During the past decade, no department has paid as much to settle lawsuits as the state's child welfare agency. In 10 years, the state has paid $73 million to resolve lawsuits involving DCF. And since January, DCF and the state's Division of Risk Management have settled 29 cases totaling $16 million.
$16 million since January of this year?
Those who have repeatedly warned about shortcomings in Florida's safety net for children over the years say the steady stream of litigation should be a wake-up call.
''What's been going on in our foster care system for far too long is that the children are not being kept safe,'' said Karen Gievers, a Tallahassee attorney representing five children to whom the state agreed to pay $1.2 million. The five were sexually assaulted by a Merritt Island foster parent who was allowed to adopt the children. The lawsuit, settled in August, lambasted DCF for allowing Robert Howard, now awaiting trial on sex abuse charges, to adopt the children even though the state had shut down his foster home.
Dozens of other cases settled by DCF are similar. Last month, the agency agreed to pay $1.4 million to a child who was placed in an overcrowded foster home where she was repeatedly sexually abused by two older foster children.
State Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat, said he is glad Butterworth is trying to settle the lingering cases. But he said he questions whether the department is doing enough to track and prevent abuse against children in state custody.
''I want to know whether this reveals the quality of the care,'' said Gelber, who has sent a listing of recent DCF settlements to the GOP lawmakers who oversee the agency.
No comments:
Post a Comment