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Archive for the ‘Abuse’ Category

Serious Red Flags Missed in Death of Hollywood Boy: Florida Child Abuse Lawyer

May 3rd, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

South Florida child abuse attorney and child sexual abuse lawyer Howard Talenfeld was interviewed this week on CBS News regarding the case of 3-year-old Ahziya Osceola. The Seminole Indian boy was discovered abused and dead in his Hollywood home after his family had reported him missing. Now, charges have been filed against his father and stepmother – and questions have been raised about how child protective service providers CHildNet, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Children and Families failed to communicate with one another to ensure Ahziya was safe.

As was made clear in the reporting and Talenfeld’s interview, Ahziya’s case was well known by various organizations. But the sharing of information critical to ensuring his safety was “inconsistent and insufficient.”

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A Sad Refrain: Broward’s Privatized Child Abuse System Does Not Protect Abused Children

April 30th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

It’s becoming an all too common refrain in Florida. Gabriel Myers, Tamiya Audain, Antwone Hope and now Ahzia Osceola, each slipped through the cracks of Broward’s Child welfare system and died.

A child dies or suffers serious child abuse, sexual abuse or neglect at the hands of his parents, guardians or caregivers. Once the Department of Children and Families launches its investigation, it’s discovered that the child was known to be at risk by ChildNet, Broward child investigators, and many others, but little to nothing was done to protect the child.

This sad refrain has come true again in the case of 3-year-old Ahziya Osceola. Though abuse investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office saw the signs of repeated abuse – bumps, bruises, fingerprints, scratches and abrasions on little Ahziya’s body – they failed to act or even acknowledge the “a pattern of repeat injuries” outlined in a report released this week by the Department of Children and Families.

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South Florida Child Abuse Lawyer: Society Must Do Better Than Letting Children Suffer in Closet

April 20th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Imagine living life locked in a closet, deprived of food, medical care, even the use of a bathroom. Now imagine being a child or young teen suffering such child abuse and neglect. This tale emerged as police in Palm Beach County arrested a couple who kept their two children, now ages 12 and 17, locked up in a closet. No matter how much attention child advocates and foster child abuse attorneys try to focus on the harm and horrors inflicted on our children, the abuse and neglect continue.

In this case, police say the children would be locked in the closet in their Riviera Beach home for days on end, and nobody would notice they were missing. One child eventually was able to escape and reach a friend.

Police have arrested Quincy Hazel Sr., and Sabrina Golden-Hazel, both 44, accusing them of depriving the children of medical care and food for years. They’re accused of neglect of a child causing great bodily harm and both were in the Palm Beach County Jail on $100,000 bail. Still, police are unsure if the couple were the children’s parents.

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Florida Foster Child Abuse Lawyer Earns Top Rating from Peers for 29th Consecutive Year

April 13th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, News & Events

Fort Lauderdale attorney Howard Talenfeld has been designated a AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated attorney by Martindale-Hubbell. The rating attest to Talenfeld’s legal ability and professional ethics based on the opinions of other lawyers, client review ratings, self-reported professional credentials and other fact-based performance data.

Talenfeld is Florida’s premier foster child advocacy, child abuse and sexual abuse attorney exclusively representing children who have been harmed while under the care or watch of child welfare agencies or state-contracted childcare organizations.

He today is managing partner of Talenfeld Law Group LLC, a Fort Lauderdale-based firm protecting the rights of abused, neglected and disabled children.

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Lauren’s Kids Report: Child Sexual Abuse Costs Florida Billions of Dollars

March 11th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, News & Events

Florida child sexual abuse attorneys and advocates who work to protect victims of abuse know the costs of such harm go far beyond what’s typically reported. Child sexual abuse is a billion-dollar drain on Florida’s economy. It’s cost is immeasurable to the health, welfare and well-being of Florida’s children who are victims of sexual abuse and physical abuse.

A recent study, from child sexual abuse awareness organization Lauren’s Kids, found that 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys have experienced or will experience child sexual abuse (CSA). The numbers are far too high, and society must do far more to help lower the numbers – and protect children.

According to the report, “children are most vulnerable to sexual abuse between the ages of 7 and 13, yet most cases of child sexual abuse go unreported.” In Florida alone in 2012, 67,087 cases of child abuse and maltreatment were investigated. It is believed that countless more instances of such abuse were unreported. For the state’s 205,000 third graders alone, for example, upward of 31,000 will become victims.

The figure is astronomical, heartbreaking and economically devastating for victims and their families.

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Florida Child Abuse Attorney: News Stories Reveal Foster Care Privatization Experiment Failing Nationwide

March 7th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Court Cases

Among Florida foster child abuse attorneys and child advocates from Miami and Fort Lauderdale to throughout the state, it’s no secret that the Florida Department of Children and Family’s experiment in privatization of child welfare services has been a failure. Hundreds of children, many known to DCF officials to be at risk, have died at the hands of caregivers while agency supervisors or employees stood by. Many others suffered horrible sexual abuse, physical abuse or emotional trauma.

Now, a recent study reveals the failed experiment of privatization of child welfare stretches nationwide.

In its investigative report, Fostering Profits, online news organization BuzzFeed News identified sex abuse and blunders in screening, training, and overseeing foster parents at the nation’s largest for-profit foster care company.

Court documents revealed that abuse at one facility contracted by National Mentor Holdings resulted in “blunders in screening, training, and overseeing its foster parents” were “not limited to a few tragic cases but are widespread.”

