A better article and kudos to this judge for blasting DCF
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/ ... _0429.html
riday, April 29, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH — A judge said Thursday he was outraged that the Florida Department of Children and Families did not do more to prevent a 13-year-old foster child from getting pregnant.
Before rushing into court to stop her from having an abortion, Palm Beach County Juvenile Court Judge Ronald Alvarez said, the state should have done more to get her off the streets. He discovered during a Thursday hearing that the girl has run away from state homes at least five times and was gone for a month when she became pregnant early this year.
The Department of Children and Families failed to even notify the court that she was gone so police could try to find her, Alvarez said.
"To say I am angry is an understatement," he said.
Alvarez held the hearing in Palm Beach County Juvenile Court to determine whether the girl, identified in court records as L.G., might be physically or emotionally harmed by an abortion.
But Alvarez said he will wait to rule on whether she can go ahead with the abortion until the 4th District Court of Appeal decides whether he has any authority in the case. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County believe that any court or state involvement violates L.G.'s constitutional right to choose.
The appeals court said Thursday it will move quickly on the case. The state has five days to submit its brief, and the ACLU and Legal Aid will have three days to respond. The girl is in her second trimester of pregnancy, her lawyers said, and an abortion will become more risky as time passes.
The ACLU believes this is another case of Florida leaders meddling in private lives and trampling the law to push a pro-life ideology. Critics of the state's intervention compared the case to Gov. Jeb Bush's attempts to block Terri Schiavo's husband from removing her feeding tube and to his attempt in 2003 to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a severely disabled woman raped in state care.
But House Speaker Allan Bense, R-Panama City, said the state has a responsibility to act as a good parent to L.G. and evaluate her before she makes an important decision.
"Frankly, I would err on the side of caution," Bense said. "The government is already involved because of the nature of the girl's case. And if I were the parent, I would want to make sure that the child received a proper evaluation."
Despite his strong feelings against abortion, Bush stayed mostly silent on the case Thursday.
"This is a matter that's being decided by the courts, and DCF is acting in the best interest of the child," his spokesman, Jacob DiPietre, said.