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Archive for the ‘Department of Children & Families (DCF)’ Category

Department of Children and Families Pulls Child Investigation Unit from Citrus Sheriff

August 22nd, 2012   No Comments   Department of Children & Families (DCF)

In 2000, several Sheriff’s Offices across the state, including those in Hillsborough and Broward counties, began doing their own child protection services investigations. Citrus County began around 2007. No longer for Citrus, news organizations report. In a recent, first-of-its-kind move, the Florida Department of Children and Families announced it would pull the unit from the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office effective Oct. 31.

It’s not clear why the move was made, though some said it was a funding issue and one official said it was not performance related. According to Bay News 9, the Sheriff’s Office expected it would keep the unit following a decision by Gov. Rick Scott to keep Children Protection Investigations there.

“However, according to Bay News 9’s partner paper, the Citrus County Chronicle, an official with the Department of Children and Families informed the sheriff’s office that they were taking over due to budget concerns,” the news organization reported.

Did ‘Monster’ Who Stabbed Kids Reveal Flaws in Florida Department of Children and Families Process?

August 5th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

It’s a horrible case of child abuse, rape, personal injury and living a life of fear. William DeJesus’ youngest son called him the “Monster” that lurked beneath his bed — more than two years after workers with the Florida Department of Children and Families returned DeJesus’ two sons to his care. This, after the parent had been accused of molesting them. Now, the dad is dead of suicide after stabbing one boy to death and leaving a knife stuck in the other’s head.

DeJesus had been accused of beating, stabbing and raping the boy’s mother, who, in turn once told authorities the couple had repeatedly molested the boy and his older brother, the Miami Herald reported in February.

Now, Broward Sheriff’s detectives and child welfare advocates are left to investigate the pieces in an attempt to discern whether another horrible tragedy could have been avoided.

Florida Department of Children and Families: Sexual Abuse by Accused May Be Far Reaching

July 24th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Kenneth Hagins apparently is an equal-opportunity abuser. In what is unfolding as possibly a horrific episode of ongoing sexual abuse of children and adults, the one-time Central Florida youth pastor, 40, is behind bars while investigators work to determine how many people – kids, adults, even the disabled – he might have victimized.

Hagins has worked at a children’s day care, a group home for the disabled and as a youth pastor at a church. Exposure of his alleged crimes began when a young child told his parents about the sexual abuse.

“From that point it simply unraveled,” Department of Children and Families spokesperson Carrie Hoeppner said, according to News 13.

Read the entire story here.

Florida Foster Child Advocate Attorney: State Agency Plan to Add 1,200 Foster Parents Could Harm Kids

July 13th, 2012   No Comments   Adoption, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Although the Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary’s initiative to recruit 1,200 more foster parents is admirable, the plan to eliminate the rules could prove disastrous for some children. In repealing these rrules, Florida needs to remember the death of children like Nubia Barahona and Latiana Hamilton where foster and adoptive parents were directly responsible for the deaths of these children. The negligence of DCF and employees of private agencies were directly responsible for the deaths of these foster children.

According to a story in the Tallahassee Demograt, “On Thursday, Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins announced an initiative to help families care for kids temporarily taken from their families. The initiative, Fostering Florida’s Future, is a marketing campaign to recruit 1,200 new foster families and promote less-restrictive parenting rules that did little to protect children and much to discourage participation by foster parents.”

Florida had some 4,317 foster families in Florida in June, a 14 percent decline from the year before, the paper reported. “The department recruited 1,000 families last year, but more left for a variety of reasons. Some adopted the kids they fostered. Others chose not to continue as foster parents as they aged, Wilkins said.”

Read more…

DCF: 30,000 More Child Abuse Calls to Come With New Law

June 19th, 2012   No Comments   Adoption, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Under the cloud of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case, attorneys, guardians and other child welfare advocates are watching a new law that has the Florida the Department of Children and Families preparing for the prospect of thousands of new calls reporting child abuse. In October, one of the toughest child abuse reporting laws in the nation will debut in the state.

