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Associated PressFebruary 18, 2016

The heads of 10 Florida state agencies will keep their jobs. The Florida Senate voted Thursday to confirm top officials appointed by Gov. Rick Scott. They also confirmed Rick Swearingen who was appointed the head of Florida’s law-enforcement agency by Scott and members of the Florida Cabinet. The vote was important because state law would […]

Jim RosicaFebruary 18, 2016

Dozens of state officials whose appointments need Senate approval will be considered Thursday by the Florida Senate, records show. Among Gov. Rick Scott‘s top officials on the docket are Corrections Secretary Julie Jones, Children and Families (DCF) Secretary Mike Carroll, and Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) Commissioner Rick Swearingen. Swearingen replaced former Commissioner Gerry Bailey, forced […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 2, 2016

A woman unpaid with unusually long work hours, or a young man recruited for a job under false premises. It is difficult to comprehend the evil of human trafficking, but its existence is real and occurs not only in poor and impoverished villages halfway around the world, but right here in our own communities. Human […]

Drew WilsonNovember 25, 2015

Nearly 1,400 Florida children in foster care will spend Thanksgiving with their families and loved ones as part of a Department of Children and Families initiative. The “Home for the Holidays” initiative, announced by DCF Secretary Mike Carroll Wednesday, will reunite 1,025 children with siblings, parents and extended family for Thanksgiving. “We often take for […]

Drew WilsonOctober 27, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that his 2016 budget recommendation will including a $22.9 million funding bump for the Department of Children and Families. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking when a child is a victim of abuse or neglect. Anytime something horrific happens to an innocent child, we have to stop and think about what we can […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 3, 2015

A top state child-protection official who reportedly had an “frat house”-management style, disparaging and berating underlings and referring to some as “ho’s,” has quit his job. David Abramowitz was director of the Northeast Florida region for the Department of Children and Families. He turned in his resignation Wednesday, as first reported by First Coast News. DCF Press Secretary Michelle Glady […]

Phil AmmannJuly 23, 2015

On Thursday, Gov. Rick Scott took the time to highlight Florida’s fight against human trafficking with a ceremonial bill signing of four bills to raise protect survivors and set harsher penalties for exploitation of victims. “While Florida has a 44-year crime low,” Scott said at the Citrus Health Network Family Medical Center in Hialeah, “even one victim […]

Christine Jordan SextonMay 4, 2015

Gov. Rick Scott on Monday reappointed 14 men and women as directors of state agencies despite the Florida Senate refusing to confirm them during the Legislative Session. The agencies run the gamut from Department of Economic Opportunity to the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to the State Technology Agency. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 12, 2015

It’s not every day that a divorce lawyer reports her own client to the state child abuse hotline. But that’s what John Jonchuck‘s lawyer did. On Jan. 7, Jonchuck showed up at the firm’s office dressed in pajamas, toting his 5-year-old daughter Phoebe, along with a Bible he incorrectly believed to be written in Swedish. Jonchuck’s lawyer told the Hotline that her client was “out-of-his-mind […]

Associated PressFebruary 9, 2015

Just 12 hours before police say a man threw his 5-year-old daughter to her death off a Tampa Bay bridge last month, his own attorney called Florida’s child abuse hotline, warning that his client was suffering from mental delusions. But the hotline operator didn’t refer the call to investigators because she didn’t think the child […]

Tag: Mike Carroll

Florida Senate confirms 10 agency heads appointed by Rick Scott

It’s confirmations day in Florida Senate

Christina Daly and Mike Carroll: State is combatting human trafficking

DCF program sends Florida foster children “Home for the Holidays”

Rick Scott asks for $23 million budget bump for DCF in 2016

DCF losing top child-protection official for Jacksonville region

Gov. Scott highlights human trafficking fight with four new Florida laws

Rick Scott reappoints 14 agency heads after Senate snub

Florence Snyder: Phoebe Jonchuck tragedy reveals underpaid staff, DCF doublespeak

Hotline ignored calls on girl thrown over bridge by dad