Miami child abuse cases mishandled, state finds

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Miami Herald

Posted on Mon, Nov. 19, 2007
Miami child abuse cases mishandled, state finds
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

A 2-year-old girl is beaten so savagely that her skull is fractured from ear to ear.
A 15-year-old girl is repeatedly raped by the boyfriend of her mother, who refuses to believe her.

A psychotic, suicidal 14-year-old boy bounces between a juvenile lockup and a mental hospital after his only caregiver, an aunt, abandons him.

All three Miami-area children, and scores of others, had been reported as victims of abuse, neglect or abandonment earlier this year to Florida child welfare caseworkers -- who closed their cases days later without helping them, in some instances without ever laying eyes on them.

A state report into the children's cases obtained by The Miami Herald concludes there was a ''widespread'' practice among Miami child-abuse caseworkers of closing investigations prematurely, sometimes without even visiting suspected victims of abuse or neglect.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/v-print/story/313173.html