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Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category

Florida Youth Shine Reaches 10 Year Milestone

January 18th, 2016   No Comments   Advocacy, Florida Youth Shine, Florida's Children First, Foster Care

Florida’s Children First (FCF) proudly celebrates 10 years of Florida Youth SHINE Advocacy! After FCF was established in 2002, Florida Youth SHINE was formed so that foster children could tell their stories and advocate for legislative change.

For the past ten years Florida Youth SHINE, a statewide organization now consisting of more than 200 former and current foster children, has been advocating around the state and in the Florida Legislature, for positive change to the system of care by using their experience and stories. In 2005, Florida’s Children First, a statewide group of child advocates (www.floridaschildrenfirst.org)  created Florida Youth SHINE because it believed that the youth are the experts and when making decisions about youth and it is critical to have a youth voice at the table. Florida Youth SHINE empowers their members to identify and share the issues they experienced and work for solutions through advocacy. One of the ways they do this is by educating others about the issues and improvements that need to be made.

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South Florida Judge Blasts Agency for Foster Kids Forced into Cockfights

January 13th, 2016   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Every South Florida child advocate and foster abuse attorney fights to prevent child abuse, personal injury and other harm or damages like those a Miami judge saw in a video this month. He called the events they endured the result of ineptitude and incompetence. The judge was responding to the violent “cockfights” and brawls children at a Miami group home for foster kids were forced to perform – with the encouragement of an adult supervisor.

“I saw a cockfight … between foster kids,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman said in court, according to news reports. The supervisor was “provoking and encouraging violence” as “these two boys battled it out and beat each other up.” The supervisor has since been fired.

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Fort Lauderdale Children’s Rights Attorneys, Advocates to Gather for Broward Fundraiser

January 12th, 2016   No Comments   Advocacy

Lawyers, elected officials and advocates who fight for the rights of those harmed by child abuse, child sex abuse, or other personal injuries in the child welfare system will gather in February to help share a very important message. You are Invited to the Broward Child Advocacy Awards & Reception on Thursday, February 25, 2016, from 5:30 pm- 7:30pm at The Riverside Hotel (620 East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale).

The event will honoring the Champion for Children – Dr. Frederick Lippman; the Child Advocates of the Year – Stuart Singer & Carl Goldfarb; and the Youth Advocate – Teirvondria McCall.

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Phoebe Jonchuck’s Death Still Haunts Child Abuse Advocates

January 10th, 2016   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy

Just about a year ago, Florida child advocates and attorneys who represent children who have been harmed by child abuse, sex abuse and other personal injuries were aghast at the story of Phoebe Jonchuck, the 5-year-old Central Florida girl whose father, John, threw her from a bridge into Tampa Bay. We all were left to wonder how a father could kill his daughter, what authorities might have known about Mr. Jonchuck’s and Phoebe’s lives leading up to this horrific event, and how it could have been prevented.

The Tampa Bay Times recently wrote a compelling story that compiles police, court and Florida Department of Children and Families records to recreate the brief history of Phoebe’s life. Reporters spoke with Phoebe’s mother and other relatives; in all, 50 people helped paint the story of the little girl – “a happy child who helped her kindergarten classmates zip their jackets and brought out the best in everyone who loved her. And they knew her father, a violent and unstable man.”

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Kan. Lawmaker Explores Ending State’s Private Child Welfare Program

December 28th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Florida child welfare administrators have had a long, troubled history with privatization of foster care services provided to the state’s at-risk, harmed, abused, and needy children. Our children have suffered sexual abuse, child abuse, personal injury, and other harm for years. Florida, it seems, wasn’t the only state with issues. A lawmaker in Kansas, the first state in the U.S. to privatize such care, has written a report on that state’s failures with foster care privatization and now is seeking to rescind the state’s program.

In what had been the first-in-the-nation privatized foster care system, the state legislator looked back on the program’s 20 years, only to see “increasing scrutiny and a record number of children in foster homes,” local media reported. In his report, “When Children Die We Must Act,” the lawmaker concluded that “the mid-1990s privatization wasn’t successful, the Topeka Capital-Journal (https://bit.ly/1RxWskK ) reported.

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South Florida Advocates to Honor Those Who Help Abused, Neglected Kids

December 22nd, 2015   No Comments   Advocacy, Florida's Children First

Business executives, civic leaders and attorneys who advocate for the rights of those who suffer child abuse, personal injury and other harm and neglect will gather in February for the Florida’s Children First 2016 Broward Reception. The event will be held Thursday, February 25, 2016 at 5:30PM at the The Riverside Hotel (620 East Las Olas Blvd. in Fort Lauderdale).

At the annual fundraiser and awards event, Florida’s Children First – the state’s premier child advocacy organization – will honor child advocates who strive to make a difference in the lives of the state’s most vulnerable kids.

