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Rilya Wilson’s Death: Lessons Learned 10 Years On…

December 3rd, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Commentary

Gainesville, Florida, child advocate attorney Gloria Fletcher’s letter to the editor regarding Rilya Wilson’s senseless death was widely published. It raises key questions regarding the child abuse and wrongful death likely suffered by the young girl. The text of the letter follows…

Ten years after the disappearance of little Rilya Wilson, what have Floridians learned about her fate and the future of others in state’s child welfare system? What do we know about the system itself – and whether reforms have made kids any more safe?

It’s hard to say what we’ve learned. As the first-degree murder trial of her Rilya’s caretaker, Geralyn Graham, gets underway in Miami this week, too many questions linger about Rilya, Graham and the Department of Children and Families.

The state will plead its case for charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated child abuse against Graham, who in 2000 took in the 4-year-old foster child.

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Newspaper Editorial: ‘Warehousing’ Disabled Children in Florida Adult Nursing Homes Not a Solution

November 26th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy

Child care advocates and those who fight for the legal rights of at-risk children have watched in horror as these kids have suffered physical abuse, sexual abuse, personal injury and wrongful death in various settings while under state care. So the Miami Herald editorial chastising the state for the practice of placing disabled youths in adult nursing homes is all the more alarming.

The editorial began: “Here’s how the state of Florida justifies its practice of warehousing severely medically challenged children in nursing homes: ‘They are strictly regulated to ensure that the appropriate services are provided specifically for children,’ noted part of a defensive statement from the state Agency for Health Care Administration. ‘They provide a safe, secure and enriching environment for the children in their care.’

“State health officials, then, might deign to consider Doris Freyre’s experience,” the paper continued, “Marie, her profoundly disabled daughter, was sent to a nursing home at the insistence of social workers. Marie was 14. The Tampa mom had lovingly cared for her at home since birth…Marie died in that Miami Gardens nursing home, struggling to breathe. None of the staff members thought enough to call a doctor.”

Read the entire editorial here. Then decide for yourself if warehousing at-risk kids is any solution.

Questions About Florida Department of Children and Families Surround Murder Trial of Caretaker of Foster Child Rilya Wilson

November 25th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Child advocates and child welfare attorneys are watching closely as a trial sparked by the disappearance of a young girl gets started. In the balance hangs how the state tracks youths – and how lawsuits, damages and personal injury stemming from children being physically abused or sexually abused, neglected or the subject of wrongful death may hold the state accountable.

As the murder trial starts for Geralyn Graham – the caretaker for foster child Rilya Wilson, who was last seen alive more than a decade ago while under the supposed watch of the Florida Department of Children and Families – many questions remain.

Rilya’s body has never been found. It had been more than a year since a state worker last saw the child. She’s long since been presumed dead. But the impact of this little girl has been dramatic upon Florida DCF, its leadership and the way kids under its watch are actually watched, documented and protected.

DCF went through an administrative house cleaning after news of Rilya’s disappearance emerged. Hearings were held. DCF employees were fired; the top administrator in Miami resigned and the DCF secretary left. A report was issued. The Florida Legislature got involved.

Advocates demanded transparency and accountability from the organization. Maybe this case will help deliver both. Read a Miami Herald article on the case here.

Children’s Rights Attorney: Child’s Death in Nursing Home a Civil Damages Case; Feds Investigating

November 11th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, Damage Claims

The death of Marie Freyre – a 14-year-old child with cerebral palsy and prone to seizures – is a sad example of a preventable wrongful death that attorneys believe could result in a civil damages case and damage claims. One newspaper called her example a “bitter reminder of a dog fight” being waged between federal civil rights lawyers and the state health administration officials who attorneys and advocates accuse of warehousing sick and disabled children in adult nursing homes.

The agencies responsibility for cutting private duty nurses to Marie and others like her must be held accountable civil damages cases.

“The U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights division has threatened to sue the state if it does not take steps to care for sick children outside of large institutions,” the Miami Herald wrote.

“Records obtained by The Miami Herald from the state agency that has defended the practice of housing children in nursing homes, as well as records from other agencies and advocacy groups, show the children in such facilities often receive little education, are provided few activities and can suffer grievous neglect,” the paper reported. “Two of the six nursing homes that house children are on the state’s ‘watch list’ of deficient facilities; one is on both the state list and a federal “special focus” list of marginal homes.”

Read the entire story here.

Newspaper Pursues Claims of Abuse ‘In God’s Name’ at Florida’s Unlicensed Religious Children’s Homes

October 30th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

This investigative series from the Tampa Bay Times explores the sad story of unlicensed religious children’s homes in Florida. While most promise righteousness through military-like exercise and recitation of Scripture, the stories reveal claims of practices that border on or include physical abuse, personal injury, wrongful death and other actions. It also highlights responses and findings from the Florida Department of Children and Families. For many advocates, guardians or attorneys keen to protect the rights of foster children or any in Florida’s at-risk population, the package deserves reading. Visit the entire package here.

(UPDATE) According to the Lakeland Ledger, the DCF promises to investigate the situation.

Complaint: Carlton Palms Halfway House & School for Severely Disabled a Home For Child Abuse, Beatings

October 27th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

Child advocates and attorneys are alarmed that Carlton Palms Education Center, a halfway house and school for severely disabled people in Lake County, Florida, was accused in a complaint filed by state officials alleging that residents were being choked, beaten and dragged across the floor.

