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DCF Risk Factor List Aims to Prevent Child Abuse, Death

September 19th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

For Florida children abused or subjected to sexual abuse, physical abuse, personal injury or even wrongful death, a new program from the Florida Department of Children and Families could be the change the agency is hoping to implement after a spate of 20 deaths of children known to DCF officials.

DCF’s new guidelines may to allow it to respond more quickly when a child is in danger. DCF’s new Rapid Safety Feedback follows a study of child injuries and deaths and is on the heels of DCF family investigations.

Hillsborough County was the first to use the new guidelines, that call for caseworkers to look for risk factors, including the parents’ age, evidence of drug use or the presence of an unrelated boyfriend in the home, notes news reports.

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Former Foster Children From Florida Youth Shine Speak Out at Statewide Events

September 10th, 2013   No Comments   Adoption, Advocacy, Aging Out, Florida Youth Shine

What can you learn from a child or young adult? Listen and you’ll see. Members of Florida Youth Shine, who are current and former foster children, spent their summer speaking to child advocates throughout Florida, and working in the nation’s capital. They shared information about independent living legislation and other issues affecting foster kids.

The “Voice of the Youth” series took the young adults across the state to share their stories.

They spoke at trainings sessions, statewide committee meetings, and to the media that covers child advocacy issues.

In the past weeks, 22 Florida Youth Shine members actively participated in two workshops at The Department of Children and Families Child Dependency Summit in Orlando. There to learn, advocate and learn about leadership building, they also presented at workshops and served on panel discussions.

Among the events in which Florida Youth Shine members participated were:

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Florida’s Child Protection Summit Must Deliver Results, Not Promises

August 30th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

For an organization whose mission it is to protect the state’s most vulnerable citizens, the Florida Department of Children and Families has done a poor job of late. Child protection advocates and children’s rights attorneys who fight cases of physical abuse, sexual abuse, personal injury and even wrongful death have watched in horror as news reports revealed some 20 children had died under the watch or oversight of DCF. While the organization might not have actively been involved in each case, each child had – at some time – been known to the agency.

Now, the agency is looking for answers.

One step is the annual Child Protection Summit in Orlando, which was held this week. It offers DCF a chance to promote and kick-start improvements to the agency. Some called DCF’s current state “one of its periodic low points.” Former chief David Wilkins resigned in August amid reports of the inexplicable surge in child abuse and neglect deaths.

 

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Outrage Widespread As Leaders, Advocates Seek Answers in Florida DCF Children’s Deaths

August 22nd, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

From Florida to California, outrage and coverage has been widespread in Florida’s ongoing story regarding the abuse and wrongful deaths of 20 children under the watch of Florida Department of Children and Families and their community-based care providers.

This week, Florida Senator Eleanor Sobel, chairwoman of Florida’s Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee, and the South Florida legislative caucus held a Town Hall Meeting to explore the issue. What legislators and attendees learned is that while DCF was outsourcing care of the state’s kids, it was at the same time slashing oversight.

“[DCF] slashed 76 family-safety positions in 2011 as part of statewide budget cuts, including 17 quality-assurance posts, leaving DCF with a ‘fuzzy picture’ of the work performed by child-protective investigators and private, contracted caseworkers,” the San Francisco Chronicle quoted leading child advocacy attorney Howard Talenfeld as saying. Talenfeld is the founder and president of Florida’s Children First, the state’s premier child advocacy organization.

This is the first step in a long journey. It’s one that must be taken by us all – as our children’s lives are at stake.



Florida Senator Eleanor Sobel to Host Town Hall Tuesday to Explore Rash of Child Deaths Under DCF Watch

August 19th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Due to the recent rash of child deaths, the Legislative Caucuses of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are hosting a tri-county delegation Town Hall Meeting. Department of Children and Families Interim Secretary Esther Jacobo will attend. The details are as follows:

Tuesday, August 20
5:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Performing Cultural Arts Theatre
Broward College South Campus, Building 68B
7200 Pines Blvd. Pembroke Pines, FL 33024

According to a press release, “The death of seven children in less than three months in our State is simply unacceptable,” said Sen. Eleanor Sobel. “We need to identify where the problems exist within the system and address them immediately.”

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An Unspeakable and Hidden Horror: DCF Records Reveal Florida Children Suffering ‘Untold Story of Abuse and Neglect’

August 18th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Florida child advocates, guardians and attorneys who represent and protect the state’s most vulnerable children from physical abuse, sexual abuse and other harm were horrified with the spate of seven deaths in recent months – children all under the watch of Florida Department of Children and Families.

It appears that was a fraction of the horror happening to the state’s at-risk children.

The deaths of 20 children in recent months – all of whom were known to DCF reiterates the fact that the agency lacks any transparency, quality assurance, data and accountability. It further reinforces the belief of advocates that, as implemented, privatization of services has been a failure – and that DCF has hidden horrific outcomes.

The latest news comes from a Miami Herald investigation that uncovered the deaths of 20 children, all of whom had been reported to DCF as having been abused or living amid potentially violent circumstances.

The news of seven deaths cost former DCF Chief David Wilkins his job. How will DCF respond to the actual tally: That 20 children with child protection histories have died since April?

