After the fire, Dewey James Hendrix told police, he was working hard to reconstruct an older-model home on North 30th Street. ...more

January 30, 2008

TAMPA - After the fire, Dewey James Hendrix told police, he was working hard to reconstruct an older-model home on North 30th Street. ...more

January 29, 2008

A toddler figures out how to open the back door unbeknownst to his father, slips outside, climbs over a gate and drowns in the family pool. ...more

January 18, 2008

With many adoptive parents facing financial ruin as they struggle to care for their special-needs children, a local nonprofit agency is stepping in, teaching parents how to advocate for better family services. ...more

January 16, 2008

DNA analysis indicates a 3-year-old boy living in a Bogota foster home is the child of a woman held captive by leftist rebels for nearly six years, Colombia's top prosecutor said Friday. ...more

January 5, 2008

The Sarasota Family YMCA likely will have to compete for a multimillion-dollar state contract next year to provide foster care and adoptions in Pinellas and Pasco counties. ...more

November 1, 2007

The Sarasota Family YMCA board pledged Tuesday to make changes to its foster care program, the day after a state report blamed arrogance and defensiveness for the agency's recent poor performance. ...more

October 31, 2007

SEBRING — While interviewing 10 people for the job of launching the Healthy Families program in Highlands County, Mary Foy was looking for more than the necessary education and experience in social work. In Deborah Hadley, who started as program manager Monday, Foy said she believes she found "the spark plug that we need to get this program off the ground." Hadley, with 23 years in children's services work, will help select and train a seven-member staff to begin offering services by Jan. 1. Through voluntary home visits, home-support workers will help parents get the support, education and services they need to overcome obstacles in raising their children. ...more

October 31, 2007

Florida's first private agency to take on child welfare duties - the one held up as the state model for privatizing social services - may find itself without a contract next year. ...more

October 30, 2007

TAMPA - A panel ordered to review Florida's first private agency to take on child welfare duties for the state said today it cannot recommend renewing the agency's multimillion-dollar contract without serious internal changes. ...more

October 29, 2007