SEBRING — The Children's Advocacy Center could be doubling in size in the next 18 months. Jeff Roth, director of the center, announced plans for the 8,300-square-foot, $1.2 million expansion at Wednesday's Children Ser-vices Council meeting. The space, which would be added to the rear of the existing building, would allow the Department of Children and Families and Guardian Ad Litem to move their operations in the building. Roth said the centralization of services not only leads better communication between the agencies but also the economy of time due to central record keeping. ...more

May 29, 2008

Today, the Department of Child and Family Studies (CFS) at USF's Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute is joining the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) initiative across the United States to participate in National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day: Thriving in the Community. ...more

May 8, 2008

SEBRING — A 16-year-old boy was in the care of the Department of Juvenile Justice on Friday after he was accused of sexually molesting a minor child. The teenager was booked Wednesday into the Highlands County Jail on charges of two counts of sexual battery on a child 12-years old or younger and two counts of lewd lascivious behavior on a victim less than 12 years old. ...more

May 2, 2008

OCALA - Police say a mother of four teenage boys has been charged with neglect after saying she was going "on strike" because she was fed up with them. ...more

February 21, 2008

Florida parents know car seats are needed to keep children safe on the road. They know fences and alarms are needed to keep little ones safe around swimming pools. And they know the number for poison control should be kept by the telephone. ...more

February 13, 2008

TAMPA - The former spokesman for the state agency that protects children, arrested Friday on charges that he asked two teenage boys to take sexual pictures of themselves, may have other victims, police said today. ...more

February 4, 2008

TAMPA - The former spokesman for Florida's agency that protects children made his first court appearance today on eight counts of using a child in a sexual performance. Al Zimmerman's bail was doubled to $120,000 and a hearing was set for Monday to determine if it should be raised even higher, said Sandi Copes, spokeswoman for the Florida Office of the Attorney General. ...more

February 2, 2008

One cannot read about what happened to a boy dubbed "Jacob Peters" in the newest lawsuit against the state's social services system and not be angered at the raw deal this child has been handed - both by his biological parents and the Department of Children and Families. ...more

February 2, 2008

CLEARWATER - Florida's new discount drug card should lessen the cost of prescription drugs for up to 3.8 million uninsured Floridians and fill in gaps for those covered by Medicare, Gov. Charlie Crist said Thursday during a trip to Clearwater. ...more

December 20, 2007

Two people claiming to be an 88-year-old woman's caregivers are accused of cheating their charge out of $24,000 over the course of three months. ...more

December 18, 2007