Cluster of Child Deaths Unprecedented and Alarming, Advocates Say

[The Straight Story]

Unprecedented and alarming. That's how child advocates describe the recent cluster of deaths allegedly due to abuse and neglect.

Three-year-old Dakota Stiles of Vero Beach drowned in a dirty pool July 25 just two weeks after the Department of Children and Families had been called to his home. He is now part of a dozen child deaths under review.

"In the 25 years of working with the department, we have never seen such a series of deaths and that is the ultimate indicator of failure of a child protective system here in the state of Florida,'' said Howard Talenfeld, president of Florida's Children First.

He was meeting Tuesday in Broward County with Interim DCF Secretary Esther Jacobo. She has been on the job for two weeks and is examining what went wrong in the deaths of five children in South Florida and others across the state. She is focusing on child protective investigators.

"It disturbs me that there are things they are not completing that they should complete. You know I feel like we're not, in these cases we're not gathering all the information that we should be gathering to make the right decisions," said Jacobo.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Cluster-of-Child-Deaths-Unprecendented-and-Alarming-Advocates-Say-217692201.html

[LWolf]

1. It's not just Florida.

In CA, the mother of my grandson was reported repeatedly, by her own family members and by mine. They would show up, look around, not see anything immediate, and nothing would happen.

Until there was a public incident that put 6 kids at physical risk and displayed verbal and physical abuse of my grandchild. Several different people observed and called 911; she was arrested. While she was in jail, my son took custody of his son and moved out of state, where he sought and won sole custody.

Nothing was done until it happened in a parking lot in front of dozens of witnesses.

Here in my current state, as a teacher I'm a mandatory reporter. It's common knowledge that reporting changes nothing in any but the most severe situations.

[kcr]

2. You're right, it isn't just Florida

But for some reason the myth persists that CPS are an evil government entity that exists merely to take away children for no reason. It's a ridiculous notion with no basis in fact, so I'm glad to see this get some attention. I've seen that ridiculous opinion spouted even here on DU. My former homestate of Tennessee's DCS is being investigated for deaths. It's awful. CHildren get short shrift in our society.