / Miami, FL – December 3, 2009 - DCF to Strengthen Response to Hotline Calls Florida social service administrators will strengthen their response to calls for help to the state's abuse hot line after a newspaper reported that thousands of calls each month are being "screened out" and not forwarded for investigation.

    The Florida Bar News / Tallahassee, FL – December 1, 2009 - Panel Says Kids Have a Right to an Attorney Legal Needs of Children Committee supports legislation to provide children in dependency court with lawyer. “When the state takes a child out of their home and into state custody, it seems to me that every single child that is the main focus of such a process is entitled to a lawyer to represent their rights against the state,” Rosemary Barkett, U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judge, told members of The Florida Bar Legal Needs of Children Committee. “A clear signal came through loud and clear that the overwhelming consensus of this committee is that children in a dependency courtroom need lawyers,” said Howard Talenfeld, chair of the Legal Needs of Children Committee, shortly after the conference call.