In a drab, cramped conference room in Doral, a 45-year-old single mother is fighting with the state to secure in-home nursing care for her severely disabled daughter — while the 10-year-old fights for her life.The mother sits across a wooden table from a state hearing officer who will decide whether health regulators were right to insist she get 18 hours each weekday of nursing care for her daughter, and fewer on the weekends, instead of the 24 hours her daughter’s pediatrician says are necessary.As her expert witness — a registered nurse— testifies, the woman’s daughter begins to cough, then vomit, then struggle for breath as her breathing tube becomes clogged. The hearing stops as the child’s mother and the nurse suction the girl’s tube, then clean, change and console her.
Former foster child now an advocate for more safeguards, benefits for kids in the system
Sophia Coffey knows foster care in Florida as only a foster kid can — and she is determined to change it. Growing up in the system…
