The Child Protection eNewsletter
 Florida’s Department of Children & Families (DCF) admitted last week that more than 1000 cases of suspected child abuse were not investigated because of a fax glitch. http://www.sun-sentinel.com The faxes were sent primarily by social service professionals, teachers, judicial aides, sheriffs and state attorneys. These are generally the most serious reports. Department officials claim that the fax glitch should never occur again because the Department of Children & Families has installed a new computer system to alleviate the problem. http://www.orlandosentinel.com and http:/www.news-journalonline.com The glitch was discovered when 1,156 reports were found in the fax system’s memory as the new computers were being installed. Florida officials say there is no reason to believe any additional reports had been lost. This comes as a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation has cleared three former top Department of Children & Families administrators accused of giving contracts to vendors with whom they fostered personal relationships. http://www.miami.com DCF has been under increasing scrutiny in recent months. Just three weeks ago a Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge held the Florida Department of Children and Families in contempt of court for failing to diagnose and treat an 8-year-old boy suspected of being autistic.. The judge called the child welfare workers' actions ''pitifully short of acceptable.'' http://www.miami.com The court had requested diagnosis and treatment several times over a period of several months.
 Hundreds of people carrying balloons gathered Saturday to remember Dylan Groene on what would have been his 10th birthday, with a pastor telling mourners: "God is throwing a better party for him than you could ever possibly imagine." http://www.foxnews.com  Meanwhile, prosecutors are calling Dylan’s sister Shasta’s memory a “powerful weapon” in the prosecution of registered sex offender Jsoeph Edward Duncan, III. http://www.foxnews.com According to court records, Shasta remembered the brand of the hammer used to kill her family, the fact that some victims had their feet bound while others did not, and that the killer wore dark gloves. She called her kidnapper "Jet," a nickname Joseph Edward Duncan III used on his disturbingly violent Web journal. (see vol3_iss43)
The San Jose Mercury-News has an interesting article on how Dean Schwartzmiller, who may have molested tens of thousands of boys, managed to beat the system. http://www.mercurynews.com Over nearly four decades, he has conned boys, conned their families and conned the system, according to records from five states and interviews with his family, friends and former attorneys. In five states over 35 years, Schwartzmiller has been arrested on more than 80 counts of child molestation involving at least 13 boys. He was convicted on nine of those counts, and four were eventually overturned by appeals courts.
The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) reports that methamphetamine abuse by parents is causing a 40% rise in foster care placements in rural communities. http://www.cwla.org The crisis is being compared to the surge in “crack babies” in the early 1990’s. Methamphetamines can be five times more potent than cocaine.
Defense attorneys have wrapped up two weeks of closing arguments that marked the final testimony in a massive pedophilia trial that has horrified France. http://breakingnews.iol.ie Investigators say 45 children between the ages of six months and 14 years were raped and abused by their parents or acquaintances in a working class neighborhood of Angers from 1999 to 2002 – at times in exchange for small amounts of money, food, alcohol or cigarettes. (also see vol3_iss16 and vol3_iss42)
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