Private Community-Based Lead Agency and Subcontractor Fail to Protect Foster Child from Physical and Emotional Harm in Group Home
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 a “cockfight” encouraged by a group home employee.
Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman criticized the Florida Department of Children and Families, its former lead community-based agency in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties, and its subcontractors for operating a system of care which “deprives children and families of needed services” and “allows for lack of accountability, with each ‘entity’ pointing the finger at one another when the ball is dropped.”
The case settled for an undisclosed amount.
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