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Report: Florida Foster Youth Often Refuse Placement After Being Moved Dozens Of Times

The Florida Capitol is decorated for Children’s Week. Rebekka Behr and attorney Robert Latham are visiting lawmakers this week to advocate for foster youth. Behr aged out of Florida’s foster system and will soon graduate from college. CREDIT ROBERT LATHAM

A series of bills about the foster care system is moving through the Florida Legislature.

Rebekka Behr is focused on the Foster Youth Bill of Rights, which she says will take “all the rights that are already in law and (place) them into one document so that it makes it easier for youth to understand what their rights are as well as those in their case plan.”

It’s important for Behr, who aged out of Florida’s foster care system. She’s now 21-years-old and serves as the fundraising chair for Florida Youth Shine (FYS), a youth-led advocacy group working to improve the child welfare system.

She’s at the Capitol this week with advocates including FYS mentor Robert Latham, an attorney at the University of Miami Children & Youth Law Clinic.

Latham presented lawmakers with a report from Hillsborough County that he hopes will shed light on experiences of children in the foster care system and the instability they often face. Researchers found 49 children who refused foster care placement in Hillsborough between 2017 and 2019. They ranged in age from 7 to 17.

Listen to the interview with Florida Youth Shine Board member Rebekka Behr and attorney Robert Latham. 

 

Latham says refusing placement is often a last resort for children who have been repeatedly uprooted. “The main thing we found was that these kids had experienced the worst problems of the foster care system to the highest degree,” Latham said. “These children had been, as a group on average, in approximately 31 placements.”

Behr adds, “For many of the youth that refuse placement, they are left within the offices of DCF or they live in cars.”

Latham recounts an 11-year-old boy who was taken into custody through the Baker Act on Christmas Eve. The boy was given a pass to stay with family members temporarily.

“A few weeks later, he was being placed in a group home outside of his county,” Latham said. “He refused to go inside because he wanted to be placed with his aunt. That night, that 11-year-old boy slept in the transportation van until the next morning when the case management came to check on him.”

Listen to the interview to hear more about the report and Behr’s life now as a soon-to-be Florida State University graduate.

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Alexia Nechayev

FYS Events & Meeting Chair
(Palm Beach/Miami)

Alexia Nechayev, from Miami, Florida, is a dedicated advocate for youth with lived experience in foster care and with homelessness. After being placed in foster care as a teenager, Alexia experienced firsthand the stigma surrounding the system, as well as the challenges of navigating a system that didn’t provide support for her to advocate for herself. This experience motivated her to create change, ensuring that other youth in care have the tools and resources she lacked.

She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Florida International University, and upon graduation worked as a Hope Navigator with the Department of Children and Families which allowed her to assist clients through individualized care plans, further deepening her commitment to improving the lives of marginalized youth. Alexia is now applying to law schools with the goal of advancing her advocacy work through a legal career. As the Events and Meetings Chair for Florida Youth SHINE (FYS), she creates opportunities for foster and homeless youth to collaborate and push for meaningful change. She is also an active member of the Policy and Initiative Team for Florida Youth SHINE, where she helps create and shape policies that directly impact youth in foster care. One of her proudest accomplishments is helping to develop the Foster Care Bill of Rights, a law that she feels would have made a difference during her own time in care.

In addition to her work with FYS, Alexia serves on the Board of Directors for the parent organization of FYS, Florida’s Children First. In this role, she contributes to strategic decision-making while advocating for the rights and welfare of children statewide.

Every year, she travels to the state capitol to advocate for bills she and her peers have helped shape, including key pieces of legislation that benefit foster and homeless youth. However her advocacy extends beyond her state, as she represents Florida Youth SHINE at national conferences such as the National Leaders 4 Change Conference.

Through her internship with the National Foster Youth Institute, Alexia continues to refine her advocacy skills, preparing for a future where she can contribute meaningfully to both policymaking and the legal system. Guided by the belief that “the blue sky is always there,” she remains committed to ensuring that every youth in foster care has the power and support to advocate for themselves.

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