Fox News : Jeb Bush loses 532 children through DCS in Florida

Fox News (Tonight)

[Scythian]

STORY 1
STORY 2
THE SAD, LONG RUNNING TRUTH

[Selara]

Should have known. I read the articles....all we need is Jesse added, and it will be official.

Playing the race card is getting kind of old.

[88keys]

The number of missing children was 1,100 now it's 532...

That would be progress, wouldn't it...and I don't know what you heard, but I heard that a local paper had tracked down 9 of 24 missing (including 2 kids living in Minnesota, where 3 hours of research led the reporters to simply dial a phone number out of the MN directory...wonder where they got their info. from?)...I also heard that some of these kids had been "missing" for 7 or 8 years...this was on Greta Van Susteren's report.

So, how long has Jeb been governor??? I didn't hear how Fox News or anyone else had been able to track down the other 544 missing children...it's good that someone clearly did, but IMHO, I would sure not be quick to blame the Governor for 8 years of (entrenched?) incompetence in the Bureau of Family and Child Services...kind of like blaming Katherine Harris for the butterfly ballots...

[Scythian]

`ACCOUNTED FOR'
Jeb's bold faced lie:

''We've accounted for every one of them,'' Bush said. ``The runaways are accounted for. The out-of-state children are accounted for. If you combine those two groups then there's only one child left. The tragic case of Rilya is the only one that's not accounted for.''

Wilson isn't satisfied with the labeling assigned to the children. She said that a grand jury should account for them by interviewing the DCF and the caretakers to make sure the children aren't missing. Wilson questioned one file that listed a 3-year-old girl in Miami as a runaway.

''Bush's advisors are telling him that this inquiry might uncover some skeletons that could embarrass him before the election,'' Wilson said. ``He should put that aside and take care of these children -- people would respect him for it.'' his quote

[Selara]

If they have placed a panel to check into this, why not give the panel TIME to do their job, BEFORE calling for another mechanism? Why not?

BECAUSE of politics. You know it, and I know it. This is a smear Bush push, rather than a save the children push. You know it, and I know it. I hope the voters of Florida remember WHICH candidate actually had children killed..or had a young boy pulled screaming from his home in the dead of night.

[Cold Heat]

Looks to me like you are stumping for Janet Reno! I would hope that is not the case.

[Selara]

And by the way.....why did you list this as a Fox News headline when it was not? Could it be, because you thought a conservative might believe it more?

[Scythian]

See post #24, and notice his quote before the election, he has known about this for years and years now, give me a break.

[Selara]

See post #24, and notice his quote before the election, he has known about this for years and years now, give me a break.

I read the quotes again. THERE is NOTHING to indicate that he has known about this for "years and years now." Nothing. He said a Blue Ribbon Panel to investigate this has commenced. He will follow the reccomendations. He does not see the need for a Grand Jury. He says that with address changes, runaways, etc...they have been accounted for.

Do you have specific information that he is lying?

I am more than fed up with Democrats using, smoke and mirrors, and emotional hot buttons, with just a smidgeon of the illusion of truth, to campaign on. It's disgusting to use children in this manner to campaign on.

[Selara]

I would sure not be quick to blame the Governor for 8 years of (entrenched?) incompetence in the Bureau of Family and Child Services...kind of like blaming Katherine Harris for the butterfly ballots...

Amen. I have testified in child abuse cases, as a nurse. I had a foster daughter once...never again. I have adopted a child. I can say with personal experience, that Child Services in Arizona, Utah and Louisiana are woefully....woeful. It's a darn shame.

Too often, kids under their control are just numbers to get federal dollars. Don't even get me started on how they whine about not enough adoptive parents, then make it next to impossible to adopt one.

[Cold Heat]

Failed By Her `Family'

There is no excuse for the DCF's losing track of this little girl, no matter how overwhelmed it is with cases. If nothing else, this special committee should find out how it's possible for a child under its care to simply disappear.

But the DCF is not the first to lose track of little Rilya. She was born to a drug-addict mother and a recidivist-felon father. Both had been stripped of their parental rights and have not been involved in the girl's care since she was an infant. Their whereabouts were unknown until a few weeks ago. Mom was located in Cleveland, dad in a Miami jail.

So it wasn't DCF that first failed this child; it was her family, or what passed as one.

