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With DCF Chief Out, Advocates Hope for Positive Change From Esther Jacobo

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

The abrupt resignation of David Wilkins, who as Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families was Florida’s top child welfare and social services administrator, leaves advocates for the state’s foster and at-risk children hoping better times are coming.

He left amid “an escalating scandal over the recent deaths of four small children who had a history of involvement with child-abuse investigators,” the Miami Herald wrote.

Wilkins left to “pursue opportunities in the private sector.” In his place, DCF named as interim secretary Esther Jacobo. She was the top Miami administrator and a veteran of the work of former DCF secretaries Bob Butterworth and George Sheldon.

Advocates hope Ms. Jacobo will be able to lead the agency as her former bosses once did – with the transparency, common sense and sense of urgency – and which was sorely lacking under Mr. Wilkins.



As Another Child is Injured, Department of Children and Families Scrutiny Intensifies

July 13th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Adoption, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

The Florida Department of Children and Families finds itself under increasing scrutiny as yet another child suffers serious abuse and apparent personal injury while under its watch. Child advocates and attorneys fear for the child’s future – and that of others like him.

The Sunshine State News Service asked in an article whether a Florida DCF transformation of its old system “cut too many corners”  It’s a valid and timely question.

The child most recently injured was first admitted to the hospital with a broken leg his mother claimed resulted from a fall. Workers tasked with overseeing children did not act to investigate the claims. A later cracked rib went uninvestigated. The child was nearly killed in the third incident that severed his liver.

At least one judge has had enough.

Read the rest of this entry »



South Florida Child Abuse Attorney: Rise in Children Removed From Homes Leaves Advocates Puzzled

July 8th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Commentary

Across Broward County, child advocates and children’s rights attorneys are puzzled by the growing number of children who are being removed from their homes over concerns of physical abuse and sexual abuse. Those who know the situation realize the matter likely extends beyond Fort Lauderdale to Miami and West Palm Beach.

To some advocates and attorneys who represent foster children and other at-risk kids in personal injury and damages cases, the numbers are disturbing.

“When they take a child from a family they are harmed. It’s traumatic,” Howard Talenfeld, president of advocacy group Florida’s Children First, told the Sun-Sentinel. “There are lots of things we hope they are doing before they take the children away.”

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Credentials, Transparency Lacking With Florida Department of Children and Families Investigators

July 4th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

The deaths of several children under the watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families have raised serious issues regarding the credentials – or lack thereof – of DCF investigators.

In one case, the Miami Herald reports that “The Miami child abuse investigator who resigned under pressure last May after an infant she declared ‘safe’ was later baked to death in a sweltering car had been working for two years without required certification — a violation of state law.”

In an editorial entitled, “DCF, Heal Thyself,” the Miami Herald wrote, “Something is horribly wrong with the Florida Department of Children & Families’ investigative process. Four children have died in the past six weeks alone. Their troubled parents all were known to DCF. But all four tots died while in the custody of supposed caretakers.

“In each instance, DCF had the chance to remove the child from potential danger. Instead, the agency’s overarching priority of keeping families together (too often without adequate resources or supervision) is putting kids in harm’s way….DCF Secretary David Wilkins acknowledges that mistakes were made in some of those cases. But where’s the urgency to stop returning children to abusive households? Why does this keep happening? The problems lie within DCF itself. Its investigator training lacks accountability, the quality of investigators’ work and their judgment-making ability remains hampered by Mr. Wilkins’ top-down rigidity…”

Things must change – or the pattern of children’s deaths will not.



Florida Child Advocate Attorney: Commission Needed to Review Child’s Death

July 1st, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Commentary

Watch Florida child advocate and Florida’s Children First founder Howard Talenfeld discuss one in the recent spate of deaths of children under the watch of investigators from the Florida Department of Children and Families. He calls for an “outside commission, not an inside commission” to review at least one of the deaths – in hopes of stopping even more.



Another Florida DCF Child Dies; When Will ‘Oversight’ Actually Protect the Children?

June 26th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Four children under the watch or previously known to be at-risk by the Florida Department of Children and Families have died – with others no doubt suffering personal injury and physical abuse or sexual abuse – at the hands of their families or caregivers in the past six weeks. This is a horrible statistic that points to a terrible trend that must be investigated and stopped before more children die.

The latest story: Ezra Raphael, 2, who was found non-responsive this week in his Miami-Dade County home. This comes after Florida DCF had already investigated the boy and his 22-year-old mother – and closed his case after finding no cause to remove him.

The county medical examiner has classified his death as a homicide. Read the rest of this entry »



Florida Child Abuse Attorney: Another Child, 1, Dies Who Was Known to DCF

June 20th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Another child has died. And again, in an alarming trend, the child was one known to officials at the Florida Department of Children and Families. Though the child’s death was considered “mysterious” by some, the toddler’s death is under DCF investigation.

According to news reports, the child was cold and unresponsive when found in his crib in his Cape Coral home. He was later pronounced dead at an area hospital.

A DCF report revealed that some two weeks earlier, the child arrived at an area hospital suffering multiple skull fractures. Doctors were told by his mother and her boyfriend that the boy hit his head after being knocked over by the family dog. The two gave “conflicting reports” regarding the night the boy died.

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Tampa Area Foster Care Advocates Among Honorees at Florida’s Children First Event June 13

June 15th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, News & Events

Florida’s Children First (FCF), the statewide advocacy organization focused on protecting the legal rights of at-risk and foster care children, recognized and honored Tampa area child advocates and former foster care youth at its awards reception and fundraising event on June 13.

