Newspaper sues for Florida child-welfare agency's records on missing kids

By The Associated Press

08.14.02

Printer-friendly page

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A newspaper that used public records to find nine children declared missing by Florida's child-welfare agency has sued to force the agency to open the case files of 22 children missing under its care.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel filed suit yesterday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, saying that once opened, the records will show that the Department of Children & Families repeatedly violates its own policies when children go missing.

"There is now substantial evidence of a catastrophic failure in the department that must be addressed by providing access to DCF records," the newspaper said its court petition.

Bob Brooks, a DCF spokesman, said the agency had not been served with the lawsuit and he could not comment.

Kathleen Kearney, the agency's secretary, resigned yesterday, four months after the case of a missing 5-year-old girl put the department under intense scrutiny.

Officials acknowledged in April that it had lost Rilya Wilson, a Miami girl missing since January 2001. No caseworker checked on her for 15 months.

Files on children under the care of the state agency are confidential. The Sun-Sentinel argued that state law allows exceptions if access to government files benefits the public and outweighs privacy concerns.

The Sun-Sentinel reported on Aug. 11 that it had located nine children after examining 24 cases involving Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade county children, primarily under age 14. The children's profiles were available through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

As of last month, DCF could not account for 532 children the agency said had run away from foster homes or had been abducted by parents against court orders.

Previous

Newspaper finds 9 kids reported missing
South Florida Sun-Sentinel uses public records, other tools to find children declared missing by Florida's troubled child-welfare agency.  08.13.02

Related

Florida's Gov. Bush OK's looser confidentiality to help find missing kids
Department of Children & Families to seek end to restrictions that forbid publicizing missing-child information.  08.30.02