“What we’re saying to the public is – if you suspect a child is being abused or neglected by anybody contact us,” DCF spokesman John Harrell told Action News Jacksonville.

As the news organization reported, Florida law currently requires mandatory reporting of child abuse by parent or a caregiver. The new “Protection of Vulnerable Persons” law will launch DCF involvement regardless who the suspected abuser is.

“Based on our research, with this new law we’re expecting about 30,000 more calls,” Harrell told the news organization. Currently, DCF receives about 40,000 calls a year.

Read the entire story here.

Florida DCF Pays in Case of Foster Parent’s Years-Long Abuse of Children in Her Care

June 15th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Damage Claims, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

For 10 years, agents with Florida’s Department of Children and Families placed children with foster mother Nellie Johnson, despite multiple reports that she abused kids in her care, writes DCF Save Our Children blog.

It was a costly practice. The abuse grew unabated, and in 2003, Johnson was convicted of child abuse and neglect. She was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

And the state paid. Late last year, DCF agreed to pay more than $14 million to the 20 children placed in Johnson’s home. Florida child advocacy attorney Howard Talenfeld represented the children.

The payouts will resolve a federal lawsuit filed against nine DCF case workers and investigators. It also disposes of a state case filed against DCF in Alachua Circuit Court.

Read more here.

Florida Department of Children and Families Sued by Father of 3 Children Slain in Riviera Beach

March 7th, 2012   No Comments   Court Cases, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

A restraining order, verbal threats of personal injury, physical assaults, an open-and-shut investigation closed too soon by the Florida Department of Children and Families and news her estranged husband was looking to buy a handgun weren’t enough for DCF to protect Natasha Whyte-Dell and her seven children.

Then, in September 2010, the estranged husband, Patrick Dell, kicked in her door and shot dead Whyte-Dell and three of her children and injured a fourth before killing himself.

Now, Michael Barnett, father of the three children, is suing DCF for negligence. Read the entire story here.

Attorney Asks: Were Mistakes Made By Florida Department Children & Families As Father Kills, Injures Family?

February 23rd, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) – He’s a monster; that’s what one of William DeJesus sons called him, says CBS Miami. DeJesus is accused of stabbing his wife and his two young sons inside a Deerfield Beach RV, leaving his autistic 9-year-old dead. Neighbors said he also killed the man who lives here, then took his own life. It’s a violent end, to what DCF records show, was a horrific life for his children – including allegations of sexual abuse.

All of this infuriating to child advocates. “Unfortuatenly,” said attorney Howard Talenfeld, head of Florida’s Children First, “notwithstanding any of these red flags and concerns, the decision was made to return these children into harm’s way back to their parents.”

Watch the video below.

Florida Department of Children & Families & The Legacy of Nubia Barahona: When Warning Signs Must Be Taken Seriously

February 17th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

By Gloria W. Fletcher, Esq.

The South Florida murder case of Nubia Barahona had warning signs all over it. School teachers reported a thin, hungry child with a sickly appearance and who hoarded food. Social workers noted how the family rarely let them see Nubia and her twin brother, Victor.

In the end, Nubia was killed, her brother allegedly tortured – and both became the subjects of reports by commissions and blue ribbon committees. Their adoptive parents, Jorge and Carmen Barahona, stand accused of the horrific crimes.

The lessons made clear from the reports and committees and commissions: Warning signs were overlooked and opportunities were lost to save these two children.

(more…)

Panama City Child Welfare Agency Ranks Tops in Florida

January 23rd, 2012   No Comments   Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

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, Child Welfare Attorneys: Child-Welfare System Fixes Might Worsen Situation

January 21st, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

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.

Read the entire story here.

War Against Child Abuse, Deaths an Up, Down Battle in Florida, Counties

January 17th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

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.

Read the entire article here.

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