The event, held at the law offices of Holland and Knight, was led by FCF Executive Director Christina Spudeas and FCF Deputy Director Robin Rosenberg. Host Committee Chairs included Jennifer Voss and Rosemary Armstrong. It drew more than 100 child advocates, elected officials, judges and community and business leaders. WTSP Channel 10 Anchor Grayson Kamm served as emcee.

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Florida Child Abuse Attorneys, Advocates Watch as Another Child Dies Under Agency’s Watch

June 12th, 2013   No Comments   Uncategorized

Child advocate attorneys who fight for at-risk youth are watching closely as Florida officials investigate the death of Antwan Hope, 4, who died a week after being reunited with his mother – and under the watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families and a contracted community-based care provider.

The death of the boy, whom his aunt described as “cute and innocent” and in need of being “rescued” from his situation, has left child advocate attorneys again asking questions. How could a boy already on DCF’s radar for past claims of abuse fall victim to the very abuse social workers were called in to prevent? In 2011, he was removed from his mother for her allegedly trying to suffocate him; in 2013, he’s gone after an unsupervised visit with her. Coral Springs police call his death “suspicious.”

“The boy’s distraught relatives said it was clear Antwan’s mom was disturbed and that she should not have had unsupervised access to him,” the Miami Herald reported. “‘They put him in the hands of death,’” the paper reported Antwan’s aunt, Deborah Jackson, as saying.

DCF officials, who contracted the boy’s case through a private Broward foster care agency, declined to discuss the matter. “We take child deaths very seriously, and we take this case very seriously,” spokeswoman Alexis Lambert told the Herald.

It’s a horrible story – one all too often repeated throughout Florida’s at-risk populations. Read the entire Miami Herald story here.

 



Florida Legislature Appropriates $323,000 for Medically Fragile Foster Kids, Earns Thanks from Attorneys, Advocates

May 29th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Foster Care, Funding

Advocates, guardians and attorneys for Florida’s at-risk youth are commending the Florida Legislature for approving more than $300,000 to provide legal counsel and representation to the state’s medically fragile foster children. Appropriation 744, as part of Senate Bill 1500, provides $323,000 in recurring general revenue funds for the Justice Administrative Commission to contract with attorneys selected by the Guardian ad Litem Program to represent dependent, foster children with disabilities in, or being considered for placement in, skilled nursing facilities.

UPDATE: The news was covered in a Daily Business Review story.

The need for such representation for medically fragile foster children with no parents or legal guardians has never been greater. In the past year, children in nursing homes and private residences have seen funding for vital nursing care cut. Without legal representation, it is likely these children will spend their childhood in nursing homes without any chance of living with a family, said Howard Talenfeld, president of Florida’s Children First, the state’s premier advocacy organization for foster children and at-risk youth.

“It’s been a crisis situation for children and their families, especially foster children, who have suffered significant cuts in the number of hours that skilled, private-duty nursing care is being provided,” he said. “We acknowledge the Florida Legislature for recognizing how important this money is. It represents an important step in securing attorneys who will represent these children and helping ensure they have a better chance of getting the medical care and families they desperately need.”

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Florida Child Attorneys & Advocates Celebrate National Foster Care Month

May 14th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Foster Care

May is National Foster Care Month. In Florida, foster children and their advocates, guardians, attorneys and foster families have more reasons to celebrate this annual event than ever before.

The Florida Legislature passed a “Normalcy” law that allows kids to live lives more like those of their non-foster peers. As fellow child advocate Gloria Fletcher wrote in Ocala.com, foster kids on school field trips, play dates and sleepovers required approval from case managers, at best, or at worst, fingerprints and background checks. “Some 19,000 kids in Florida foster care cannot live the life of a normal child and participate in normal childhood activities.” The new law changes that.

In another change, the Legislature extended the age that young adults “age out” of the foster care system from 18 to 21 years of age.

Amid it all, we must remember the work of dedicated foster families. Regardless of whether we step up and choose to be foster families ourselves, we should support those who do. Theirs is a vital role played in the lives of young, developing children.

As Florida and the nation celebrate National Foster Care Month, we have reason to celebrate indeed.



Florida Youth Shine: We Came, We Spoke, They Voted – Thank you to Florida’s Legislators

May 10th, 2013   No Comments   Advocacy, Aging Out, Legislative & Regulatory Issues

A note from Florida Youth Shine: Since 2010, Florida Youth Shine has been working with on bills that would ensure normalcy while in care and that would extend foster care to 21. As a part of our outreach, you all have come to the Capitol time after time to share your stories during meetings with legislators, for conversations with Senate staff, and to testify countless times before House and Senate committees.

This year, in partnership with the Guardian ad Litem program, your hard work paid off during the 2013 legislative session when “The Quality Parenting Act” and the “Nancy C. Detert Common Sense and Compassion Independent Living Act” were passed in both the House and Senate. Congratulations to all of our members of Florida Youth SHINE who have shared their story and their voice over the last 3 years. You did it!

A special FYS thank you goes out to Senator Detert for sponsoring both of these wonderful bills in the Senate and to the entire Senate for co-sponsoring SB 1036 on Independent Living. We also send a heartfelt thank you to Representative Albritton for sponsoring The Quality Parenting Act, Representative Perry for sponsoring HB 1315 on Independent Living, and to so many of our Representatives who signed on as co-sponsors to both of these bills.

These substantial changes became law because of you. We came together to identify these challenges, we spoke to our legislators and shared our stories, and they voted in favor of a stronger support system for each of you. Congratulations for being part of Florida’s history!

Read FYS’s entire newsletter here.

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