Foster Care

Tampa Bay Times reporters Lauren Peace and Teghan Simonton detail their findings in "Lost in Limbo," which was published in August and has had additional follow-up reporting.

We learn more about a Tampa Bay Times investigation that found a "side door" in the foster care system that can leave parents struggling to reunite with their children.

As prices rise, the math of living just isn’t adding up for many Florida families. Now comes word of a connection between housing costs and foster children being kept from their parents.

"I see there is a brokenness to the system," West Broward County Senator Barbara Sharief told the head of the Florida Department of Children and Families about the state's foster care system. She voted for the DCF head but asked her to commit to making changes at the senate hearing.

Roughly one-third of youth leaving foster care experience homelessness.

They're backing two bills: One to allow visits between siblings when one is in foster care and another to extend housing vouchers statewide

In addition, outgoing DCF Secretary Shevaun Harris introduced the use of enhanced screening tools to assist in recognizing the potential for youth trafficking.

The proposal would result in recruiting case managers, combatting child sex trafficking, and creating a professional foster care pilot program.

In a statewide effort to safeguard children, photos of children in foster care who are available for adoption will no longer be publicly available. A new law adds extra privacy layers.

A federal audit found lax oversight and multiple cases of child welfare workers failing to follow state regulations on psychotropic or opioid medication.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation released a data brief Monday focusing on those older foster youth, especially as they prepare to transitioned to living on their own.

Foster kids could go missing for a number of reasons including getting picked up by a non-custodial parent, running away or even becoming a victim of human trafficking.