We applaud Florida Senator Eleanor Sobel for being out front on this situation and calling for this Tuesday’s hearings on this egregious situation. What her committee will discover is that these deaths are the tip of the iceberg. We are still seeing an epidemic of physical and sexual abuse.

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‘Transformation’ at Florida Department of Children and Families Ineffective in Protecting State’s At-Risk Youth from Harm, Death

August 15th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Commentary

Florida children’s rights attorneys and child advocates who work to protect at-risk children from sexual abuse, physical abuse and wrongful death have recoiled in horror at the deaths of four children in as many months. That the children died at the hands of caregivers or family is sad. What’s worse is that all were known to administrators at Florida Department of Children and Families and their contracted community-based care providers as being in risky situations. All their cases were closed without remedy.

Now, DCF is promising a “transformation” of its practices.

The missing component here is any lack of coherent protective services for the children. There have been no long-term involvement to ensure the children’s ongoing safety or removal from risky situations. All this, even though investigators in every case identified the risks to the children.

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Amid Two More Child Deaths, Florida DCF Ponders Working with Sheriffs for Investigations

July 31st, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Foster child attorneys and at-risk youth advocates have watched in horror as the Florida Department of Children and Families – and its community based care providers – have been wracked by at least four children’s deaths in the past few months. All were known by DCF and its partners to be in risky settings of abuse or neglect that had been investigated – and determined to be suitable for the children’s safety.

Add two more to the list. Dakota Stiles, a toddler, drowned in a grime-darkened pool at his family’s filthy home, deemed such by investigators themselves. Cherish Perrywinkle, 8, allegedly was raped and strangled by a registered sex offender befriended by her mother. Read the Miami Herald story here.

Sadly, their deaths – but not the agency’s awareness of their situations – came under the watch of interim DCF secretary, Esther Jacobo. She assumed the post after the resignation of then-Secretary David Wilkins.

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Florida Child Abuse Attorney Sounds Alarm for Continued Change at DCF

July 25th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Howard Talenfeld is a leading advocate for Florida’s foster children and attorney representing those who have been physically abused, sexually abused, harmed or even who died at the hands of family or community based agencies while under the watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families. Most recently, he has sounded the alarm regarding continued abuse of vulnerable kids statewide.

His most recent letters to the editor have run in:

The Miami Herald

The Palm Beach Post

The Tampa Times

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The publications are different, but the message told across Florida is the same: The Department of Children and Families must step up its care and protection of children under its watch. Investigators must be licensed and watched. CBC agencies must be held accountable. And DCF must pursue the policy of “transparency, common sense and a sense of urgency” needed to ensure Florida’s kids remain safe.



Calls For Reform Grow Louder: DCF Chief Resignation First Step

July 23rd, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

The deaths of four children under the watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families – as horrific a market as that is – wasn’t the end of the abuse and death of kids under DCF’s care. Another child, Jayden Villegas, died this Sunday. When will the dying end?

Steps are being made, though not necessarily all were at the hands of DCF itself. First, DCF Chief David Wilkins stepped down from the agency. The Miami Herald excoriated the agency in an editorial this week.

Then, a host of papers carried news of a judge ordering of DCF to transfer child-protective investigations. Markets included papers in Tampa, Tallahassee and elsewhere.

One can only hope this is the start of wholesale, dramatic and substantive change at DCF. The kids’ lives still depend on it – no matter how much “change” administrators will say already has been made.



Children’s Rights Attorneys: U.S. Sues Florida for ADA Violations Over Cutting Care, Habitually Placing Fragile Kids in Adult Nursing Homes

July 22nd, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

To children’s rights attorneys and lawyers who have fought and sued to protect at-risk and medically needy children’s civil rights and for damage claims, a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against Florida healthcare agencies was welcome news.

In the face of continued spending cuts, questionable practices and corrective measures one children’s rights attorney called “window dressing,” the U.S. Department of Justice this week filed a civil rights lawsuit claiming the state has been violating the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act.

The suit seeks to halt the state’s practice of “warehousing” disabled minor children in adult nursing homes, sometimes even when parents were willing to provide suitable home-based care, with the assistance of necessary caregivers. Funding for such caregivers was deeply cut in recent years, even as funding for questionable institutional care was increased.

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Does DCF Chief Shake-Up Mean Change Is Coming For Florida’s At-Risk Kids?

July 21st, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

It’s been a deadly time for children under the watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families and the community-based care or “lead” agencies charged with keeping kids safe. Four children have died from abuse or neglect in the last three months.

In the cases of 5-month-old Bryan Osceola, 2-year-old Ezra Raphael, 4-year-old Antwan Hope, and 1-year-old Fernando Barahona, DCF or its contracted agencies knew about threats to health or safety in the children’s homes. Yet, caseworkers and investigators approved visits or the children’s continued placement in dangerous settings. Some caseworkers falsified reports; some weren’t even certified to work for the agencies. Read Howard Talenfeld’s Letter to the Tampa Bay Times.

Now – finally – there’s hope that things may change. On Thursday, embattled DCF Secretary David Wilkins resigned. He was replaced by interim Secretary Esther Jacobo, who most recently served as DCF regional managing director for Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

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