thoughts on the child welfare system, but mostly lots of graphs
The Third District Court of Appeal reversed an order granting supervised visits yesterday because the trial court entered the order without proper notice to the Department. The opinion is surprisingly long for a simple "no notice, reversed" ruling, and the lone footnote may explain why: 1 In light of the statutory obligations and clear case …
Let's talk about fathers for a second. One critique of child welfare law is that it puts a significant burden on mothers while essentially ignoring fathers until they become inconvenient. Two cases out of Florida this month highlight this phenomenon. In the first case, twin children were sheltered from their mother due to neglect. The father had …
Continue reading "Two cases out of Florida show the bias against fathers in child welfare"
The Third DCA ruled against our clinic yesterday, holding that access to federal Education and Training Vouchers (ETV) could be restricted by the State through the creation of programs with additional eligibility rules. While I disagree with the reasoning of the Court, I'm writing here about the original source of injustice in this case. Our …
Continue reading "Let’s talk about the IL Programs and justice"
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that George Sheldon is in talks with Our Kids to become their new CEO. Sheldon is the current Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and has a long career in politics and child welfare (wikipedia). According to the Tribune, Our Kids' board chair Keith Ward supports Sheldon. "He wants …
I was wondering who holds the largest DCF contracts in Florida. The answer was right on the Florida Department of Financial Services website (thank you, Mr. Atwater), which lists public contracts with an ending date of February 29, 2012 or later. I created a tableau where you can explore the DCF vendors by name, and see …
Continue reading "Florida DCF contracts are worth billions – where does the money go?"
The Department of Children and Families is convening a Peer Review Team to investigate the problems in Miami. I don't know if it's a public meeting, but it should be. See email below for details. From: Mike Carroll <Mike_Carroll@info.dcf.state.fl.us> Date: 04/25/2017 10:30 AM (GMT-05:00) To: "Ferradaz, Gilda" <Gilda.Ferradaz@myflfamilies.com> Subject: Miami Peer Review Launch Meeting (5/1/17: …
Continue reading "DCF investigating Miami’s child welfare dysfunction"
The Florida Supreme Court issued a 3-1-3 opinion today with the majority ruling in favor of the child and the controlling opinion (i.e, the narrowest reasoning adopted by the most justices) being that trial courts cannot summarily dismiss dependency petitions filed by immigrant children seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile status. In doing so, the opinion echos the concerns …