The state is petitioning the court to prevent Carlton Palms from accepting new patients. Worries exist over the possible extent of personal injury, physical abuse and other harm coming to the residents. Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities’ records reveal that since 2010, at least eight cases of confirmed abuse have been reported. “At least three of those cases this year led to felony arrests,” reported the Orlando Sentinel.

The paper continued, “Law-enforcement reports, as well as complaints filed by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, tell of disabled people who were bruised and battered by employees.”

Read the entire story here.

Child Sexual Abuse Blog: When Authority Figures Are Abusers

October 22nd, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

The following column by North Central Florida / Gainesville child advocate, foster child, and child sexual abuse attorney and criminal defense lawyer Gloria Fletcher appeared last week in newspapers in Gainesville and Ocala. The message – about the horror of child sexual abuse by “authority figures” like former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and Florida pastor James Harris – is equally terrifying no matter where the crimes occur.

Lost in the news of former Penn State University assistant coach Jerry Sandusky being sentenced to between 30 and 60 years for his conviction of sexually abusing young boys was equally disturbing news about James Harris, the Belle Glade, Florida, pastor convicted of sexually abusing teenage boys under his watch – and sentenced this week to 30 years in prison.

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Florida Law Spurred by Penn State University, Sandusky Child Sex Abuse Scandal Takes Effect

October 2nd, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy

From the horrific child sex abuse, personal injury, damages and personal liability stemming from the Penn State University and Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal comes Florida’s abuse reporting law. Considered among the most stringent in the country, the new Protection of Vulnerable Persons law requires that anyone suspecting a child has been the victim of abuse must report their suspicions to the state Abuse Hotline (1-800-962-2873 – or 911 if the danger is immediate). Formerly, only if the suspected abuser was a parent or caregiver was reporting required.

This is a good change – one advocates, attorneys and guardians hope will keep at-risk children free of sexual or physical abuse. For far too long, we’ve operated under the false impression that abuser were those closest to the children. Sometimes, as we learned with Sandusky and Penn State, the abuser may be a trusted individual- but still not family or a caregiver.

“This law will help ensure all allegations of a child being harmed are immediately investigated by the appropriate agency,” David Wilkins, Department of Children and Families Secretary, said. “Reporting child abuse is our moral and legal obligation.”

Florida Children’s Rights Attorney: When Abused Fight Back – Sandusky Victim Files Suit Against Penn State

August 25th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Damage Claims

First, the victims in the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse case spoke up about the horror they endured at the hands of a trusted adult and admired college football coach. Now, one is fighting back against Penn State. The result of a court case could be damage claims for personal injury suffered by this victim – and possibly others. 

The victim, whose allegations in 2009 launched the investigation and criminal case, filed suit this week against the school, alleging the school knew of Sandusky’s actions and actively worked to shield him. Known as Victim 1, his lawsuit describes university administrators’ actions as ‘‘a function of (Penn State’s) purposeful, deliberate and shameful subordination of the safety of children to its economic self-interests, and to its interest in maintaining and perpetuating its reputation.’’

What happened at Penn State is a horrible, terrifying example of abuse of trust and power. What’s happening now is the expected and reasonable response by a victim who was abused by a sexual predator – and an organization that allegedly sought to cover up his crimes.

In June, Sandusky, 68, was convicted 45 counts for sexual abuse of 10 boys. Now, the school awaits a trial of its own.

Read the whole story here.

Did ‘Monster’ Who Stabbed Kids Reveal Flaws in Florida Department of Children and Families Process?

August 5th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

It’s a horrible case of child abuse, rape, personal injury and living a life of fear. William DeJesus’ youngest son called him the “Monster” that lurked beneath his bed — more than two years after workers with the Florida Department of Children and Families returned DeJesus’ two sons to his care. This, after the parent had been accused of molesting them. Now, the dad is dead of suicide after stabbing one boy to death and leaving a knife stuck in the other’s head.

DeJesus had been accused of beating, stabbing and raping the boy’s mother, who, in turn once told authorities the couple had repeatedly molested the boy and his older brother, the Miami Herald reported in February.

Now, Broward Sheriff’s detectives and child welfare advocates are left to investigate the pieces in an attempt to discern whether another horrible tragedy could have been avoided.

Florida Department of Children and Families: Sexual Abuse by Accused May Be Far Reaching

July 24th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Kenneth Hagins apparently is an equal-opportunity abuser. In what is unfolding as possibly a horrific episode of ongoing sexual abuse of children and adults, the one-time Central Florida youth pastor, 40, is behind bars while investigators work to determine how many people – kids, adults, even the disabled – he might have victimized.

Hagins has worked at a children’s day care, a group home for the disabled and as a youth pastor at a church. Exposure of his alleged crimes began when a young child told his parents about the sexual abuse.

“From that point it simply unraveled,” Department of Children and Families spokesperson Carrie Hoeppner said, according to News 13.

Read the entire story here.

Florida Child Advocate Attorney: Sandusky Case Begs Questions Be Asked – and Answered

July 20th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Commentary, Court Cases, Sexual Abuse

As we’ve already seen and written on this blog, child advocates and foster child attorneys are taking some time to address fall-out from the Jerry Sandusky guilty verdict. As the Penn State University former assistant coach awaits sentencing on his conviction for child sexual abuse, the rest of us have our own lessons to learn. The simple lessons are to listen, act and change the way we view others.

In short, Listen to those who claim abuse. Act on what you hear. Remember, no one – from “trusted” football coaches to priests to neighbors, teachers and others in positions of trust or responsibility – can be beyond suspicion.

Child advocate attorney Howard Talenfeld wrote this essay for the Daily Business Review. Its lessons couldn’t be more clear.

 

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