FLASHBACK / Florida can't find 1,000 kids in state custody (2002)

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http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/06/03/florida.child.welfare/

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Florida's child welfare agency said Monday it was unable to account for about 1,000 children in its system, including about 400 believed to have run away and more than 100 others missing because a non-custodial parent or relative took them.

(snip)

Gov. Jeb Bush ordered the agency to see all the children after the department in April revealed that 5-year-old Rilya Wilson had not been accounted for in 15 months.

But the department's review seemed to raise more questions than answers.

The agency could not answer whether the review turned up any new cases of missing children or if any children were located in areas different from where they were supposed to be.


In addition, the report's numbers of missing children differ from what the Department of Law Enforcement said the agency had given them. The law enforcement agency said the DCF had reported 155 missing to them through May.

(snip)

Pintacuda defended the agency's work, saying the goal to interview all the children in one month was extremely ambitious.

He said "no state in this country" interviewed as many children as the caseworkers in Florida did last month. He said the number of runaways was not unusual, because "kids come and they go."

Pintacuda said the agency had interviewed about 98 percent of the children -- while state and federal law requires 90 percent.

"I don't know if we'll ever see 100 percent," he said. "Our people did a heck of a job."

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

The governor's office had no immediate comment on the report.

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