TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Bob Butterworth resigned Tuesday as the head of Florida's troubled child protection agency, following a 19-month stint in one of the toughest jobs in state government. ...more

July 29, 2008

SARASOTA COUNTY - State officials repeatedly investigated abuse complaints against a 26-year-old man before he was jailed late Sunday, accused of beating his stepdaughter with a belt, according to court documents. ...more

July 22, 2008

Police in Pinellas Park shot and killed a 44-year-old man who fired 30 shots while holed up in an apartment late Saturday night. ...more

July 20, 2008

SEBRING - Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton fired road patrol deputy John Stock on Friday, after an internal investigation into a citizen complaint revealed he used a mobile computer in his patrol vehicle to run the driver's license information of people for non-law enforcement reasons. The complainant alleged Stock had made complaints on him to the Florida Department of Children and Families as well as to Highlands County Animal Control. ...more

July 14, 2008

AVON PARK – An Alabama man remained in Highlands County Jail in lieu of $40,000 bond after sheriff's investigators say he threatened and stalked his ex-wife as well as threatened to hurt or kill a Department of Children and Families investigator. ...more

June 27, 2008

MANATEE - A woman who stabbed her ex-boyfriend's rabbit with scissors in a fight this year was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed today to a state psychiatric hospital. ...more

June 25, 2008

SEBRING — The Florida Department of Children and Families has released $42,897 in funding to programs operating in both Highlands and Hardee counties, the agency announced Friday. The announcement was made in a memo from Circuit 10 Contract Manager, Jacqueline Burt. Richard Reinhardt, executive director for the Highlands County Coalition for the Homeless, Inc. said typically, they're given about half that amount. "This grant is received annually, but this is the most ever awarded to these two counties," he said. Funding for the state's Department of Children and Families Grant-In-Aid program is statewide, but is left up to each DCF Circuit to administer these funds. Circuit 10 covers Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties. ...more

June 23, 2008

Put yourself in the shoes of a child who has been abused or neglected, and then whisked into emergency foster care. The only thing that could make the whole experience more frightening would to be taken away from your siblings and sent to live with complete strangers. ...more

June 23, 2008

State lawmakers agreed Wednesday to transfer more than $21 million from state trust funds to shore up adoption, foster care and child protection programs that were casualties this spring of the state's budget crisis. ...more

June 19, 2008

SEBRING — Of Highlands County's nine baby deaths in 2007, three are a result of mothers sleeping with their babies. It's called co-sleeping, and officials say it's a big problem in Highlands County. Deborah Hadley, program manager of Healthy Families for Highlands County, said family support workers with Healthy Families, who visit mothers in the home, are reporting many teen mothers sleeping with babies in their bed. "We have a huge problem with co-sleeping," Hadley said. "Some of our parents use drugs or alcohol, and it concerns us greatly that that have babies in the bed with them." Hadley said some mothers say co-sleeping is a cultural habit they don't want to change and others say they cannot afford cribs for their babies. ...more

June 2, 2008