The Miami Herald on Sunday, published a highly disturbing investigation, ``INNOCENTS LOST, PRESERVING FAMILIES BUT LOSING CHILDREN’’, which centered on a irresponsible decision the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF) made 10 years ago, namely, to cut in half the number of children taken into state care through the adoption of a philosophy known as ``family preservation’’ (to keep children in their homes and families together), while slashing services, including restricting the monitoring and protections for children left with violent, mentally ill, neglectful and drug-addicted parents.
The result? Veteran Miami Herald reporters Audra D.S. Burch and Carol Marbin Miller, after examining thousands of pages of case histories, death reviews, police and court records, internal emails, autopsy reports, criminal histories and health department reports-found through a year-long investigation-that child welfare administrators recklessly under-reported the number of verified deaths attributable to abuse and neglect, such as in 2009, when the Herald discovered 107 deaths were caused by abuse and neglect, the same year the DCF reported only 69 child deaths to the governor and Legislature.
Taken together, during a six-year period, 477 children died of abuse or neglect that came to the attention of DCF, far more than was initially reported by the Florida state agency.
Readers of this compelling investigation will be able to examine the records of each child’s death, thanks to an online database the Herald put together. goo.gl/hDG7GL
``Drugs or alcohol were linked to 323 of the deaths, and yet the state cut dollars for drug treatment. Children snatched their parents’ pain pills off nightstands, gobbled them and died. They were smothered by moms who passed out while breastfeeding under the influence. One Hillsborough County couple concealed a loaded semiautomatic handgun under their sleeping baby’s pillow during a drug raid.''
``Twenty-six times, DCF received calls about Kaleb Cronk’s family. The 27th was to report his death when the 1-year-old from Palatka was run over by a tricked-out red pickup truck as he crawled across a private road. Kaleb’s mother, Amy Sowell, had been arrested 18 times and had been the subject of repeated DCF reports of chronic drug abuse and inadequate supervision. http://goo.gl/xhdFvx
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