Florida Foster Care System Responsible for Passing 70+ Kids Through this Child Molester’s Loving Home

Robert and Kathleen Raskin are back with another example of gross negligence on the part of the state’s responsibility to the safety of foster children.

Florida’s Dept. of Children and Families (DCF) announced sweeping changes to their foster care system six years ago, which Gov. Rick Scott used as a political football to suggest they were at the vanguard of the movement nationwide. This would be great if it were true. The conclusive evidence laid out within an ongoing expose by USA Today proves otherwise.

According to authorities in St. Augustine, FL, Rick Hazel (pictured above) and his wife were the longest-running foster parents in the city’s history. They were viewed as the model family since they were active in their church and community and seemed to put their money where their mouths were when it came to stepping up for the children.

When Rick Hazel was arrested in 2019, investigators found evidence of his multiple rapes and sexual abuses toward these kids on his cell phones and on a hidden video camera rigged to film the kids taking showers. More than 70 kids have passed through this household, according to state records. Yet, unlike the other states Florida claimed to be ahead of, only Florida had no process in place to interview or counsel children that were proven victims of foster care abuse.

According to pediatric neuropsychologist Thomas Dikel, the penalty for not helping these kids now can result in psychological problems, drug addiction, suicide, and even abusing children themselves later in life. Needless to say, Florida is not on the cutting edge of anything, and these children need the care they need when they need it.

For more about such scandals involving state negligence over foster children and family courts, continue to follow this blog by the Raskins.

For more information about this ongoing story, click here: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2020/10/15/no-one-checks-on-kids-who-previously-lived-with-abusive-foster-parents/5896724002/