A Florida woman who sued a psychiatrist and a now-closed group home, saying they caused her autistic son’s death by giving him too much medication, filed her malpractice lawsuit seeking damages from the doctor and group home that owned a chain of group homes shut down by the state of... View Article
This civil rights lawsuit involved a claim by a foster child pursuant to 42 USC § 1983 in federal court in Palm Beach County, FL and for negligence against various Florida Department of Children & Family employees and a private mental health crisis stabilization unit for violating the due process... View Article
This lawsuit was filed in the Middle District of Florida against private child welfare providers and individual employees on behalf of the estate of a seventeen-year-old foster child who died while she was on runaway. The suit brought wrongful death and survival claims under state law causes of action and... View Article
The child was reunified with his biological parents despite warnings that he was at significant risk of harm. The father drove the family to Broward County, FL, where he shot a man and held the family hostage. This resulted in a SWAT standoff during which time the father stabbed the... View Article
Florida child abuse attorneys settled a case on behalf of a 16-year-old girl against a private agency that owned and operated an emergency shelter in Palm Beach County, FL, for failure to protect the child from sexual assault by a male shelter employee. The case settled pre-suit for an undisclosed... View Article
A foster boy was placed in the Broward County, FL, foster home of a pedophile by a private agency that failed to locate prior arrest records and police reports that should have prevented the licensure of the home. Florida Administrative Code requires all licensing agencies to obtain copies of reports... View Article
Child abuse attorneys Howard Talenfeld and Stacie Schmerling represented a former foster child in a case in Miami-Dade County, FL, against a private community-based lead agency and its subcontractor for failing to protect the child from physical and emotional harm in a group home when he was the victim of... View Article
Justice for Kids® attorneys Stacie Schmerling, Howard Talenfeld and Justin Grosz represented a former foster child in a federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida against community-based child welfare agencies and an emergency shelter for failure to protect the then 17-year-old foster child from being sold into sex... View Article
A $1.575 million settlement brought an abrupt end to a Fort Lauderdale trial that questioned the Broward Sheriff’s Office for its management of abuse allegations involving an infant who suffered injuries and brain damage, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. “Sheriff Lamberti did the right thing by resolving the 5-year-old child’s... View Article
Over a sixteen year period, DCF and its private contracted community based providers in Miami-Dade County, FL failed to have the child appropriately assessed, failed to provide an increased foster care board rate despite the child’s significant needs, failed to ensure the child received services from the Agency for Persons... View Article