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18 Mar, 6 tweets, 2 min read
Nearly 5,000 records pried loose following USA TODAY’s October investigation into Florida’s child welfare system detail calls to the Florida Department of Children and Families abuse hotline, revealing allegations of foster care abuse are more widespread than previously reported.
The foster care system was flooded. Children were not being placed in safe homes. usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
Former Department of Children and Families Secretary Chad Poppell said his agency had done a “bad job” caring for kids, promising to establish specialized teams to investigate foster care abuse allegations and review the agency’s decisions in those cases.
usatoday.com/story/news/inv…
The records obtained provided disturbing details into Florida’s foster care system: Foster parents and group care workers were accused of hitting children with household objects, denying medical care, and sending them to school dirty and hungry. 
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
None of these cases would have been counted in what Florida publicly reports about the number of serious abuse, neglect and abandonment cases in its foster care system. DCF says that's because the accusations do not meet its definition of high-level harm.
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…
Instead, the allegations are classified as foster care "referrals," potential license violations that may prompt an administrative review and that Florida officials have fought to keep secret for years.
usatoday.com/in-depth/news/…

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18 Mar
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Careless assignments and lessons often traumatize and dehumanize Black students. Experts say they are just one example of how teachers in the United States have long struggled and failed to teach the complex history of slavery. usatoday.com/story/news/edu…
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