Seven Children Have Died Under Florida DCF Care Since May 2013
And they are still wondering if a complete overhaul of the system is needed!
“Last Thursday, three year old Dakota Stiles became the seventh child under DCF supervision to die of abuse or neglect since May. The death prompted DCF interim Secretary Ester Jacobo to order a complete review of the deaths.
“I’m not sure whether we could have prevented them but what’s disturbing is that I don’t know that because there are things that we could have done better,” said Jacobo.
Two weeks before Dakota’s death, the family was investigated after the child was found wandering in a neighbor’s yard. Investigators wrote the child’s room was a pig sty, that an unkempt and exceptionally unsafe pool posed a significant risk of harm to the child. Still, DCF left the child in the home, where he drowned in the pool.
Across Florida, advocates for children are debating whether or not the child welfare agency needs a complete overhaul or just minor tweaking.
The agency is also moving forward with a change in its own. It has a new way of evaluating families. The new program begins in October. The plan is suppose to consider the whole family and not just one or two incidents.
“The major difference in this model is that it requires a great deal of critical thinking, not only on the part of the investigator but also our supervisors and case managers,” said Traci Leavine.
Abuse and neglect take dozens of lives in Florida each year.
New reports from the agency also show it had had contact with the Cherish Perrywinkle family. Cherish was kidnapped and murdered by a known sex offender who had befriended her mother. ”
[WHJG.com 7/30/13]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
DCF doesn’t need to use critical thinking just common sense, my family went through hell with DCF for eighteen months. I really feel like they spend so much time on children that are not abused that they’re not there for the children that really need them. We have a children’s hospital that has a doctor who wroks for them and works for DCF how is that right. After the first day in court I heard a young mother crying on the phone to her dad, she said I didn’t abuse him if I abused him why would I have taken him to the hospital, they put her child and my daughters son in foster care. The only one that abused my grandson was DCF and the CHILDRENS HOSPITAL!