If the rivers fill with algae, Floridians rise up in righteous wrath and picket the governor.
If a deadly shooting occurs anywhere in Florida, white against black or black against white, it evokes a conversation on racism on every news network in the country.
If a gunman walks onto a school campus in Florida and opens fire, it summons national media and as night follows day, a string of new gun control bills.
But let innocent, at-risk children die under the state's nose, on the edge of the state's protection and ... not a peep. Barely a shrug.It's business as usual.
What's a dead kid or two, or three, or in the case of Florida, at least 477 since Jan. 1, 2008? And if it weren't for sound investigative work by the Miami Herald, who would know? Who else could you have trusted to do the math without, say, hiding a few dozen victims? Sadly, not the state agency charged with their welfare.
Children dying in state care, or under what should be the state's watchful eye, has become an epidemic. Worse, it's lulled us to sleep. Another dead kid, ho-hum.
No wonder the Huffington Postasks if Florida is "the most dangerous place in the country for children with disabilities, behavioral disorders or the sheer misfortune to be born into abusive families."
Nothing brought this home with more clarity than the death Thursday morning of bright, happy, trusting 5-year-old Phoebe Jonchuck -- same morning Department of Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll was telling the Senate Children, Families and Elder Affairs Committee how much progress DCF is making in its plan to protect children.
Forgive me for saying, Mike, but what a load of codswollop.
John Jonchuck, wearing pajamas, speeding through the streets of St. Petersburg on Thursday and clearly mentally unstable, drove his little girl to the top of a bridge and, 60 feet above the water, threw her to her death. Her body was recovered a mile away.
DCF had every opportunity -- many opportunities, as it happens -- to stop it from happening.
His attorney, fearing Jonchuck might harm his daughter, frantically called 911 Wednesday morning, saying, "He's out of his mind and he has a minor child with him, driving to a church now, and I should have kept the child."
But the deputies who responded to the call found him with his priest, and even though he was making rash statements then, did not remove the child to safety.
DCF officials told WFTV late Thursday the agency received a call to the abuse hotline at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday "regarding the mental health of Phoebe's father." The caller who didn't identify him/herself said Jonchuck was "depressed and delusional."
Secretary Carroll said DCF immediately made changes to its abuse hotline criteria.
Sorry, Mike, but that's not enough. It's a little like replacing a penny when change falls through a hole in your pocket. You have to fix the hole before you replace the change; otherwise, it's going to happen again.
First of all, how did John Jonchuck get sole custody of Phoebe? This man had been Baker-Acted before. The police knew it. And he had a sizable arrest record for domestic abuse. Again, he was known to law enforcement in Pinellas County.
Here is Jonchuck's criminal history, as published on WFTV.com:
- On May 23, 2010, he was arrested on battery and domestic violence charges. Jonchuck allegedly battered the victim, his wife, Michelle Kerr.
- On May 26, 2013, he was charged with battery. Jonchuck was arrested for battering Kerr during an argument that escalated to a physical confrontation.
- Oct. 25, 2013, he was charged with forgery. Jonchuck was accused of forging Kerr's, checks. She ultimately signed a waiver not to prosecute.
- Nov. 6, 2013, he was charged with battery. Jonchuck was accused of battering his mother, Michele Jonchuck, during the course of an argument.
- On April 23, 2014, he was charged with battery. Jonchuck and a male acquaintance got into a physical altercation. Both parties refused to press charges.
Mike, why aren't you mad enough to chew nails and spit rust? Why aren't you demanding help from the governor and the Legislature to finance and put together a panel that can look at states doing a better job than Florida -- no, scratch that, almost all of them are.
Can you please gather a qualified panel dedicated not to politics but to the welfare of children, who can come up with a plan, a system, who can get answers from states doing some things right? It has to be an ongoing, very transparent, front-and-center push to keep better tabs on at-risk children, children whose parents or foster parents are physically and sexually abusive, drug- or alcohol-addicted or mentally ill.
If it takes money, Mike, get angry. If it takes legislation, yell at somebody. Get loud. Fire up the conscience of Florida -- the one that marches at the snap of the fingers for "the unborn," for the endangered Everglades panthers, against the carbon emissions that cause climate change. Tap into that outrage, Mike.
Every one of those 477 children who died in Florida represents an unspeakable waste of human potential that was ours to nurture. We are all responsible. Not you alone, Mike. Not your staff alone, or the governor or the Legislature, but all Floridians. It's we who have the power to make the welfare of at-risk children our top priority.
We can start now, in 2015, in this new year. We can appeal to legislators. We can start here and now. Anybody who isn't disgusted by our lethargy, who isn't moved to action by the plight of our most vulnerable children like Phoebe Jonchuck, thrown away through little more than our creative inertia, must have his head stuck in the sand.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
