More DCF FUBARS

Marissa Amora suffered permanent brain injuries after her mother's boyfriend beat her. Melissa is now on a feeding tube. Prior to Marissa's beating, the Department of Children and Families received several urgent reports on the abuse Melissa was receiving. This is the kind of parenting Marissa received after a previous assault.

Marissa's mother could offer no explanation for the little girl's broken collarbone.

A DCF child abuse investigator testified at trial she was concerned that Marissa's mom ''was more interested in getting her boyfriend out of jail'' than picking up her own child.

The mother, the investigator said, rarely visited the girl during her monthlong hospitalization, ''and when the mother did come to the hospital the child would cry and the mother spanked the child in her hospital bed,'' the appeals court wrote.

Marissa was placed back into her mother's custody. We know what happened next.

Marissa's adoptive parents sued and won $26.8 million. The DCF was going to appeal. New DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth reversed that decision. The only problem is getting the Florida state legislature to pay. They have a history of not paying for even the most tragic cases.