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Media Reports on DCF Lawsuit by Boy Sexually Abused, Knifed by Father

September 25th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

South Florida and regional media have been keenly interested in news of a then 7-year-old boy who had been sexually abused and later was knifed by his father suing the Florida Department of Children and Families and four contracted agencies Monday for negligence.

The man also killed his then-9-year-old autistic son and a stranger, before committing suicide. Children’s rights attorneys note that the episode is indicative of larger issues within Florida’s child protection system. DCF has long sought to preserve and reunify troubled families, instead of protecting children facing sexual abuse or physical harm at home, reported the Miami Herald.

There was a mountain of evidence against that father, whose two other children had been removed from his care years ago in New York for the same type of sex abuse allegations, and Florida’s agency was aware of that,” WIOD News Radio cites attorney Joel Fass as saying.

“All the warning signs — including past allegations of abuse — were there regarding De Jesus; no one seems to have read them,” wrote the Broward New Times.

Child Advocate Attorneys Sue Florida DCF on Behalf of Boy Knifed by Pedophile Father, Suit Claims Agency Knew Potential for Harm

September 24th, 2013   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

In a violent, murderous rampage that one local newspaper called a “bloodbath,” a child was left with a knife embedded in his skull, his autistic brother and a stranger killed – and his pedophile father and perpetrator of the violence dead of suicide. The Florida Department of Children and Families could have predicted the 2012 outburst, given the man’s history of physical abuse and sexual abuse against his children.

The boy’s child advocate attorneys, Howard Talenfeld and Joel Fass, both shareholders with Fort Lauderdale law firm Colodny, Fass, Talenfeld, Karlinsky, Abate & Webb, filed suit in Broward County Circuit Court Monday, the Miami Herald reported today.

The lawsuit claims the 2012 event at the Deerfield Beach trailer park resulted from the state returning the boy to his parents. The agency already had removed the boys from the care of the parents, who had been accused by several sources of repeatedly molesting the boy, despite growing evidence and reports the boy was terrified of his parents. A half-brother reportedly even warned agency officials of the man’s sexual assaults on him when the man lived in New York.

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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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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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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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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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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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