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Archive for the ‘Department of Children & Families (DCF)’ Category

Advocates, Child Welfare Attorneys: Child-Welfare System Fixes Might Worsen Situation

January 21st, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Advocacy, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Advocates and child welfare attorneys have long said Florida’s child welfare system needs fixing, strengthening and correcting in order to correct foster child and vulnerable children’s abuse, deaths and personal injury. Yet critics say several bills being reviewed by lawmakers and named for Nubia Barahona – the 10-year-old girl allegedly killed by her adoptive parents last February – could have little positive effect.

“Indeed, some of the bills’ provisions will give the agency greater discretion to ignore calls to the state’s abuse hotline, or to cease an investigation at any time when an investigator believes the report is false,” writes the Miami Herald.

A bill in the state Senate would eliminate state standards designed to lower caseloads for Department of Children & Families investigators, though it is an article of faith among trade groups that lower caseloads lead to better outcomes for children.

Read the entire story here.

War Against Child Abuse, Deaths an Up, Down Battle in Florida, Counties

January 17th, 2012   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Depending on where in Florida you are, child abuse deaths rose – and declined – in 2010. Deaths were down statewide, but up in Palm Beach County over the past two years. Florida Department of Children and Families officials, advocates and child welfare attorneys are watching the numbers closely.

Abuse or neglect that led to child deaths in Palm Beach County hit 14 in 2010, up from 10 the year prior, according to data from a State Child Abuse Death Review Committee report, as reported by the Palm Beach Post. In 2008, nine children died from child abuse or neglect in Palm Beach County.

As written previously in this blog, the death of any child in state care — whether DCF, a foster household, an adoptive home or while under the guidance of a community based care organization charged with ensuring the child’s welfare — is one too many. We must work harder to ensure oversight is improved and children get the care they need to survive and thrive.

Read the entire article here.

Florida Dept of Children and Families Backs Foster Kids’ Adoption

November 2nd, 2011   No Comments   Adoption, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Florida wants its foster kids to find a home. During National Adoption Month, the state Department of Children and Families has launched an effort to help some 800 foster kids find permanent homes.

DCF Secretary David Wilkins launched the effort this week to get foster teenagers into permanent homes with loving parents. The issue is vital: Kids who “age out” or leave the state’s care when they become adults – and without having found foster homes – are at a greater risk of dropping out of school, being arrested or becoming homeless, according to a story in the Associated Press.

Read their stories on AdoptFlorida.org.  Read the original news story here.

Florida Department of Children and Families Investigates Fort Myers Group Home

October 14th, 2011   No Comments   Aging Out, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

The Florida Department of Health inspected a Florida Department of Children and Families-regulated boys group home in Fort Myers after complaints if filth, cockroaches, mold and unsanitary conditions were reported. The home is for foster youth and boys with no other options.

Lee County inspectors gave the Source of Light and Home Development Center-run house a failing review, which led the state to temporarily stop placing new foster children there, the News-Press reported. One former resident, who recently aged out, said he was “grossed out.”

Soon after the DCF action, agency officials lifted the hold after inspectors gave the home an OK and the number of violations dropped to about a dozen, the paper reported. Read the entire story here.

Deaths of 8 Hillsborough Kids Raises Concerns About Privatization and DCF Oversight of Community Based Care Businesses

October 10th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF), News & Events, Privatization

Eight kids dead in two years – kids who should have been protected while under the supervision of community based care provider, Hillsborough Kids Inc. The headlines out of Tampa Bay have shocked and sickened foster child advocates, attorneys and guardians concerned about the care kids receive across the state. The deaths in Tampa Bay – and others across the state have suffered serious personal injury while under the watch of similar organizations – could be a defining moment for privatization.

Read the entire story here.

Following Barahona, Other Abuse Incidents, Higher Stakes Require Higher Pay at Florida Department of Children and Families

October 3rd, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Court Cases, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Following the torture and death of Nubia Barahona, and the serious personal injury to her twin brother, Victor, the Florida Department of Children and Families should realize that high stakes involved in these cases mean “it’s high time that DCF put a higher priority on the people who make life-and-death decisions for the state’s most vulnerable citizens,” writes the Orlando Sentinel.

The stakes are high, and state legislators are realizing this. In September, they heard from – and had strong words for – new Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins for what an independent panel called “fatal ineptitude” in the Barahona abuse and death case.

With higher pay to those investigators tasked with keeping tabs on foster children might come better oversight. Read the entire story here.

Florida DCF Secretary Bid to Help Foster Children, Curb Dropouts, Track Abuse Could Avoid Personal Injury

September 16th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Aging Out, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

As poverty climbs, Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins says he’s working to aid foster kids, decrease high school dropouts, and better fund independent living. By the assessment of any advocate, children’s rights attorney or guardian ad litem attorney, “optimistic” isn’t typically a word associated with the DCF. “Given the state agency’s past, high-profile failings in living up to its mission to provide services to the abused, poor and downtrodden, the two rarely make it in the same sentence,” writes the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

“But David Wilkins, the man who now heads DCF, is optimistic, particularly about the funding prospects DCF faces in next year’s budget. He doesn’t anticipate another round of major cuts, nor should he, given the workload the department faces, and its bureaucratic challenges in addressing them.”

Read the entire story here.