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Florida Foster Child Abuse Attorney to Florida Legislature: Cut Bad Group Homes, Boost Child Placement Choices

November 20th, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Commentary

Fort Lauderdale foster child abuse attorney Howard Talenfeld this week wrote an editorial on privatization of Florida’s child welfare system. He summarized how contracting of such services by the Florida Department of Children and Families to such lead agencies like ChildNet and Our Kids of Miami-Dade/Monroe Inc., ostensibly to cut costs, actually results in higher costs, while introducing dangerous, substandard child placements.

The result has been higher costs, poor placements, and long-term issues for children in the system. If passed, legislation now before the Florida Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee headed by Sen. Eleanor Sobel and supported by Sen. Nancy Detert, would create stability and safety for foster children by pursuing the best possible placement opportunity.

Read the entire editorial here.

Florida’s Children First to Host Palm Beach Fundraiser, Awards For Foster Kids, Child Abuse Advocates

October 22nd, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy

Florida’s Children First (FCF) will recognize Palm Beach County individuals for their tireless efforts to advocate for the state’s most vulnerable citizens at its annual Palm Beach Reception on Oct. 28 at the National Croquet Center Point Club in West Palm Beach. FCF is a statewide, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting abused foster children and other at-risk youth. The event begins at 5:30 p.m. Register and learn more at Florida’s Children First.

Dozens of Palm Beach County’s prominent business and community leaders, as well as people concerned about the future of Florida’s children, especially abused, abandoned and neglected children and youth, will be in attendance. Read more here.

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Fort Lauderdale Child Abuse Attorney Discusses Fixing Foster Care System

October 11th, 2015   No Comments   Advocacy, JusticeForKids.us

Howard Talenfeld, the leading child advocacy attorney who fights for the rights of children who suffer sexual abuse, child abuse, and other harm and personal injury, recently was interviewed on Viewpoints Radio regarding changes to Florida’s child welfare system. In a tweet, Viewpoints posted:  talks about how we can improve and strengthen the system .

Discussing the topic, Foster Care: How Can We Make the System Better for All?,” the discussion explored, “When a child is placed in foster care, she’s already been through the traumatic experience of being removed from her family’s care, and now faces an uncertain future in a new home – sometimes worse than the one she left. We discuss the successes and failures of the system and hear about what can be done to strengthen it so that children receive the best care available, foster families get the support they need to help a child with the transition, and caseworkers receive the support they need to do their jobs.”

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Florida’s Children First to Host Jacksonville Awards & Reception

October 11th, 2015   No Comments   Advocacy, Florida's Children First

Florida’s Children First, the state’s advocacy organization for foster kids and those at risk of child abuse, sexual abuse, and personal injury, will hold its Northeast Florida / Jacksonville Child Advocacy Awards & Reception. Attended by attorneys, lawmakers and business leaders, the event will be held on Thursday, November 12th, 2015, from 5:30 pm- 7:30pm, at The Haskell Building (111 Riverside Avenue, Jacksonville, 34236). Register here. Learn more by downloading the flyer.

At Florida’s Children First, we believe that all children have the right to food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, property and personal privacy. Most children have parents who take care of their needs and protect their rights. But thousands of children in Florida rely on state agencies to meet some or all of their needs. FCF exists to protect the rights of those children.

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Advocates Wonder How 5 Foster Kids Walk Out of Children’s Home Society

October 3rd, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy

Five children have been found safe after walking out of their Cutler Bay foster home. The siblings — ages 16, 14, 13, 6 and 5 — were under the care of the Children’s Home Society in the Miami suburb of Cutler Ridge. They later were found in Florida City. Reportedly, their case manager was unaware when they left the facility.

Foster child abuse attorneys and lawyers who fight for the rights and to prevent abuse, harm, sexual abuse and personal injury to the state’s at-risk children are closely watching how the state Department of Children and Families handles the fallout of this case.

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Foster Child Abuse Advocacy Group Wins State Bar Award

October 2nd, 2015   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Florida's Children First

Florida’s Children First, the pioneering advocacy organization that fights for foster children and others who have been physically abused, neglected, injured, and victims of sexual abuse, was named the the 2015 recipient of The Florida Bar Foundation’s Paul C. Doyle Children’s Advocacy Award.

Founded by leading foster child advocacy attorney and foster child personal injury attorney Howard Talenfeld, Florida’s Children First, with the support from a Florida Bar Foundation Children’s Legal Services grant, advocated successfully for passage of the 2014 legislation, which provides attorneys to protect dependent children with special needs who are in the state custody. The Florida Legislature also appropriated $4.5 million in 2014 to fund attorneys to represent these at-risk children. The bills were sponsored by Sen. Bill Galvano and Rep. Erik Fresen.

Established in 2013 in honor of Doyle, the Foundation’s longtime grant program director, the award recognizes and encourages systemic legal advocacy on behalf of low-income children by Florida Bar Foundation grantees. Florida’s Children First received the award June 25 at the Foundation’s 39th Annual Reception and Dinner in Boca Raton for its Counsel for Dependent Children with Special Needs Project.

Talenfeld, a leading children’s rights attorney, called the legislation historic when it was passed last year.  Florida’s Children First will work to ensure continued funding, a top priority following a $2.2 million appropriation in 2015.

“These children need all the additional protections they can get,” Talenfeld said.

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