By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that January 1st, 2024 brought us new Florida laws that include removing law enforcement from the Florida Department of Children and Families?
In May of 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill making HB 7061 a reality. The new law as of January 1st removes provisions of law enforcement in seven Florida counties including Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas to transfer its CPI investigations to DCF.
Florida is ranked number three as the most severe in human and sex trafficking. No government or court official has commented on how this new law will combat the high number of Florida children who are sex or human trafficked.
In 2022, a class action law suit on behalf of many Florida parents against Florida DCF and Ron DeSantis was filed for violating parent’s rights when their children were wrongly taken away. There was an amended complaint made in April of last year in the same federal court.
The lawsuit claims that DCF and it’s contracted partners engaged in lying, falsifying records and documents, or manipulating facts to keep children from being placed with biological family members as investigations took place.