Milton, Florida — A Florida grand jury has found the Department of Children and Families is “failing catastrophically” to protect children and vulnerable adults, citing a family the agency visited 14 times before a child was murdered and 12 cases in which law enforcement accused employees of falsifying records. Four state senators said Sept. 4 they are drafting legislation built on the jury’s 34 recommendations.
What the grand jury found
The report came from a grand jury in Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit in Central Florida. According to the Tampa Bay Times, the state attorney empaneled it the same day the office indicted a family member for first-degree murder of a child. The state had investigated and visited that family 14 times before the killing, the report said.
The report also described a foster family DCF investigated 18 times before allowing the couple to adopt their foster children, the Times reported. After the adoption, the department received 37 more complaints but only ever removed the children temporarily. In 2026, the adoptive father was arrested on sexual offenses against one of the children, according to the report.
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FOX 35 Orlando reported that the grand jury found workers routinely failed to respond to hotline reports after 5 p.m. and on weekends, used emergency room visits to shift cases to hospitals, and delayed cases. It cited 12 cases in which law enforcement accused employees of falsifying records, and a child who died of a drug overdose after officials ignored a caregiver’s pleas and returned the child to the father’s home.
Senators propose an overhaul
Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Pensacola, announced the effort at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse in Milton alongside Sens. Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island, Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, and Jason Pizzo, an independent from Sunny Isles Beach. Recommendations they are considering include body cameras for caseworkers and disqualifying people with multiple investigative complaints from adopting, the Times reported.
Gaetz said he also wants the DCF secretary to review every case in which the state proposes terminating parental rights, wants parents to be able to dispute inaccurate agency information without fear of retaliation, and opposes moving children hundreds of miles from home without need. WEAR-TV reported the bills would tighten oversight of DCF contractors and create consequences for giving false information to courts.
If DCF and some of its contractors have failed, so does the Florida Legislature and so have I.
Sen. Don Gaetz, to the Tampa Bay Times
Gaetz noted that grand juries raised similar concerns about the department in 2002, 2011 and 2014.
A mother’s case at the center
Gaetz held the news conference during a hearing for Joy Zuraff, a Navarre mother whose daughter was taken into state custody about two years earlier after the state determined she was not following a doctor’s advice on treating the girl’s cystic fibrosis. The child was held in Jacksonville, about six hours from home, the Times reported. Pizzo represents Zuraff without charge. South Santa Rosa News reported that the child was returned home on June 10 and that the case is expected to close in December after a six-month supervision period. Some of Zuraff’s relatives have said lawmakers are making assumptions without knowing the full circumstances, the Times reported.
DCF responds
DCF spokesperson Anna Holaday said in a statement that the department takes the findings seriously and that the cases span about a decade of significant changes in law, policy and practice. “Many of the report’s recommendations reflect safeguards and reforms already in place today, while others would require legislative action, additional funding or further legal review,” she said. The regular legislative session begins March 2.
Accountability, not another round of promises
Florida has now had at least four grand jury reports in 24 years describing the same failures. This one names something more serious than missed visits: employees accused of falsifying records, and an agency that let a family with 18 investigations adopt. Body cameras, review of termination cases and consequences for false statements to courts are accountability measures, and they protect families wrongly targeted as much as children left in danger. FAN explains what is at stake when the state moves to end a parent’s rights in its guide to termination of parental rights.
Key facts
- A Fifth Judicial Circuit grand jury said DCF is “failing catastrophically” to protect children and vulnerable adults.
- One family was visited 14 times before a child was murdered.
- A foster family investigated 18 times was allowed to adopt; 37 more complaints followed; the father was arrested in 2026.
- Law enforcement accused DCF employees of falsifying records in 12 cases, per FOX 35.
- The grand jury made 34 recommendations; Sens. Gaetz, Bradley, Grall and Pizzo are drafting bills.
- Proposals include caseworker body cameras and secretary review of termination of parental rights cases.
- Florida’s 2027 regular session begins March 2.
Sources
- Tampa Bay Times — Florida senators want change for ‘failing’ child welfare agency (2026-09-04)
- WEAR-TV — Northwest Florida Senator Gaetz drafts DCF reform bills after grand jury report (2026-09-04)
- FOX 35 Orlando — Central Florida DCF failed to protect children in central Florida, report says (2026-09-07)
- South Santa Rosa News — Daughter Returned to Navarre Mom after Political Powerhouses Join Legal Fight Against DCF (2026-09-04)
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