Florida DCF Report on Children’s Deaths: Hot Cars, Drowning Among Causes

August 16th, 2011   No Comments   Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Reginald McKinnon’s daughter, Payton, was just 17 months when she died after being left in the family car for several hours, reports the News-Press. “Nothing can prepare you for finding your own child. It’s crippling,” said McKinnon, who accidentally left Payton strapped in her car seat in 2010 in Fort Myers. She died from excessive body temperature. According to the Florida Department of Children and Families, Payton was one of some 250 child deaths the agency has investigated over the past 15 years in Southwest Florida.

“DCF released an analysis of most of those deaths earlier this week. In 2010, DCF investigated 36 deaths of local children. This year, the number has hit 14, including a recent drowning of a 2-year-old boy in Collier County and a baby left in a hot car in Cape Coral,” the paper reported. Read the entire story here.

New ‘Chief Child Advocate’ Ann Scott Has Child Advocates, Attorneys Hopeful She Can Continue Florida’s Progress in Adopting its Foster Children

August 10th, 2011   No Comments   Adoption, Department of Children & Families (DCF), News & Events

Amid budget cuts and tough times for Florida’s most vulnerable citizens, Florida Gov. Rick Scott has named his wife and First Lady, Ann Scott, to the role of Florida’s “Chief Child Advocate.” Her predecessor, Jim Kallinger, made great strides in raising adoptions and lowering the number of kids in state care. Statewide and in the Department of Children and Families, tidings are tough: Funding for children and social services is low – and dropping, and needs of its most vulnerable are high – and growing.

Ms. Scott has a significant role ahead of her in advocating for the state’s most vulnerable citizens: Abused, neglected and abandoned children who end up “in the system” as foster children or seeking adoption. Former state Rep. Jim Kallinger, appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist, held the role as a full-time employee. Meanwhile, oversight and lapses by the DCF have resulted in lawsuits, damage claims and significant awards.

(more…)

Florida Department of Children and Families Miami Administrator Stepping Down

August 9th, 2011   No Comments   Department of Children & Families (DCF), News & Events

Jacqui Colyer, the Florida Department of Children and Families’ Miami Director, is retiring from her post. Colyer had some two decades’ experience in social services. In an email to staff, DCF Secretary David Wilkins lauded for her “passion and commitment.” But it was the death of Nubia Barahona, and critical injuries to her brother, Victor — two adopted children under the oversight of Colyer’s office — that focused attention on the system. Three DCF workers were either fired or resigned. Colyer and four others were reprimanded for their handling of the Barahona case.

Jacqui Colyer of Florida DCF

Jacqui Colyer of Florida DCF

Still, Colyer had some successes during her time at the top. “During her tenure, the number of children removed from their parents and placed in licensed foster care dropped by 35 percent. DCF also developed 400 community centers, such as medical clinics, where struggling families could apply for food stamps. The centers made it easier for the poor to seek help at locations close to home. Colyer said the agency worked with Miami’s early learning coalition to improve the quality of licensed child care centers and provide better staff training in detecting and preventing child abuse,” the Miami Herald wrote.

A long-time community advocate and once an adoptive parent of a troubled child, Colyer will stay on in a different role with the DCF, according to news reports. Read the entire story here.

Florida DCF Secretary Adds Investigators to Nubia Barahona Death, but Misses Lessons Learned After Rilya Wilson’s Disappearance

August 2nd, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF)

Florida Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins plan to decrease visitation and quality assurance related to foster children in the agency’s care raises questions about lessons learned following the disappearance of Miami child Rilya Wilson. The result could be more lawsuits and damage claims lodged as vulnerable children in the system are lost or overlooked.

Visitation is a key component in the care of these children. Case workers develop the rapport of a therapeutic relationship with the children. It’s been shown that if something’s going wrong in the household, children are more likely to open up to an adult they trust. Relying on computerization and audits will not work. You cannot de-emphasize the child being visited; you cannot replace the value and impact of a quality visit – and the quality assurance that tracks visits. Otherwise, the system is operating in the dark.

Cuts have proven ominous. Earlier this year, Gov. Rick Scott ordered billions in state budget cuts, which resulted in the elimination of 500 of the DCF’s 13,000 positions.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” Wilkins told the Daytona Beach News-Journal this week. He was referring to the case of Nubia Barahona, whose adoptive parents have been charged in her death and her brother’s torture. “It heightened for me the importance of improved child safety.”

Wilkins said change is afoot. According to the paper, “He said he would take aim at practices that have been rendered unnecessary with new technologies. The requirement that DCF caseworkers visit children in their custody every 30 days — formulated in response to the disappearance of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson in 2000 — could be de-emphasized in favor of better electronic monitoring of school, medical and department records.” He added, “Don’t be afraid of change.”

Barahona Abuse Case Motivates DCF Secretary Wilkins to Improve Abuse Hotline

July 28th, 2011   No Comments   Abuse, Department of Children & Families (DCF), Investigations

David Wilkins, secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families, says the agency has made changes following the “horrific” child abuse case of Miami twins Victor and Nubia Barahona. Wilkins says the changes were created to help prevent abuse from occuring again.

Wilkins says DCF has put in place 19 short-term changes to improve the safety of children under its care. Changes include new procedures for hotline workers and working more closely on investigations with law enforcement. Florida children now are safer as a result of the changes, Wilkins says, according to First Coast News.

The changes follow the February discovery of Nubia Barahona, who was found dead in a garbage bag in her adoptive father, Jorge Barahona’s truck in Palm Beach County. Her twin brother, Victor, was found doused with toxic chemicals and left clinging to life. A report released from a Miami-Dade County grand jury that found DCF missed signs of abuse in the case, placed too much trust in the adoptive parents and failed to communicate effectively with child abuse investigators, according to First Coast News. Read the entire story here.

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