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Kidnapping Prompts Changes At DCF

Tuesday, May 19, 2009 8:40:18 PM
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A missing Florida girl was found in Wisconsin two weeks ago is home, safe and sound. Her ordeal is giving way to a shakeup at the state's Department of Children and Families. Late Tuesday, internal investigators released a full account of what went wrong, and why.

The fallout continues at the Florida Department of Children and Families. As promised, Secretary Bob Butterworth is unveiling a scathing report in the Courtney Clark case.

In January, the two-year old toddler disappeared from her foster home in Lake County. Amazingly, four months passed before law enforcement got wind of it. About two weeks ago, she turned up in Wisconsin.

Turns out her mother had kidnapped her and taken her to a home in Wisconsin. Authorities also found a body buried in the backyard, and an 11-year old boy who had been tortured at the same location.

The report finds that a DCF contractor, the Sarasota Family YMCA, is responsible for not following protocol. In the words of Butterworth, people failed, and the system did, too

“There is not that sense of urgency. When a child goes missing, that must be reported immediately. Go through this file – it’s there,” Butterworth said. “The case worker for the YMCA knew the child was missing, and did not contact local law enforcement for some time. Inexcusable.”

Butterworth is launching a handful of new positions at DCF to better coordinate communication between the department, law enforcement and contractors. He also wants a top-to-bottom review of the Sarasota YMCA.

The report also recommends state lawmakers take action to require that reports of missing children in the DCF system are entered immediately in national law enforcement databases.

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