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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.”

Child Sexual Abuse Blog: When Authority Figures Are Abusers

October 22nd, 2012

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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Boy Scouts of America ‘Perversion Files’ Show Depth of Sexual Abuse, Personal Injury Group’s Personnel Perpetrated on Kids

October 20th, 2012

Commentary, Court Cases, Damage Claims, Sexual Abuse

The similarities between the Boy Scouts of America, the Catholic Church and the coaching staff and administration at Penn State University are chilling – and reprehensible. All three had pedophiles in their midst, perpetrating unspeakable sexual assault, personal injury, and pain and suffering on child victims and youths in their care.

And to avoid damage claims, all three worked diligently to hide the sexual assault, personal injury, and pain and suffering of child victims from parents, outsiders and authorities.

As child advocates and child care attorneys now learn of the more than 14,500 pages of previously confidential documents released by the Boy Scouts of America regarding child sexual abuse, observers and authorities are left to wonder how this could happen so deeply in the organization – and for so long.

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

July 20th, 2012

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.

‘It’s Just Sick’ South Florida Children’s Rights Attorney Says of Alleged Neglect

July 15th, 2012

Spanked with a spatula, locked in their rooms and not allowed to use the bathroom, not allowed to bathe for days – maybe weeks, this was the horror allegedly endured by the children of a Palm Beach Gardens mom and her boyfriend.

A 5-year-old girl allegedly was molested by the 34-year-old man. The children all have been removed by the Florida Department of Children & Families. A 1-year-old baby has been placed in a foster home. The three other children have been put in the care of a relative.

“This is a very sad situation that we see occur repeatedly in the county,” Florida children’s rights attorney Howard Talenfeld told the Sun-Sentinel. Such incidents are not rare or isolated, he added. “It’s very sick.”

Lawsuit Claims Florida Pays to ‘Warehouse’ Disabled Children Rather Than Send Them Home

March 15th, 2012

Court Cases

Two cases filed in Fort Lauderdale courts this week have Florida child advocates, foster child rights attorneys and others who follow issues regarding disabled children closely interested.

In one case, a 16-year-old girl who cannot talk or walk and needs help breathing part of the day, lives “warehoused” by the state in a Plantation nursing and rehabilitation center, says her attorney, who filed the case in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. She’s one of 250 such disabled or severely sick children Florida pays to keep in nursing homes – when alternatives exist. Their families would prefer them to be at home or in the community.

The lawsuit claims Florida keeps these sick and disabled kids trapped in nursing homes and institutions by denying services, “even when doctors have cleared them to go home with their families,” the Sun-Sentinel reported of the suit.

In a separate suit, a second group of families claim the opposite – fearing 3,300 at-risk children living at home may be forced into institutions or nursing homes if Florida Medicaid denies services.

Lawyers claim the law is on the plaintiffs’ side. The Americans With Disabilities Act and a U.S. Supreme Court ruling require states provide services that keep such individuals in the least restrictive settings possible, the paper reported. Read the entire story here.

Florida Department of Children and Families Sued by Father of 3 Children Slain in Riviera Beach

March 7th, 2012

Court Cases, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

A restraining order, verbal threats of personal injury, physical assaults, an open-and-shut investigation closed too soon by the Florida Department of Children and Families and news her estranged husband was looking to buy a handgun weren’t enough for DCF to protect Natasha Whyte-Dell and her seven children.

Then, in September 2010, the estranged husband, Patrick Dell, kicked in her door and shot dead Whyte-Dell and three of her children and injured a fourth before killing himself.

Now, Michael Barnett, father of the three children, is suing DCF for negligence. Read the entire story here.

Why Is Florida Department of Children and Families Pushing to Return Wandering Boy, 9, to Family He ‘Fears’?

February 29th, 2012

Advocacy, Court Cases

It’s a puzzling case: The Florida Department of Children and Families is pushing to return to his family a 9-year-old boy found wandering the streets of North Miami Beach naked and hungry. The boy has told doctors he fears his home. A judge, who said in court the boy looked like a concentration camp survivor, ordered the release of hundreds of pages of state documents – and then questioned the state’s intention to return him to his family.

It’s a complicated case. State child welfare administrators describe the parents – Edward Bailey and Marsee Strong – as loving parents who deserve to get their children back after the kids’ brief stay in foster care.

Administrators also urged prosecutors to seek the couple’s release from jail, telling Miami Judge Cindy Lederman that the couple had not harmed their children. Yet, the boy has told his doctors he’s afraid to go home.

There should be no rush to return this boy to his family until the truth comes out. Read the entire story here.

Valentines Day One Year Later: Questions, Concerns Remain In Death of Nubia Barahona

February 14th, 2012

Exactly one year from the date that Nubia Barahona was found dead – and her twin brother, Victor, was found in serious condition doused in toxic liquids – their adoptive parents Jorge and Carmen Barahona may find out if they will be in the same courtroom when they face murder charges. And child abuse, foster care and guardian advocates and attorneys are still wondering whether the Florida Department of Children and Families and the community-based care providers paid hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure kids are safe are doing enough to ensure just that.

In the video below, child advocate attorney Howard Talenfeld tells NBC 6 in Miami that the system remains woefully unprepared to handle the vital tasks at hand.

View more videos at: https://nbcmiami.com.

Child Rights Attorney: Barahona Audio Statement Reveals Horrors of Child Abuse, Torture

February 6th, 2012

Tied together in the family bathtub, Victor Barahona and his sister, Nubia, were denied food, doused with water or bleach, neglected and subjected to horrible child abuse, personal injury and damages that eventually – for Nubia – allegedly led to death, according to police and prosecutors.

Now, the horrors are being revealed in graphic detail. On Monday, Miami-Dade prosecutors released caretaker Katia Garcia’s audio-recorded statement, in which she shared with investigators Victor’s heartfelt and shocking account of the twins’ treatment at the hands of their adopted father, the Miami Herald reported.

“Garcia recalled Victor’s attention to detail in sharing memories of his own abuse. But when it came to his slain sister, the boy was beset with agony,” the paper reported.

“He stutters when he talks. He can’t finish his sentences,” Garcia said in the recorded statement. “He has nervous twitches with his eyes. He had one with his mouth. He doesn’t want to talk about what his sister went through.”

Justice Delayed: After 15 Years, Mom Charged With Child Abuse

February 4th, 2012

Fifteen years after allegedly inflicting a horrible beating on her 3-year-old daughter, a South Florida woman is facing justice for the personal injury, harm and damages she caused the child. As advocates and child abuse lawyers closely watch the case, she faces aggravated child abuse, according to Broward court records as reported in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The woman, Raquel Knowles, 38, fled the hospital emergency room where she’d taken her daughter with serious injuries in 1997. She reportedly then flew to Jamaica, where she remained until 2009.

The child – now an adult – had bruises to her chest, back, buttocks, upper legs, arms and earlobes, the Sun-Sentinel reported. “The child had great bodily harm,” Judge John Hurley said. “[She had] permanent disfigurement due to surgical scarring when they had to sew up your daughter from the internal injuries after they did surgery.”