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After Child Deaths, DCF Summit Sees Record Attendance

The Department of Children and Families has convened its annual Child Protection Summit in Orlando.  A record number of people are attending, perhaps due to the deaths of several children in the DCF system.

Interim Department of Children and Families Secretary Esther Jacobo started the summit by asking for a moment of silence after reading the names of several children who died under the Department of Children and Family’s watch.

Jacobo said she hopes the department will grow from lessons it learns from its current challenges.

“I am here to tell you today that we are going to come out of this stronger, better and more committed. There’s an old adage that you cannot keep a man or woman down and that goes double for a person on a mission. And folks, this is a mission,” Jacobo said.

Jacobo said although she is interim secretary of DCF, she is approaching the jobs as if it will be hers for the next 20 years.

Follow Regan McCarthy ontwitter@Regan_McCarthy

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Regan McCarthy is the Assistant News Director for WFSU Public Media. Before coming to Tallahassee, Regan graduated with honors from Indiana University’s Ernie Pyle School of Journalism. She worked for several years for NPR member station WFIU in Bloomington, Ind., where she covered local and state government and produced feature and community stories.

Phone: (850) 645-6090 | rmccarthy@fsu.edu

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