Custodial dad molests teen daughter, DCF bumbles (Miami, Florida)

Let's see. UNNAMED DAD is unemployed, has a $100-$200 a day cocaine habit, and abuses steroids which makes him "psychotic." The daughter says he's pulled a knife on her before. She hasn't been in school. Florida DCF catches him TWICE in a state of undress with his teen daughter after receiving calls alleging sexual abuse. But they blow it off. Yes, Daddy had custody. Seems Mom is in a different country (Dominican Republic) where "investigators couldn't locate her." Really? Are these the same investigators who caught Daddy naked with a teenage daughter--locked in a bedroom with her no less--and ordered him to "sleep in a separate bedroom"? Yessir, daddies are sure discriminated against and picked on something awful, aren't they?

Hat tip to Annie.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/07/v-fullstory/1568195/incest-case-raises-questions-about.html

Incest case raises questions about DCF's family-preservation policy
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER
cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

When child welfare investigator Simon Roberts went to the home of a 39-year-old Miami man accused of having sex with his own teenage daughter, he found the man locked in a bedroom with the girl -- both of them undressed.

Roberts' action: He ordered the man to sleep in a separate bedroom. And then he left.

Two days later, another investigator took the girl into state custody after -- acting on another call to the state's abuse hot line -- she found the man, once again, naked with his daughter, this time in a Biscayne Boulevard motel. Both Roberts and his supervisor were fired last month after child welfare leaders said they left the girl at ``imminent risk.''

``This was a crime,'' Department of Children & Families Secretary George Sheldon said of the man's behavior with his daughter. ``Clearly, there wasn't a sense of urgency in this case, and, clearly, there was no utilization of common sense.''

In a broader sense, details of the girl's case raise troubling questions about the methods DCF administrators have employed in an effort to reduce the number of children the agency serves. Believing that children fare better with their parents than in foster care, DCF leaders are seeking to preserve families with help from the state, whenever possible.

So they have reduced the number of children in state care by 37 percent statewide, or from 29,255 children in December 2006 to 18,471 children as of March 14. The reduction in foster children in Miami-Dade has been even more dramatic, at 43 percent during the same time period.

Administrators insist troubled families are being served just as well -- if not better -- through programs that offer parenting classes, substance abuse treatment, domestic violence counseling and even hands-on home instruction to parents on a voluntary basis.

But critics of the new policy say the agency seldom follows through to ensure parents accept the services that are offered, and that, often, children remain at risk when their parents continue to abuse drugs or make poor decisions -- outside the agency's oversight.

Patricia Anyamele, Roberts' supervisor, said the ``pressure'' to leave families intact has forced investigators to second-guess themselves when they truly believe a child is in danger.

``What is a protective investigator supposed to do, go with his gut and get berated again?'' she asked.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen, who is presiding over the girl's case in juvenile court, declined to discuss the investigation, citing the child's confidentiality.

But Cohen, who also leads Miami's Community Based Care Alliance oversight group, said she has been fielding concerns for months from other judges, service providers and healthcare workers that there is an ``environment of fear'' that discourages investigators from acting more forcefully -- which could lead to tragic consequences.

``That is why judges across the state are worried,'' Cohen said. ``And it's why I'm concerned.''
``They put the entire family preservation program into place without filling in the gaps, developing a good tracking mechanism or developing a safety or risk assessment,'' Cohen said. ``I think that's dangerous. You can't have philosophy running the system. Safety has to run the system.''

And Roy Miller, who heads the Florida Children's Campaign and was appointed to a panel by Sheldon earlier this year to help review Florida's child protection system, said details of the case suggest child welfare authorities have not done enough to keep children safe while they implement the far-reaching effort to lower foster care caseloads.

``Can't a state agency get the pendulum in the middle -- where common sense rules the day?'' Miller asked.

Sheldon insists his agency's foremost goal will always be to protect children from harm, though he acknowledges implementing the philosophical shift remains ``a work in progress.''

``The goal of trying to preserve families cannot be done to the exclusion of trying to keep kids safe,'' he said.

The father at the center of the controversial case, who was unemployed at the time of his arrest, is not being identified here to protect the privacy of his daughter, who was 16. The girl's mother lives in the Dominican Republic, where investigators could not locate her. The girl has no siblings. His first contact with DCF occurred in January 2009. That's when the agency's hot line received a report the father had a $100- to $200-a-day cocaine habit, and was abusing steroids -- which made him ``psychotic.'' The daughter had found him wielding a knife to his own throat. She had broken three bones when he crashed a car he was driving.

``The victim hasn't been in school for four months,'' the report said. The allegations were ``verified,'' according to a DCF quality assurance investigation provided to The Herald. The father was referred to a drug treatment center, and a better-parenting program.

DCF administrators acknowledge the agency failed to follow up with the dad to make sure he completed his drug treatment, had ensured his daughter was attending school, and was no longer leaving the girl in harm's way. Indeed, sources say, the girl had not been to school for two years when she was taken from her father.

