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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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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.

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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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