Yes, the child-welfare system is supposed to protect kids born into dysfunctional situations, which is why it will receive the lion's share of the public's outrage. But it has an unceasing caseload, and the real outrage should be directed at the parents who are the cause.


Dealing With Dysfunction

The situation surrounding Rilya Wilson's birth is repeated thousands of times a year. Unprepared, unmarried women think nothing of procreating with losers and giving birth to not one, but sometimes a bunch of babies. Consequently, far too many children are born into households with no pretense of family cohesion. There are some 4,500 child abuse and neglect cases annually in Hillsborough County alone.

[miner89]

After some quick searching on the internet I found the follwing facts (some from the first article you listed)

1. After 5 year old Riya Wilson was discovered to be missing, Gov. Bush ordered the department to see ALL children in the agency. This apparently lead to the list of "1,000" missing children

2. 401 were runaways. Do you think that Gov. Bush is responsible for preventing teen runaways? And that children's services should prevent all runaways?

3. 135 were taken by non-custodial relatives. Doesn't that make it a law enforcement issue and do you really expect DCS to prevent every divorced parent from EVER taking a kid?

4. 421 were placed in OTHER STATES, and the OTHER STATES caseworkers had not checked them. Is it your position that Gov. Bush is now responsible for child care in all 50 states?

5. Gov. Bush signed new legislation strengthening requirements for caseworkers to report timely and accurately on child visits, including penalties for falsifying forms.

6. Gov. Bush set up a Blue - Ribbon panel to review the states child care system and make recommendations for further improvement.

Guess all that is nothing huh? I notice all you do is quote one liberal who is not satisfied with anything.

[Selara]

Excellent post. These "errors or failures" in reporting...these outright lies...these lowdown campaign practices need to be countered with the facts.

Democrats/liberals think they can get away with it, because for too long...they have gotten away with it.

Thanks for the facts.

[miner89]

I have now posted about what Govenor Bush IS doing.

I hereby assert this as evidence that he is fulfilling his responsibility to the citizens of Florida.

You are arguing that he is not.

So, please SPECIFY what additional actions the Govenor should take to resolve this issue that would meet with your approval.

[miner89]

By the way,

Since you are a "Republican", for extra credit please tell us which great Republican govenor you would nominate to take Jeb's place and solve this problem.

[88keys]

All due respect...read both stories, didn't delve into the "sad, long-running truth" articles, but I fear you are misplacing "blame" here...from "story 1":

"But when a reporter said the agency still fell short of the governor's order, Pintacuda responded, "You're right."

Also, the State Rep. who's insisting on a "grand jury" investigation apparently thinks that she alone knows how to remedy this real catastrophe of a situation...trouble is, Gov. Bush is clearly working on this, a "blue ribbon panel" (as opposed to a lone Democrat state rep.) has advised against a grand jury (who do you suppose is more likely to be best informed and advised? just by the numbers, even, with "blue ribbons" aside) and while your outrage over the state of child welfare in Florida is understandable, you detract from your cause when you criticize the current governor by quoting politicians (story 2) who assert that:

"The world has stopped to find a poor little white girl in Utah but no one is doing anything about Rilya"...well, this is simply untrue, not to mention bigoted, but enough said, no offense intended to you, and I'm sure you recognize my points!

Freegards...

[WFTR]

I have blown a gasket alright.

At least you've made one statement on which we can all agree.

WFTR
Bill

[John Locke]

One state, this summer was found to have issued driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. They had a terrorist connection. Do you hold the Governor of that state responsible? Do you hold the President of the USA responsible for that too?

I'll let Harry Truman answer that one:

Yes, the original, from the Truman Library.

[Larry Lucido]

Hey lib boy.

I think your #19 was meant for Scythian.

[Servant of the Nine]

if this was a democrat you'd be hounding him, Jeb is a coward and a disgrace for his capitulation on this whole fiasco.

All these burocracies in every state are packed full of liberal democrat incompetents who are protected by Civil Service Regulations. They are harder to get rid of than the Teachers Unions.
No governor has ever managed to get rid of either.
No governor can make real changes till he gets the leverage to can the whole department and start over.
A governor tries to get leverage by raising the level of outrage among the people till they are ready to demand drastic change and give him the power to do it.

So9