FL - At Least 402 Children Missing from Placements with the Florida DCFS

http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/missingkids/

"
The above is a partial listing of children missing from their current placements. Prior to listing any children on this web site the Department must receive approval from the court for release of information. In addition, the Department and its community partners are locating many of the children reported missing. As a result, this list may include children who have been located within the past week . "

List at link

Wow....that's a huge number! And it's only a "PARTIAL" list!

That's pathetic. There probably over 1,000 missing if that's a partial list. They need to hire more social workers to keep track of these children, that list is ridiculous. I think the social workers that are supposed to keep track of them have ridiculous caseloads and are overwhelmed. If they hire more of them, and divide it up better, hopefully they can manage to keep better track of the children.

Why does this not surprise me when we see the thousands of children who go missing all the time and are not on a single government data base?! The fact that social services nationwide are a disgrace is very well known.

They are underfunded, understaffed, and so mired in red tape that the children are not only slipping through the cracks...they are falling off the face of the earth! Yet, we still allow our government to overlook it instead of demanding they overhaul the entire system.

I am sick and tired of sending aid to other countries in the billions and billions of dollars instead of taking care of our own first. The only way to fix the problem is to scrap it and start over which means we will spend billions to create a system that actually takes responsibility and will benefit the children who desperately need it. The old program has failed miserably.

We need more social workers, we need more child psychologists, and we need accountability for each and every one of those children. Paying those workers well who do their job and firing the ones who do not will create a system that does work. People will want the jobs. Checks and balances need to be in place.

There is NO excuse for any state to lose a child they are legally obligated to protect.

In 2002 when it was found that Rilya Wilson went missing from foster care, the CPS made promises to find all the children. And I have to say the numbers are down from what it was then. But since media attention went away, it does look like they are backsliding.

Whoa, now this is scary!

It's not entirely the DCFS's fault. I mean, I'm not saying their hands are clean -- they are making a terrible mess of things. However, you have to consider that many if not most foster children are teenagers, and if they want to run away there's not a lot anyone can do to stop them. I have heard of many instances where the teen did not want to be placed in foster care, was put in there anyway, and promptly ran away back to Mom or whatever.

As Meggie notes, many of these are likely runaway teens and some are missing with natural parents who don't have custody or with other family members. I've worked in the foster care system in another state. There is no possible way anyone can keep up with 65 to 70 children the way it should be done, but those are average caseload numbers. Teens in foster care runaway a lot. While a few run because of abuse in foster care, most run because they suddenly find themselves with normal rules for teens after having few or none with natural parents. It doesn't sit well with a 16 yo kid when you tell them they can't smoke, drink, cuss, or stay out until 4 AM when they have been routinely doing these things. They don't want to go to school in many cases and many are sexually active - often with totally inappropriate partners (like a 16 yo girl with a 25 yo guy) When you factor in these factors, it become clear why the number is so high.

If you go to Orlando's missing kids page... and visit regularly... you will a lot of those kids listed on the DCF site that are habitual runaways... they are on and off the list all the time...

This is not unique to Florida... they just post it for the public.

audrey77 said:

If you go to Orlando's missing kids page... and visit regularly... you will a lot of those kids listed on the DCF site that are habitual runaways... they are on and off the list all the time...

Click to expand...

I see that a lot on the NCMEC site too. A kid runs away, gets a poster, gets found, poster removed, then a few months later... "Oh, Susie's run away again I see." One girl is even on the Charley Project for the second time.

http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080202/CAPITOLNEWS/802020336/1011/

"A public spokesman for the Department of Children and Families has been charged with eight felony counts of using two teen-agers in sexual performances, the state announced Friday night.

Authorities said Al Zimmerman of Tallahassee was arrested in Lakeland Friday and taken to the Hillsborough County Jail. He was immediately fired by DCF, the huge state agency that administers child-protection programs among many other health and social-welfare duties.

Police said Zimmerman, 40, asked at least two victims, between 16 and 17 years of age, to perform lewd acts, which were used to create *advertiser censored*. The offenses he was accused of are punishable by up to 15 years in prison per count, the state said."

He's the spokesman... Saw it on the Orlando Sentinel a week or two ago.

The Orlando Missing Children site:
http://www.cityoforlando.net/police/missing/juveniles.htm

Not many on there today...
The habitual runaways usually have more than one photo... usually taken at DCF or shelters or something.