Judge: DCF failed to investigate family before taking children
The nation's foster care system is flawed. Cases where child protection and adoption agencies rush through "streamlined" administrative processes, stripping children away from parents for federal money, are more frequently appearing on a nationwide scale. Luckily, some of these agencies are being caught in the act of using their powers to generate revenue for the state agencies as opposed to solving actual problems. But why are removals and placement occuring so quickly? Children have to not only be removed but placed with a foster parent in order to receive valuable federal funds through Title IV-E of the Social Security Act. Due to funding incentives direct relative placement becomes less likely where a jurisdiction suffers budgetary issues and a highly-adoptable (younger and more attractive) child enters the system. It is more profitable to encourage foster placement than direct relative placement because of the incentivization of negative outcomes in our nation's foster care policies and system.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS August 25, 2007
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A judge has found the state Department of Children & Families negligent in failing to
properly investigate the medical histories of two children before accusing their mother of intentionally making them sick.
Sara
and Donald Evans lost custody of their two children, then 2 and 5, after the agency said they were victims of Münchhausen syndrome by
proxy, a condition where a person deliberately makes another sick. One child was placed in shelter care for 144 days and the other for 77 days in 2006 before being allowed to go live with grandparents.
"What is apparent to this court is that (DCF officials) came up with a legal theory, i.e. that this was a case of Munchausen by Proxy, a serious form of child abuse, and attempted to substantiate their theory with inaccurate and misleading information," Broward County Circuit Judge Marina Garcia-Wood wrote in a decision Friday criticizing the agency's performance.
The children had records from California documenting their legitimate medical problems, and the family's doctors had given sworn statements rejecting the abuse allegations. But DCF failed to consider those records, continuing dependency court proceedings three months after the family provided the documentation. The agency later dismissed all abuse allegations in July 2006.
"This court finds that the failure to consult with the children's prior medical doctors and caretakers, and a careful review of all medical records, which were extensive, and the children's medical history was, in fact, medical neglect," the judge wrote.
Garcia-Wood ordered the agency to pay for the Evans' legal fees.
The family has also filed a federal lawsuit against three DCF officials, alleging they violated the couple's civil rights by taking the children away.
DCF spokeswoman Leslie Mann said she could not comment on the ruling. DCF had argued in court that the case was "a battle of medical experts." In the federal case, attorneys for the DCF officials have argued that they acted within the scope of their jobs and did not deprive the family of their rights.
One of the Evans' children had a series of metabolic and developmental problems; the other had gastro-esophageal reflux.
Information from: South Florida Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com">http://www.sun-sentinel.com
 
