Warning: Constant ABSPATH already defined in /home/flanews/public_html/wp-config.php on line 37
Capitol News Service » Blog Archive » DCF Improperly Dismissing Child Abuse Cases?

Welcome to

Capitol News Service

Florida's Best Political Coverage on Television

 


 


 


Recent Posts

RSS Quote of the Day

  • Lee Iacocca
    "My father always used to say that when you die, if you've got five real friends, then you've had a great life."
  • Simone Weil
    "Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life."
  • Dylan Thomas
    "When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes."
  • Francesco Guicciardini
    "The return we reap from generous actions is not always evident."

DCF Improperly Dismissing Child Abuse Cases?

November 19th, 2007 by flanews

Florida’s troubled Department of Children and Families is once again under fire tonight. A whistleblower claims child abuse cases were routinely closed without investigation to make the department look better. As Chris Casquejo tells us, DCF leaders are withholding judgment unti they see the final report from their inspector general.

Hear it here: DCF Improperly Dismissing Child Abuse Cases?

The case of a 2-year-old girl beaten so severely that she had a skull fracture never made it past the DCF complaint stage. A preliminary report suggests that more than one regional office routinely closed cases without investigating.  News that doesn’t give parents like Randy Ferguson confidence in DCF.

“Because of what I’ve been reading and hearing, I’d be suspicious,” Ferguson said.

This is the same agency that lost Rilya Wilson in 2001 and didn’t know it for 15 months.

At the heart of the allegations, a whistleblower who says that DCF workers were improperly dismissing cases because of lack of jurisdiction.

DCF is supposed to investigate abuse reports within 24 hours.  But a whistleblower says in at least 300 cases, there was no investigation at all, just so DCF offices could look good in performance reviews.  DCF leaders are waiting for a final report from their inspector general.

“There’s no question in my mind that when a child’s safety is at stake, they’re not going to deal with some artificial performance measure to make themselves look better,” said DCF Assistant Secretary George Sheldon.

But parents say the state agency needs to do a better job of protecting children.

“That’s their job,” said Gustavo Aguilar, a father of two boys.  “That’s what they’re paid for. It shouldn’t be easy for them to overlook that.”

DCF leaders say they’ve made changes, replacing supervisors and adding more case workers to deal with the backlog of cases.

The inspector general’s report should be released in two to three weeks.

Posted in Children, State News | 3 Comments »

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.

copyright © 2016 by Capitol News Service | Powered by Wordpress | Hosted by LyonsHost.com