A report by the Casey Family Programs released Tuesday to Florida Senate and House committees showed “a particularly bleak picture” of the state’s systemic failure to protect children.
Casey found that investigators do not take into account factors such as domestic violence and drug abuse when investigating child-welfare complaints.
Commissioned by the Department of Children & Families, the report cited multiple cases of DCF failing to intervene or properly assess the danger in a violent home and leaving children unprotected, according to the Miami Herald (Editor’s note: If you run into a paywall, try the Florida Current’s version.)
While dozens of Florida’s children die from parental neglect or abuse each year without ever coming to DCF’s attention, at least 25 died during an eight-month period this year after they were being followed by child-protection workers, according to the report.
It found that the children died from asphyxia, drowning, or beatings while investigators did little or nothing to help.
