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USA TODAY’s two-part investigation, published in October and December, revealed that after Florida lawmakers rewrote the state’s child welfare rules in 2014 to make it easier to seize children from their parents, thousands of kids flooded the foster care system. Faced with a shortage of foster parents, DCF sent some children to live in unsafe homes where they were physically and sexually abused.
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To prevent future missteps, DCF will expand its Crisis Incident Rapid Response Team, originally established to investigate child deaths, to evaluate the agency’s work in cases that involve accusations of sexual abuse against foster parents, Poppell said. Experts will review those cases, offer corrective feedback and provide a recommendation on whether a child should be returned to a home where abuse was alleged.
In the fiscal year 2019-20, there were 92 children with allegations of sexual abuse involving foster parents, Poppell said, yet only six were verified – even though 70% of the allegations were made by credible sources, a group that includes professionals such as teachers, physicians and law enforcement personnel.
To prevent future missteps, DCF will expand its Crisis Incident Rapid Response Team, originally established to investigate child deaths, to evaluate the agency’s work in cases that involve accusations of sexual abuse against foster parents, Poppell said. Experts will review those cases, offer corrective feedback and provide a recommendation on whether a child should be returned to a home where abuse was alleged.