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This version of NSU News has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of NSU News, visit news.nova.edu.
This version of SharkBytes has been archived as of February 28, 2019. To search through archived articles, visit nova.edu/search. To access the new version of SharkBytes, visit sharkbytes.nova.edu.
Florida among worst for representing children
David Gagne, taken from his family at 5, waited a year to be put up for adoption and didn’t get placed with a foster family until he was 11.
Now 19 years old and attending Florida International University, Gagne explained how not having a lawyer kept him stuck in the state system longer than he should have.
The only reason he finally got into a home is because he was wrongfully moved from an institution to a shelter for runaways, he said.
“The people there realized I couldn’t be there long. I was there two months before I was adopted. And the only way I was adopted is because I was put in that shelter,” Gagne said at a briefing on Improving Outcomes for Children, a daylong conference at Nova Southeastern University.
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Nova law professor Michael Dale said guardians represent from 50 percent to 70 percent of children on a $40 million budget.
“They’re asking $3.9 million more from the Legislature,” he said, adding no funding for the children’s legal needs came up this year. “There’s a real disincentive to do that.”
Read the full article on the Daily Business Review’s website here.