We believe that all children have the right to food, clothing, housing, education, medical care, property and personal privacy.
Florida’s laws, policies and practices respect, prioritize and protect children and youth impacted by the child welfare, juvenile justice, and disability systems.
On June 1st the Rules of Juvenile Procedure will require judges to inquire why children are not present for dependency court hearings. This brochure explains the rule change and answers many questions about children’s appearance in court. Please print and distribute to children in care, their caregivers and advocates.
The numbers are staggering. More than 14,000 kids across Florida are in foster care, and thousands more are considered at risk. Yet for advocates, guardians,
Florida’s Children First received a phone call a few weeks ago from a mother just listening to her 8 year old daughter’s instructions: call an
This article was originally published in The Florida Bar Journal Volume 86, number 5, May 2012 and is reprinted with permission of The Florida Bar.
Commentary by Alex Schimel in the Daily Business Review. Click to read the article.
Panelists who had early scrapes with the law say juvenile record isn’t wiped out; it stays with them as they try to build better lives.
At 10:50 a.m. March 26, 2012, U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard ordered the State of Florida to immediately begin providing coverage of Applied Behavior Analysis
A state appeals court ruled that the DCF was wrong to cast a former foster child out of a financial aid program. BY CAROL MARBIN
March 11, 2012 by Kelli Kennedy, Associated Press When Lauren entered foster care at age 16, she was too scared to go to the court
By Associated Press, Published: March 11 MIAMI — When Lauren entered foster care at age 16, she was too scared to go to the court hearings that
By John Romano, Times Columnist Published Monday, February 20, 2012 The child was born without a home. Her parents were out of the picture almost from
by Adolfo Pesquera, DBR. A cross-section of judges and attorneys concerned about the lack of legal representation for children in dependency court gathered at Nova
Tuesday marks the year anniversary of the Barahona case By Willard Shepard | Tuesday, Feb 14, 2012 | Updated 2:48 AM EST On Tuesday, Jorge and Carmen
FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach)
Hello, My name is Alexia Nechayev. I am 25 years old and I am an alumna of Florida International University where I received my B.A. in Psychology. My future career goal is to be a Lawyer. I was in care for about one year from age 17 to 18. Prior to entering care, I only knew about the negative stigma regarding foster care and while in care that narrative was unfortunately my experience.
In school I felt like I was on display because my status in care was broadcast to other students and in my placement behavior was leveraged for “privileges” that should be a natural right of all children. Because I did not know my rights I did not know that what I was experiencing was wrong. Today this is exactly why I advocate, because I don’t want this to be the same for other youth who are experiencing foster care.
This is my second year on the FYS Statewide Board and I’m happy to be the Events and Meetings Chair this year because my main goal through advocacy is to reach as many people as possible. My favorite thing as a board member is to see how comfortable members become while working together. The community needs to know that youth in foster care are real people, going through some of the hardest moments of their life and youth need to know that their voice is powerful. I believe that we have to speak up and bring these issues to people’s attention so that they do not forget us. Advocacy, education and consistency is the only way.
