SEBRING — In about 60 days, Highlands County will have to take over operations of the long troubled Thunderbird Hills Wastewater Treatment Plant. This past week, David S. Plank, owner of Landmark Utilities, filed legal documents informing the county of his intent to abandon the plant. ...more

May 4, 2008

Horror stories from parents who adopted children through the state only to discover the children had such serious problems they couldn't care for them have prompted one local agency to research ways to keep these fragile families together. ...more

February 25, 2008

Vonnie Largent recalls her alarm upon discovering that her 12-year-old son was sleeping with a metal rod in his bed, fearing his older adopted sister would sneak into his bedroom while the family slept and kill him. ...more

February 13, 2008

Vonnie Largent recalls her alarm upon discovering that her 12-year-old son was sleeping with a metal rod in his bed, fearing his older adopted sister would sneak into his bedroom while the family slept and kill him. ...more

February 13, 2008

TAMPA - Cruising down a boring highway, you look for anything that breaks the monotony. There, up ahead, you spot one. It may be laugh-out-loud funny or mildly amusing. Or you may scratch your head and conclude that it is just an inside joke you don't get. ...more

February 8, 2008

A Tallahassee lawyer and child advocate has sued a Hillsborough County foster care agency and the state, accusing them of treating foster children like "hostages." ...more

January 26, 2008

The number of Hillsborough County children sheltered by the state has dropped drastically this year because of a new program that puts help into the home so children can stay put. ...more

December 27, 2007

Tale Of 2 Counties Not long after the problems at the Sarasota YMCA, the privatized "lead agency" for five of the six counties in the Florida Department of Children & Families' Suncoast Region, started getting long-overdue attention - the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform first pointed out this agency was having problems in 2002 - there's been a mystery: ...more

November 23, 2007

SEBRING — When Mike Lukaszewski takes his disabled children's identification information to the Florida Department of the State and registers them to vote, the fact that they have the mental capacity of 8-month-old babies will not matter. ...more

November 18, 2007

Bob Butterworth recently stood before more than two dozen child welfare leaders and told them the experiment that put private agencies in charge of Florida's social services system is a success. ...more

October 29, 2007