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Florida DCF Secretary Bid to Help Foster Children, Curb Dropouts, Track Abuse Could Avoid Personal Injury

September 16th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Aging Out, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

As poverty climbs, Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins says he’s working to aid foster kids, decrease high school dropouts, and better fund independent living. By the assessment of any advocate, children’s rights attorney or guardian ad litem attorney, “optimistic” isn’t typically a word associated with the DCF. “Given the state agency’s past, high-profile failings in living up to its mission to provide services to the abused, poor and downtrodden, the two rarely make it in the same sentence,” writes the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“But David Wilkins, the man who now heads DCF, is optimistic, particularly about the funding prospects DCF faces in next year’s budget. He doesn’t anticipate another round of major cuts, nor should he, given the workload the department faces, and its bureaucratic challenges in addressing them.”

Read the entire story here.

‘Age Out’ Woes: Advocates, Attorneys Fear Florida Foster Children Face Hard Times as Adults in Tough Economy

September 15th, 2011   No Comments   Aging Out, Education Issues

In Fort Lauderdale, Broward County and across Florida, foster kids who leave the system – or ‘age out’ of foster care – at 18 find themselves struggling in a tough job market. Child care advocates, legal needs attorneys, and others say internships yield work experience – but in temporary jobs. Many former foster kids also lack personal and financial “management” skills needed to be self-sufficient, independent and to thrive in the workplace.

Statewide, data shows that some 47 percent of teens in foster care graduate with a high school diploma. Across the U.S., unemployment among “aged out” foster kids hovers around 56 percent, according to an article in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Moreover, about 15 percent become homeless for one or more months within 12 months of leaving foster care, the paper reported.

“Between 2010 and 2011, about 100 teens in Broward and 80 in Palm Beach County aged out,” the paper reported. If they stay enrolled in school or meet other requirements, they may receive some $1,200 monthly from the state until they hit 23. Education, job training, finding mentors and learning life skills are key to thriving independently.

Read the entire story on aged out foster kids in the tough economy here.

Disappearance, Presumed Death of Miami Foster Child Rilya Wilson Puts Florida DCF in the Spotlight

September 10th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, Damage Claims

By Gloria W. Fletcher

The tale of Rilya Wilson is as heartbreaking as they come – even if the Florida Department of Children and Families, child care attorneys, legal advocates, guardians and others don’t know for certain the whereabouts of the Miami foster child. Wilson was 4 when she disappeared in 2000. Her case raised an uproar among child welfare advocates who let it be known that there were over 400 missing foster children like Rilya on any one day in Florida.

Although there were exhaustive efforts to find Rilya and some systemic reforms implemented to find other missing foster children, some 11 years later, no one has seen her since – and her onetime caregiver, Geralyn Graham, stands accused of kidnapping, abusing and smothering her. Indicted in 2005, she is scheduled to stand trial for first degree murder later this year.

Throughout the intervening years, the Florida Department of Children and Families has borne the brunt of criticism of its handling of such cases. Such was the case with the death of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona and the critical injuries suffered by her twin brother, Victor, allegedly at the hands of adoptive parents Jorge Barahona and his wife, Carmen. The couple faces the death penalty, if convicted.

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ChildLaw Blog: New York Child Abuse Cases Similarly Disturbing

September 6th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Adoption, Court Cases

The ChildLaw Blog writes how “Echos of the Masha Allen case play out in a New York courtroom.” The editorial focuses on the story of adoptive parent Judith Leekin, and how details of her child abuse and the personal injury it caused disabled kids “share shocking similarities to Masha Allen’s second adoption.” The writer commented that, according to the New York Times…

“More than 30 years ago, a Queens foster mother was investigated and cited for scalding a boy in her care. But despite that finding, the city did nothing in the decades that followed to prevent the woman, Judith Leekin, from carrying out one of the most brazen and disturbing child welfare schemes in recent memory.

“The failure of child welfare officials to bar Ms. Leekin from the system after that 1980 episode is one of the most striking revelations in new court reports filed in a Brooklyn lawsuit. Ms. Leekin was arrested in 2007; the authorities determined she had adopted 11 disabled New York foster children using aliases, then moved to Florida, where she subjected them to years of abuse — all the while collecting $1.68 million in subsidies from New York City until 2007.

Read the entire story here.

Florida Court Documents Reveal Judith Leekin Accused of Abusing Foster Children Back to 1980

September 1st, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

Judith Leekin, cited in Broward County, Florida, for abusing foster children, was cited for abusing a child in 1980 in Queens, N.Y. But instead of stopping future adoptions, Leekin was allowed to adopt 11 disabled New York City foster and disabled children. She reportedly abused them in St. Lucie County, Florida, more than a decade later, according to new court documents. Abuse included beating, handcuffing, forcing them to sleep in a closet, keeping them from school and refusing them medical care, Port St. Lucie police reported. She also defrauded New York state’s adoption system out of $1.68 million, according to a federal court ruling.

Read the entire story here.

Child Welfare Attorneys: Now in Florida and Federal Courts, New York Child Abuse Case Points to Lapses

August 25th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Adoption, Court Cases

The widely publicized child abuse case of Judith Leekin — and the personal injury it caused the children she cared for — has been portrayed in the media and by children’s rights attorneys as a significant breakdown in New York’s adoption system. Documents, which provide a look into her motives, are part of a 2009 civil rights lawsuit against the city brought in Federal District Court on behalf of 10 of those children (the 11th disappeared while in her care and is presumed dead), the New York Times wrote.

