Nubia Doctor, 10, was found wrapped in plastic in the back of Jorge Barahona's truck.
By Ralph De La Cruz
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Unfortunately, the case of Nubia and Victor Doctor has become an almost predictable Florida tragedy: Child abuse/neglect/negligence followed by death, grief, media coverage, public outrage at the failures of the Department of Children and Families and, finally, investigation.
The roll call of heartbreak has become part of our Florida culture. Rilya Wilson, 2002; Gabriel Myers, 2009; Nubia and Victor Barahona, 2011.
In this case, the complexity increases because it’s not just about the criminal abuse itself. You see, Nubia and Victor were not Jorge and Carmen Barahona’s biological children.
Jorge Barahona
They were placed in the Barahona household as foster children, and then were adopted by the Barahonas over the objections of their state-designated advocate, the Guardian ad Litem. And despite the fact that records showed police were called to the Barahona home 16 times since 1998.
So not only are there those familiar questions about DCF incompetence, but this time there are concerns about the entire child-welfare system, from how foster parents are selected to adoption. How it’s all run, who’s watching, and how effectively they’re monitoring things. There’s even the issue of privatization, which became the operative state policy after the Wilson case.
Friday, a three-person panel appointed by DCF Secretary David Wilkins met for the first time to figure out what went wrong and what needs to be changed in the future. They’re expected to meet twice more next week before giving Wilkins their findings March 11.
The three appointees are upstanding citizens with strong reputations and experience with these issues. Their appointment is a smart move by Wilkins because this is such a complex case.
But if the trio really wants to cut through the superfluous and the distractions, I suggest they go to a story in The Miami Herald.
Actually, it’s not the story but some of the comments below the story that are particularly revealing: an exchange between a reader, PirateCafe, who said he was an abused foster child. And Marzie_BN, who says she’s been a Guardian ad Litem since 2004.
I believe their claims. But whether they are those things or not doesn’t really matter. It’s obvious they are personally, and sometimes brutally, familiar with the system.
The exchange is emotional and ultimately tender. One of the most compelling things I’ve ever read in a newspaper. And their back-and-forth does an incredible job of explaining the complex nature of the problems facing the DCF.
The two explain and propose many things. But one thing they never suggest is that the DCF is overstaffed. Quite the opposite.
And that’s why everyone who is feeling angry and heartbroken today should save a little of that outrage for the budget proposed by Gov. Rick Scott.
The budget that suggests cutting almost 2,000 DCF jobs.
Now, I’m no sharp-penciled, number-crunching Poindexter or gazillionaire CEO, and certainly no politician. Merely a journalist, a humanist, But as such, I know:
We can’t afford it.
Aside from the sheer horror, all tragedies involving DCF are *not* the same. This is an agency that has made significant improvements – but still has a long way to go.
Furthermore, the roots of the current tragedy are, at least in part, in DCF’s past, before the recent reforms. That past helps explain why loving relatives were turned down twice, first to be foster parents and then to be adoptive parents.
This is a story you’re not going to see in The Miami Herald. But you’ll find many things the Herald left out at my organization’s website about this case, “The Herald vs. the facts” http://www.heraldvsfacts.blogspot.com
And you can find out more about my organization and our track record, especially in Florida, at our main site, http://www.nccpr.org You’ll also find there comments about our work from your fellow journalists and child welfare experts: http://nccpr.info/what-others-say-about-nccpr/
Richard Wexler
Executive Director
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform
http://www.nccpr.org
WHEN are we going to listen to the children?
When is what they have to say going to account for something?
How many are going to have to die before we allow them their voice and consider their credibility to be equal to that of an adult’s when it comes to such things as their cries for help, and all of those telltale signs of abuse that all too often go ignored, unreported or otherwise dismissed as mere meaningless accusations made by a seemingly well cared for child?
I’m as livid as it is that I am broken by this!
Too many children have cried.
Too many children live in fear.
Too many children are beaten.
Too many children have died, and why? Because those responsible for their safety are not paying close enough attention to THEM, the children.
Their abusers oftentimes wrap them up in pretty packages, such as pink bows and new, store bought clothes, and pass them off as well beloved, only to end up much as Nubia did, DEAD, in spite of the fact that SHE wasn’t silent! But no one who mattered was listening.
When?
Can anybody explain how a heartless bastard and major crook was elected as governor of Florida..??
It is very frustrating to read comments that are written to meet one’s OWN agenda. This child didn’t die because of the governor, nor because of the proposed budget, not because DFCS is “overworked”, not because the abuse wasn’t reported, not even because she wasn’t given to relatives. Nubia died because DFCS did NOT do their job over a period of many years, both before and after the reforms. This extent at which they did not perform their responsibilities is so egregious in this case that I believe charges should be filed. We should all be writing and calling DFCS to verbalize our horror that the case managers and their supervisors are still employed. It shouldn’t have taken two seconds to do that. I am scared at what additional information will be found from the two other children that were in the home and Victor. I hope we haven’t forgot about these children. Just because they didn’t die doesn’t make what DFCS didn’t do any less. Believe me when I say as we all struggle to understand this-to DFCS it is just another day. They haven’t changed one bit today vs. a month ago. Many are trying to minimize their trips to visit families while increasing their comp time. If you have ever seen a court proceeding with DFCS you would understand. They come to court with NO written documents, many times they don’t even know the facts to their cases. If it wasn’t for the volunteer Guardian’s that do put their reports in writing, I’m not sure how the Judge would get the full information. It is the Judge’s ultimate responsibility to give his verdict in these cases, but if he doesn’t get the correct information, how is he/she to blame? They are not mind readers. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating one bit. We need a complete change from the top.
Speak Loudly,
Not only do I commend you for your comment, I agree with you completely.
“We can’t afford it”?
Uh… My response was going to be – are they earning it?