In November 2020, the Miami Herald requested records from the Department of Children and Families related to a child who died, according to a court petition, after sustaining injuries due to physical abuse and medical neglect. DCF maintained that it was investing the case to determine whether it was a result of abuse or neglect and refused to provide the records. The Herald reports that last week — more than a year after the child’s death — a judge ruled that DCF had no basis to withhold the documents and must provide the records.
Child welfare attorney Frances Allegra told the Herald that public access to the information “is not an exercise in criticism or finger-pointing. It’s about what we can learn — what mistakes were made, if any, and what improvements can follow.”
The First Amendment Foundation was a member of the media coalition that joined the lawsuit calling for release of the records.