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TALLAHASSEE — An abused child will spend the annivelsary of Kayla McKean’s death sleeping in a Florida motel because there is no room in any nearby homes licensed to provide emergency shelter, a veteran advocate said Wednesday.
And “tens of thousands of children ... living at risk” don’t have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, Jack Levine told reporters.
Last Thanksgiving, hundreds of volunteers searched for 6-year-old Kayla in the Clermont area when she was reported missing.
Her body was discovered five days later in a forest 50 miles north of her home. Her father was arrested on murder and aggravated child abuse charges after he told police he slammed Kayla against the wall of their home and hit her for soiling her panties.
The Department of Children and Families conceded their investigators didn’t respond to signs of abuse in Kayla’s case and five staffers were fired. Kayla’s father, Richard Lee Adams, is scheduled to stand trial in January
Levine, president of the Center for Florida’s Children, picked the first anniversary of Kayla’s death to warn that Floricia’s system for caring for abused children is being overwhelmed — partly because of the tough law legislators passed this spring in an effort to protect children from the “gruesome brutality” she endured until her death.
Despite the new law, the situation facing Florida’s abused children is going to get worse unless the state does more to help troubled parents and care for abused children, Levine said. He called on Floridians to pay as much attention to the state of the ‘state’s child-protection as they would to a hurricane or tropical storm in the Atlantic.
Levine said. “We know these children are sleeping in child care centers on infant cots overnight and then in the morning being brought to the offices of the Department of Children and Families to spend the day.” Sometimes children are driven around all day as state workers try to find a place for them, Levine said, saying Florida is in a “state of crisis in finding safe shelter for these children.” And food and shelter is just the beginning, he said. “This is not just about three hots and a cot,” Levine said. “This is about recognizing that the reason they were removed is there is an allegation of damage — so it’s not just a place to sleep and something to eat. It’s beginning to mend that torn life.”
(This Article was reported in the Naples Daily News) March 2000
Children & Families Fails Again: Three Children are returned to abusive homes.
Another year has passed and this story appeared today in the Naples Daily News paper. You can not doubt the need for more Guardian Ad Litem volunteers to speak for the children after reading this story.
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