New law targets false reporting of child welfare workers
DAYTONA BEACH -- An adult investigator for the state Department of Children & Families details in a report that he talked to two suspected victims of abuse.
The only problem is the victims said they never spoke to him.
In another local case, a state investigator writes in a report that he spoke to a Port Orange police officer about a child being abused.
But, turns out, the officer said he was never contacted and wasn't even on duty at the time the DCF investigator said the conversation took place.
Those are two of several cases in recent years where state officials found child welfare workers falsified records.
But rarely in such cases locally or statewide do workers face prosecution, according to a recent report by the DCF Inspector General's Office.
State officials hope that will change after legislators earlier this year made it a felony not only when a worker alters an existing document, but creates a false one -- which the old law didn't address.
Ed: I can tell you that I've had more cases than you would believe me about where absolutely completely made up stuff becomes the heart of the case, because it is very difficult to take revolving case managers off the official narrative that is in their inherited notes. In some cases I've been able to turn the light bulb on above the judge's head and achieve an understanding that the foundation of a case has been a sham, on other cases I've not been able to. I know this article, and this law, seems to focus on false reports of child visits that never happened, but that is not the only, and certainly not the most damaging, category of false reporting.
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