Department of Children and Families No Longer Requires Court Hearings
I thought there was a court system in the United States. Not just a court system for everyone, but the state of Florida, but a court system that included Florida. If anyone wants to know why DCF "loses" so many children in the state of Florida, I think I have found the answer. DCF doesn't care. There is no paper trail of this child being given to the parents, so the person that had custody of her will still be held accountable for her if anything should happen.
DCF has it on good authority that the mother has changed, again, and she and the father will be great parents. They are now living in Jacksonville, applying for Food Stamps and welfare. I believe in second chances, but how many second chances should someone get without actually having a court hearing? DCF has no idea what conditions this child is living in. Yet somehow, that is okay.
Why didn't DCF require a court hearing? What can this poor lady that had custody do? She contacted DCF and DCF is happy the child is back with its parents again.
What kind of parents wake their child at two in the morning, just so they can take her to another city? The kind of parents that knew if they did it legally, they wouldn't be allowed to stay together and they wouldn't get custody of the child. The child was in a home that was a friend of the family's. The parents would have been able to see the child with supervision. That wasn't good enough for 48 hours? How can DCF or the court with DCF's guidance, take custody away from the mother just to give it back to her? Is that even legal?
The lady who formerly had custody is older and doesn't know how any of this works. She thinks since DCF said it, it must be gospel. She has no idea that she is responsible for that child. She is sick with worry and is afraid for the little girl. Yet, she feels there is nothing she can do.
On a personal note, I would love for her to contact an attorney, although she can't afford one. Someone needs to get her name off of the responsible party line and place the whole mess into DCF's lap. Maybe DCF wouldn't be so quick to give up a child they are responsible for, even if only on paper.
Published by Jane Vee
Jane is married with two wonderful children. She has worked in the childcare industry for over 20 years. Her profession for 18 years has been accounting. She enjoys home interior and design as well as hom... View profile
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13 Comments
Post a CommentI had a problem also with the DCF with a baby that i had for two years. She was 3months old and was two when she went home to the the woman that gave birth to her. I was told that in 6 months that she would go home, well it never happened and her parents was not doing good so i had her longer, this went on for two years. when she went home to her parents they where being evicted from there home and had no where to go and so i volenteered to take them in my home only to keep my baby from living on the streets. And when i came home almost 80% of the time they would be drunk andf Me and my husband would have to fed our foster child and bath her because she would be dirty I called the DCF case worker and she came over and the father of the baby cursed her out and talked bad to her face and nothing was done about it. I called several times and the DCF officer she said to me well the only thing we can do is if she wears a dirty diaper for three days we can do something, excuse me do you thin
No court hearings, and NO supervision of children in after school programs that are not licensed in the great state of FL! FL statute 65C-22.008(2)3b "allows children to enter and leave a program at any time without adult supervision." You're talking about children as young as 5, those with special needs, etc.!!! DCF seems to encourage non-licensed programs so that they don't have to be responsible for them. What a crock. DCF does NOT look out for children, much less provide any kind of protection, security.
Very interesting, thanks!
Sad news and scary, too. Thanks for the info and you made some interesting suggestions about the way things SHOULD be run!
It never fails, when kids need help there is no one there for them but when everything is fine, someone feels the need to stick their nose where it doesn't belong. Around here there are a lot of teen mothers that think its cool to have a kid at 15. They get welfare, free housing, cash etc. Then when the baby isn't "cute" anymore it gets pawned off to the parents or grandparents .. or worse, left alone. Your article touches on a lot of the WRONG things that are happening.
Disgusting when it is children that fall through the cracks...children should be protected at all costs. It is infuriating when orgs such as DCF enable the unfit. It won't cost her $$ to learn her rights. If she didn't agree to the transfer of the child to the parent(s)she should walk into the pd & DCF and start getting names of all these officials that are putting this child in harms way...
that is the sad state of affairs happening everywhere even here in Canada
This is really heartbreaking for the child. Does no one care about this little baby? The earliest years of this (or any) child's life will determine her success or failure. We need to start caring more about children in this country, particularly after they are born.
maybe it's the recession! the government has no money to hire more people
BTW, I know some people in a similar situation as the lady who had custody of the child in your article... the good people who wanted to take the child in had big problems because the father of the child was a criminal and a junkie - *and* an informant for the police. The cops work with scum - the police departments are hiring criminal scum to work for them. So... that's what was going on in what sounds like a similar case.