As reported by ABC Action News in Tampa, Taniyah and Rodney Williams are among four Florida families now suing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and leaders of Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) along with several other state foster care organizations. Read more here.
Justice for Kids Partner Stacie Schmerling was recently interviewed by WESH 2 News in Orlando regarding Florida’s Department of Children and Family Services enacting changes, including one major statewide change after Palm Bay’s police chief sounded the alarm on the state’s child welfare system. According to Schmerling, “this systemic... View Article
As reported by the Miami Herald, it was just two days after Alysha Princess Cesaire gave birth to her son when someone at Memorial Regional Hospital called the state’s child abuse hotline to express concerns that her physical disability — which causes her to use a walker and have difficulty... View Article
As reported by Florida Today, a police investigation revealed the state Department of Children and Family Services had been called at least six times regarding abuse allegations in the case of a mother who now faces a charge of manslaughter in connection to the death of her infant son. Read more here
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri will announce a criminal investigation Thursday into Eckerd Connects Community Alternatives. Read more here.
DCF terminates Eckerd Connect contract because of too many child deaths and for placing children in dangerous, risky and abusive placements. Read more here.
Several tragic cases of Justice for Kids Partner Stacie Schmerling were recently featured in USA Today concerning the failures of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to investigate and respond to credible complaints against foster care providers to ensure children are safe. Complaints to Florida’s abuse hotline about... View Article
On November 6, 2020, Florida lost another child that had been repeatedly involved with the Department of Children and Families (DCF). 22-month-old Rashid Bryant was pronounced dead at Miami Jackson North Medical Center. The cause? Complications of acute and chronic blunt force injuries, attributable to “parental neglect,” according to the... View Article
The recent news of two children who broke into a Volusia County home and used guns they found inside to repeatedly fire at sheriff’s deputies is just another example of Florida’s failing foster system and its shortage of appropriate treatment facilities for children. Justice for Kids Partner Stacie Schmerling recently... View Article
Until recently, the state of Florida has continued to abandon foster children who had already been abused and neglected, even after they left state care, by improperly removing 1,730 former foster children from Medicaid. Former foster children, under federal law, remain Medicaid eligible until age 26. However, a current Florida... View Article