The Times reported, “The suit refers to the city’s child welfare system as ‘a maze of dysfunctional bureaucracy operating under unconstitutional policies and practices.’ It also charges negligence by three private organizations that had city contracts to handle some of the adoptions.”

Read the entire New York Times story of Judith Leekin here.

Victor Barahona, Florida Child Abuse Victim, in Custody Battle

August 19th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, News & Events

Victor Barahona, the Miami, Florida, boy who suffered terrible personal injury when he was tortured – and his twin sister killed – allegedly by their adoptive parents, today is in a custody battle playing out in a Miami courtroom. Florida child advocates and others are watching as a judge decides whether Victor will go to Texas relatives, or stays in Florida to await the trial of Jorge and Carmen Barahona.

“Over the past three days, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia conducted a hearing to determine who should get custody of the now-11-year-old survivor of a harrowing, yearslong ordeal in the adoptive home of Carmen and Jorge Barahona, the couple charged with killing his twin sister Nubia and torturing him,” the Miami Herald wrote.

Florida child welfare officials prefer the boy be raised by his uncle and extended family in Texas. The courts will decide.

Read the entire story of Victor Barahona here.

Florida DCF Warns to Protect Public From Drownings – a Leading Cause of Death, Personal Injury

August 18th, 2011   No Comments   News & Events

In Jacksonville, Florida, this week, a 6-year-old boy was found dead at the bottom of a pool near his Cedar Hills home. Jacksonville Police said he could not be revived. Homicide detectives said no foul play is suspected. They were investigating the circumstances of Jason Howell’s death. The Florida Department of Children and Families, who had a representative there on an unrelated matter, also was investigating the drowning.

As the third child drowning Northeast Florida in the past few weeks, DCF urged people to be cautious when children are around pools. In Florida, drowning is the leading cause of death to children under the age of 4. Read the entire story here.

Florida DCF Report on Children’s Deaths: Hot Cars, Drowning Among Causes

August 16th, 2011   No Comments   Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Reginald McKinnon’s daughter, Payton, was just 17 months when she died after being left in the family car for several hours, reports the News-Press. “Nothing can prepare you for finding your own child. It’s crippling,” said McKinnon, who accidentally left Payton strapped in her car seat in 2010 in Fort Myers. She died from excessive body temperature. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Payton was one of some 250 child deaths the agency has investigated over the past 15 years in Southwest Florida.

“DCF released an analysis of most of those deaths earlier this week. In 2010, DCF investigated 36 deaths of local children. This year, the number has hit 14, including a recent drowning of a 2-year-old boy in Collier County and a baby left in a hot car in Cape Coral,” the paper reported. Read the entire story here.

‘On Your Own But Not Alone’ – Former Foster Child, Attorney, Recover Stolen Money

August 12th, 2011   No Comments   Advocacy

This is the story of a child adopted by manipulative parents, robbed of $400,000 in life insurance money his mother left to him – and one child advocacy attorney’s successful effort to seek full recovery for the child left alone and penniless. ‘On your own but not alone’ is the story of Markus Kim and Fort Lauderdale attorney Howard Talenfeld’s pro bono quest to make things right.

As a member of the Bar’s Legal Needs of Children Committee, Talenfeld has seen horrible, deplorable crimes. Yet the 2008 call from a legal aid lawyer in New York was different. As the Florida Bar News wrote, …”that call led [Talenfeld] to Kim, a former foster child whose adoptive parents conned him out of $400,000 of life insurance money left to him by his deceased mother. Those parents took the money after Kim turned 18 — when the policy took effect — then fled to Florida, using the funds to pay off mortgages.”

Read the entire story here.

Florida Department of Children and Families: Casey Anthony’s ‘Failure to Protect’ Contributed to Caylee’s Death

August 11th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, News & Events

After a nearly three-year investigation and a comprehensive review of Caylee Anthony’s death, officials from the Florida Department of Children and Families have concluded that her death was caused, in part, by Casey Anthony’s “failure to protect” her young daughter.

Casey Anthony was acquitted in July by an Orlando, Florida, jury of murdering Caylee. In its report, DCF officials wrote, “It is the conclusion of the Department of Children and Families that [Casey Anthony] failed to protect her child from harm either through her actions or lack of actions, which tragically resulted in the child’s untimely death.”

“The nearly three-year Investigation verified three allegations classified as ‘maltreatments,’ including death, failure to protect and threatened harm,” the Orlando Sentinel reported. Read more here.

New ‘Chief Child Advocate’ Ann Scott Has Child Advocates, Attorneys Hopeful She Can Continue Florida’s Progress in Adopting its Foster Children

August 10th, 2011   No Comments   Adoption, Department of Children & Families (DCF), News & Events

Amid budget cuts and tough times for Florida’s most vulnerable citizens, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has named his wife and First Lady, Ann Scott, to the role of Florida’s “Chief Child Advocate.” Her predecessor, Jim Kallinger, made great strides in raising adoptions and lowering the number of kids in state care. Statewide and in the Department of Children and Families, tidings are tough: Funding for children and social services is low – and dropping, and needs of its most vulnerable are high – and growing.

Ms. Scott has a significant role ahead of her in advocating for the state’s most vulnerable citizens: Abused, neglected and abandoned children who end up “in the system” as foster children or seeking adoption. Former state Rep. Jim Kallinger, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, held the role as a full-time employee. Meanwhile, oversight and lapses by the DCF have resulted in lawsuits, damage claims and significant awards.

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