Imagine a situation where a mother finds out her ex-spouse is abusing their child after going through a divorce. The parent is filled with a variety of emotions, sadness, fear, and anger among them. Desperate to protect the child, the parent turns to the authorities for help, who in turn, direct them to the Department of Children and Families. Thinking she is about to get help, it’s only then the nightmare truly begins. Such is the story of many parents in Florida who deal with the state’s Department of Children and Families when trying to prevent abuse.
The Florida Department of Children and Families is a state agency that provides social services to families and whose responsibility includes guarding vulnerable children against the dangers of abuse. But, as an investigation by USA Today revealed, Florida’s DCF frequently made things significantly worse for children who experienced abuse and further endangered their safety. Unfortunately, it was poor decision-making by DCF that led to these horrible situations.
“I won’t belabor the point — the quality of the work was poor. We did a bad job,” DCF Secretary Chad Poppell previously told USA Today. “Each one of those [cases] may have a dozen decision points along the way. The overall review indicated in those cases, roughly half the time on all those decisions, we made the wrong one.”
One of the more horrifying revelations of the report showed that in incidents of abuse, DCF blamed mothers and took away their children. The inexplicable logic behind these decisions was that DCF decided that failing to protect children from an abusive partner was, in itself, a form of child abuse. DCF found that the parents who endured abuse were at fault, claimed this endangered their children, and, as a result, subsequently removed them.
Poppell promised reforms, but many mothers have claimed they have not seen any improvement, and the same problems continue to plague them and their children. One mother spoke to me under the condition of anonymity, out of fear of retaliation about her harrowing experience with DCF.
“I have dealt with DCF in 2 counties in Florida, submitted a criminal child abuse case to the assistant state attorney which was dismissed, and have been verbally attacked by judges for trying to save my son’s life after he was almost strangled to death at the hands of his father,” the mother told me. “I have video of my son speaking with DCF about being sexually abused at age 3, caught by his bedroom nanny cam, multiple videos and audio of domestic violence, courtroom audio of a family court judge falsely attacking me for filing an injunction of protection for my minor child out of spite, and endless pages of documented abuse and negligence for a period of six years.”
If this trauma wasn’t bad enough, the mother’s efforts to protect her son are quite expensive. She claims she has sacrificed her entire savings to ensure her child’s safety while DCF has repeatedly ignored her as she tried to protect her son from abuse.
“I have lost everything trying to save my child by paying constant attorney’s fees, including my car, my home, my job, and withdrawing from college,” she said.
Furthermore, DCF’s incompetence seems to be a recurring pattern.
In one instance, DCF claimed a family’s children were doing well. Yet it turned out the children were actually dead.
In March 2022, a jury found DCF guilty of failing to remove a 6-year-old child from a dangerous situation after a child’s grandparents notified DCF of abuse by the mother. After DCF’s inaction, the mother attempted to drown the child and stabbed them. The family was awarded $28 million after a Sarasota jury found that DCF’s poor decision-making resulted in more abuse.
Even more troubling is the repeated failures of DCF often lead to further abuse. Sadly, this is something the mother I interviewed also experienced.
“My child reported further abuse to therapists, but that also went ignored by DCF,” she said.
To make matters worse, not only has DCF failed to protect her child from abuse, but it accused her of “coaching” her child to make these allegations. This is despite the fact that DCF admitted signs of abuse in one of its reports. Furthermore, it never took action to protect the child even after its findings.
“Although there were findings of physical abuse, DCF stated in court that there was ‘no safety issue’ and never bothered to implement a safety plan causing the child to endure further abuse,” the mother told me.
As of July 2022, the problems persist in the agency, according to a report by WFTS, an ABC affiliate in Tampa. The fact that this is occurring in the United States and not some Third World country is quite tragic. Moreover, that it is still happening even after the agency acknowledged its failures and shortcomings is devastating.
The mother I spoke with told me of the bureaucratic wall DCF imposes on abuse victims and their parents. She described in great detail how judges prioritize aiding DCF instead of helping the children that need it the most. She questioned the legitimacy of the court system in these matters. This sentiment was echoed by the Houstons, one of the families in the WFTS report from July.
“DCF, I feel like they run the courtroom and the judge. We’ve been through hell and back,” Althea Houston told the ABC affiliate.
Despite her agony, the mother told me she had no intention of giving up. She will continue to fight heroically to ensure her child’s safety and well-being.
“As my child comes back from his father’s tonight and I spend an hour trying to stop him from trying to hurt himself, I can’t help but think how angry I am at how much time I spend trying to build up my child’s self-esteem after his ordered visits thanks to false accusations of ‘coaching’ and ‘parental alienation’ by DCF,'” the mother said.
Many things need to change with DCF, and they need to change quickly. The agency has shown that it is a complete disaster. And while a government bureaucracy being a disaster is nothing new, the fact that it continues to fail to protect the most vulnerable should raise red flags. Children are suffering directly because of a government agency’s mishaps and failures. Promises of reform are not enough. The people in power must implement immediate and widespread changes. No child deserves to suffer because of government incompetence.