Miller of the Children's Campaign said DCF left the girl at risk by failing to act more forcefully.
``I think you have to assume her life is in danger. You have to either remove the child to get to the bottom of the story, or you have to allow her to stay in the home, but, immediately provide very intensive services. . . . You can't walk away from the case with a referral to drug treatment. It's ridiculous.''

And Anyamele, who was Simon Roberts' supervisor when he investigated the father eight months later -- and was fired for failing to insist the girl be removed -- said ``if the court had mandated services [then] it probably would have yielded a better outcome.''

Jacqui Colyer, DCF's top Miami administrator, said the agency did not have sufficient cause in January 2009 to shelter the girl, or to ask a judge to order the dad to accept help from the state.
``What we did was provide the family with as many services as possible without moving forward with any type of legal action,'' Colyer said. ``We didn't think we had any real standing to go forward at that time.''

Eight months later, when authorities next came into contact with the family, the father had lost his business, was unemployed, and was living with his brother's family.

According to court records and Miami-Dade Police Detective Rebeca Perez, on Aug. 17, the girl's uncle called MDPD to report the man and his daughter were sleeping in the same bed together ``nude.'' Police alerted DCF to the allegations.

Two police officers accompanied Roberts to the uncle's house hours later. According to records, the girl's uncle told authorities ``he has seen the victim and [her dad] laying naked in bed on numerous occasions.'' As a church leader, he added, he told his brother ``his behavior was inappropriate.''

During the home visit, the father was found on his bed naked; his daughter had locked herself in a bathroom. When coaxed to leave the bathroom, she was naked from the waist down.

``The victim denied any sexual abuse,'' a police report said. The father insisted he'd done nothing wrong, adding: ``The room I sleep in is hot and I cannot sleep.''

The police report quotes the uncle as saying the officers ``instructed'' the father ``to leave the residence for the night.''

Colyer, DCF's Miami administrator, and DCF records obtained by The Miami Herald say Roberts told the father to sleep in a separate bedroom from his daughter -- and then did nothing more. Anyamele, Roberts' supervisor, approved of Roberts' decision, records show.

``The [investigator] initiated a safety plan for the father and child to remain in separate rooms, but that plan was insufficient to protect the child from future harm,'' the internal investigation said.

The next day, the DCF hot line received a new report that the father had moved with his daughter to a Biscayne Boulevard motel room where, it was feared, the girl would continue to be sexually abused. When a different DCF investigator arrived at the motel, the father and daughter were once again together naked.

Miami-Dade police officers interviewed the girl, who insisted she had not had sex with her father. Still, the DCF investigator took the girl into state custody. She now lives with her uncle's family, and is receiving counseling and other services from the state.

Roberts, the investigator first assigned the case, said his decisions that day were approved not only by his direct supervisor, but, later, by several administrators up the chain of command. ``All agreed with my decision until recently,'' he said.

Anyamele, who has appealed directly to Sheldon to be reinstated, said the investigation was not as clear-cut as her bosses now insist: The girl, she said, repeatedly denied having sex with her father. Even the police who went to the home failed to take action for almost a week.

What's more, Anyamele said, investigators are under tremendous ``pressure ''to leave children in their homes -- absent the gravest of risk. Supervisors meet weekly, she said, to justify every case in which a child is removed from parents. ``My own supervisor comes back and says he was grilled to death as to why children were removed.''

``We are damned if we do, and damned if we don't,'' Anyamele said. ``That is the crisis we are facing.''

Perez, the police department spokeswoman, said her officers all acted appropriately, as well, given that the girl repeatedly denied being the victim of sexual abuse. ``There is no indication that a crime was witnessed by a MDPD officer,'' Perez said.

On Aug. 24, Miami-Dade police, alerted by DCF to the girl's removal, arrested the father on four charges of having sex with an underaged family member, records show.

At first, the teen denied having sex with her dad, but acknowledged it later after a detective told the girl her dad had confessed -- which was untrue. She said she had sex with her father four to six times the past few years -- usually ``on his birthday or when he requested.''

In a statement to police, the girl called the intercourse ``an accident.''

``I love my dad to death, and I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt me,'' she told police.

Later, after learning her father had not confessed, the girl recanted her statements.

The father, court records show, pleaded guilty to one charge of felony battery, was given credit for 180 days of jail time, and was placed on 4 ½ years of probation. To complete his probation, he was ordered to enroll in a sex offenders' treatment program, and to stay away from his daughter.

But at a hearing earlier this month at which the father agreed to allow his daughter to remain in state care -- in lieu of a dependency trial -- he asked Cohen for permission to visit with the teen.

``No,'' the judge replied. ``Absolutely not.''

``Don't you go near her. Don't you call her. Don't you write her. Don't you walk down her street.''
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