Claims Bill Filed to Help Permanently Injured Child

Despite eight prior calls to the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) abuse hotline, a young boy was left in the care of his mother and is now catastrophically injured. Having exhausted all legal remedies, a claims bill (HB 6541) has been filed by Clermont Republican Rep. Taylor Yarkosky on behalf of the child, referred to as C.C., who is left with no other option to provide for the care and support he so desperately needs for the rest of his life.

Stacie Schmerling of the Justice for Kids Division of Kelley Kronenberg represents C.C., a Florida boy who was left permanently and catastrophically brain injured at just thirteen months old due to overdosing on his drug-addicted mother’s methadone.

On August 12, 2014, after C.C. was born addicted to methadone and significantly injured, DCF received an abuse report alleging that C.C.’s mother had abused drugs during her pregnancy. That was the fourth abuse report DCF had received against C.C.’s mother in just six months. In the months that followed, DCF received four more abuse reports alleging that C.C.’s mother was abusing drugs and physically abusing children in her care.

When C.C. was only thirteen months old, he was rushed to the hospital in critical condition after he overdosed on his mother’s methadone, the same drug he was born addicted to, while unsupervised. As a result, C.C. suffered permanent brain damage that impairs all aspects of his daily living.

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At Justice for Kids®, our team can provide critical legal support for children injured or damaged by tragedies like the one described in this Florida negligence case. We focus on representing children who have been physically, sexually and emotionally abused or injured, or have suffered wrongful death in all settings, including family residences, foster homes, group homes, emergency shelters, and residential treatment centers in the care of the state and by other providers.