My heart dropped out of my stomach as the Miami Herald reported yesterday that 652 kids were missing from foster care. The number of kids missing from the state's troubled child-welfare system has skyrocketed to 652, most of them runaway teens and youngsters snatched from foster care by their biological parents. The number of missing kids has risen even as the number of kids in state care has declined. Child advocates say the state continues to fail miserably in efforts to safeguard or return missing kids -- even neglecting to register the children with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the national clearinghouse for abducted and runaway kids.
Rilya Wilson
And the list still includes Rilya Wilson, who would be 10 in September. Rilya's disappearance from her Miami caretaker's home when she was five years old sparked national outrage, leading the governor to appoint a blue-ribbon panel to investigate what was wrong with Florida's foster-care system. Since then, Geralyn Graham, Rilya's DCF-approved caregiver, has been charged with killing her.
DCF REFORMS
''DCF reformed its system to ensure the safety and well being of children under its care,'' she added. But the system remains badly flawed. State policy says DCF is supposed to notify both the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about every missing kid. The center, based in Alexandria, Va., was created by Congress as a national clearinghouse for information on missing kids. On Monday, DCF listed 652 children as missing from state care. Yet the national center has open cases involving only 260 missing children for all of Florida -- that includes all missing children in the state, whether or not they were in state care.
CASES NOT LISTED
A Miami Herald search of the center's website, which lists the missing kids for whom the center has posters with photographs, turned up only about 25 who are on the DCF list as well.
Child advocates say it is important to keep the national center informed. ''We work with the law enforcement agency responsible for finding'' children, said Larry Upchurch, the center's director of operations for the missing-persons division. The center prepares and distributes posters with recent pictures and information that can help make an identification. It provides investigative tools to police, and acts as a clearinghouse for tips and information coming in through a 24-hour hot line.
When will the Florida Department of Children & Families learn to do their jobs that they were hired to do and start taking there jobs serious and lets start finding these kids and bring some closure to the familes of these missing kids. To report the sighting of an missing child call
1-800-THE-LOST The number for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Here is the web address for the 652 missing children in Florida http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/missingkids/
Department of Children & Familes Fucks up again