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In Florida and US, Child Welfare Privatization is a Failed National Experiment

February 26th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Commentary, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Florida’s child welfare experiment in the privatization of child care and oversight has proven to be a failure. Children suffer sexual abuse, physical harm, and – as a Miami Herald expose revealed – death, even of those children known by the Florida Department of Children and Families to be at risk. As attorneys and lawyers for at-risk children in the child welfare system know, no data supports the cause of privatization. And Florida is not alone.

Talenfeld - Alexendria HillIn a sad tale of child abuse and capital murder similar to some of those we’ve witnessed in Florida, 2-year-old Alexandria Hill of Texas died in 2013 at the hands of a foster parent hired to care for her by a company hired, in turn, by the state to oversee her care. Read her story here.

The story, “The Brief Life and Private Death of Alexandria Hill,” reports that Alex was removed from her parents, in part, because the father admitted to smoking marijuana after he put her to bed in the evening. She was placed with a former crack addict and an out-of-work bus driver, the article claims, paid by a billion-dollar contractor just over $44 a day to be “mentors” to two foster children.

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Domestic Violence Must Join Child Abuse, Sexual Abuse as Red Flags in DCF Cases

February 11th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Any child advocate or child abuse attorney who fights to protect children from child abuse or other harm knows the confluence of domestic violence, substance abuse and mental illness create a toxic cocktail that can place children in harm’s way. Little Phoebe Jonchuck, 5, reportedly was surrounded by all three. She no doubt knew the horrors. Problem is, those who are paid to protect children like Phoebe missed the signs.

Word that John Jonchuck, the father who allegedly threw his daughter off a bridge into Tampa Bay in January, reportedly had been cited for alleged domestic violence, battery and stalking raises yet another red flag in the case of Phoebe.

Sadly, though his history was known, it didn’t sound alarms among officials at the Florida Department of Children and Families or those who granted Jonchuck custody of his daughter. One child advocate called hers “a preventable death.”

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Department of Children Rapid Response Team Report Cites Faults in Jonchuck Case

February 10th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

After reading news accounts of the report issued this week by the Department of Children and Families in the case of Phoebe Jonchuck, the 5-year-old girl killed when her father allegedly tossed her into Tampa Bay, Florida child abuse attorneys and lawyers who represent at-risk children believe ample blame and areas of improvement exist as lessons from this episode. From operators at the Florida Child Abuse Hotline (1-800-962-2873) to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department to DCF itself, the report highlights what went wrong – and where areas of improvement exist – so future cases like Phoebe’s don’t happen again.

Among the most important points, at least two calls to the state’s abuse hotline were not escalated for intervention. One came in December, the other on January 7, one day before Phoebe drowned in Tampa Bay.

The family was not recommended to receive intervention by family service advocates following a call in 2013 warning about abuse to Phoebe. When the Sheriff’s Office did intervene following a call, they reportedly failed to refer the family for intervention as well.

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Advocacy Group Names Child Abuse Attorney, Foster Child Lawyer Howard Talenfeld Named ‘Champion for Children’

January 28th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, News & Events

Pioneering children’s rights attorney and child physical abuse and sexual abuse lawyer Howard Talenfeld was profiled recently for his being named a Champion for Children by Florida’s Children First, the state’s premier children’s advocacy organization.

Talenfeld was lauded for his career spent protecting for the rights of children abused, injured and harmed, whether in the child protective system or under the services of community based care organizations charged with protecting the state’s most vulnerable youth. Read the article here on Page 18.

Talenfeld and his team at Talenfeld Law / Justice For Kids have worked tirelessly to fight for the rights of these children, both in the courtroom and in the halls of the Florida Legislature.

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Man Faces Death Penalty, Florida DCF Revises Rules, in Death of Phoebe Jonchuck

January 13th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases

Phoebe JonchuckChild advocates and children’s rights attorneys who fight to prevent child abuse and death of Florida’s at-risk children are concerned about the evolving case of Phoebe Jonchuck. During a court hearing, her father, Jon Jonchuck, had hoped his case would be “in God’s hands” but a court-appointed attorney now will help in the defense of the Florida man accused of throwing his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge to her death this month. If convicted, Jonchuck faces the death penalty.

Yet, even as the court case begins, the Florida Department of Children and Families has made several policy changes intended to change how state child welfare investigators respond to warnings of possible or impending child abuse or child neglect. The agency may also be called to answer how much it knew her to be at risk of harm, given it had previous interactions with the family.

Jonchuck reportedly had spoken to his attorney last week in advance of little Phoebe’s death. The attorney reportedly then called authorities to warn about the man’s strange behavior. When Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at his home, Jonchuck and Phoebe were acting normally, according to news reports.

Yet while all appeared normal, this wasn’t the first time DCF had visited Phoebe or the family, according to a release from the department.

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Death of Child After Warning to Abuse Hotline Spurs Changes to State Response

January 10th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, News & Events

To those who advocate for greater protections for any child suffering physical abuse or threatened with harm, the episode this week when a young girl was thrown to her death off a Tampa Bay bridge raises questions and concerns. In the aftermath of the death of 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck, reportedly at the hands of her father, John Jonchuck, the Florida Department of Children and Families has reviewed and will change the criteria for how its child abuse hotline responds to calls and warnings of potentially abusive situations.

Police say Phoebe was thrown by her father off a bridge near Tampa Bay’s Sunshine Skyway after a call was received to the hotline earlier in the day. The caller, authorities said, “regarding the mental health of Phoebe’s father.” In the 2:45pm call, the caller, reportedly Jonchuck’s attorney, warned that John Jonchuck was “depressed and delusional.”

The call came after Jonchuck reportedly referred to his attorney as “God” and asked the woman to translate a Bible. The attorney’s calls to police and the state child abuse hotline led authorities to visit and interview Jonchuck. With Phoebe smiling and at his side, all appeared normal.

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