SEBRING — Every Thursday, representatives from all aspects of child abuse sit around the conference room of the Children's Advocacy Center to discuss open cases and devise plans of action. It's a far cry from when the Children's Services Council was created in 1990. "We couldn't get any questions answered because everything was confidential and secret," said Ruth Handley, a founding member of the council. Things started to change when the Children's Advocacy Center opened in 1997 and things became increasingly better coordinated. With the Highlands County Sheriff's Office Special Victims Unit moving in Dec. 1, even more services will be centralized in the building that helps about 500 children per year. ...more

November 16, 2007

A day after three dozen dogs were removed from a Viva Villas home, the front door was left open, revealing a peek of the squalid conditions inside where until recently a trio of women lived. ...more

November 16, 2007

HUDSON - A day after three dozen dogs were removed from a Viva Villas home, the front door was left open, revealing a peek of the squalid conditions inside where until recently a trio of women lived. ...more

November 15, 2007

It took courage for Pinellas School Board member Nancy Bostock to go public with the heartbreak faced by adoptive families who struggle to raise children damaged by abuse or neglect. ...more

October 26, 2007

Nine-year-old Brandon Maxwell's usual Saturday morning routine includes getting up, eating and watching cartoons. ...more

October 4, 2007

Nine-year-old Brandon Maxwell's usual Saturday morning routine includes getting up, eating and watching cartoons. ...more

October 4, 2007

A 4-year-old boy was left alone in a vehicle with the windows up and strapped to his car seat in the parking lot of a Lowe's on Tuesday afternoon, police reported. ...more

October 3, 2007

A 34-year-old Clearwater man has been charged with molesting his girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter. The teenager's mother, also of Clearwater, found a note from Justino Maye to her daughter and called the Department of Children and Families, according to Clearwater police. ...more

October 2, 2007

SEBRING — To stay on course, Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton held a four-hour strategic planning session Friday at the jury assembly room in the courthouse. The idea was to review the sheriff's existing three year strategic plan for 2006 to 2009, and to extend it out one more year to 2010. Benton's theme is: "Vision without action is only a dream, (but) vision with action can change the world." Crime statistics for most major crimes have been dropping, not just in Highlands County, but as a national trend, Benton said. ...more

September 23, 2007