On February 9th, 2026 the community gathered in front of the Santa Rosa County Courthouse to protest the kidnapping of Joy Zuraff’s daughter Kenlee by DCF as the fate of Joy’s parental rights were litigated behind closed doors. Many people held signs calling for the abolishment of DCF and signs demanding that Kenlee be brought back home immediately. The crowd heard from 2026 candidates, community activists and others affected by the current practices of DCF.
Moe Dimanche was in attendance and heard from families who had been separated by DCF and made a startling discovery that explains why DCF has custody of so many children, and why Florida is one of the leading states in family separations: DCF is routinely violating Florida Statute 39.401(4) which reads:
When a child is taken into custody pursuant to this section, the department shall request that the child’s parent, caregiver, or legal custodian disclose the names, relationships, and addresses of all parents and prospective parents and all next of kin of the child, so far as are known.
Grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts, and even mothers and fathers are being prohibited from stepping in as next-of-kin to prevent these children from entering the foster care system. Instead of DCF workers asking for the “names, relationships, and addresses of all parents and prospective parents and all next of kin” of these children, DCF is taking children in record numbers and skipping this requirement entirely.
This missing piece of the puzzle explains why the public is calling for DCF to be abolished. Community leader Sherry Chapman questioned the mysterious rise in children entering the foster system at the press conference in front of the courthouse, and Moe believes that if Florida’s DCF actually gave next-of-kin their due opportunities to keep these children with their families, the numbers wouldn’t be so high. In fact they would be very low. There are over 400,000 children in the system nationwide with more than 35,000 just in Florida, and this represents thousands of grandmothers being told “no”. It represents thousands of grandfathers being told “no”. It represents thousands of uncles, adult siblings and people who care repeatedly being told “no”.
Moe believes that these relatives should be told “yes” as the law requires so that families can stay together. Unfortunately, there is a financial incentive to keep these children away from their families, which equates to organized child trafficking. Under federal law, since DCF receives federal funding and has systemically skipped the requirement to include next-of-kin in its child placement plans, its agents qualify for federal prosecutions under 18 U.S.C. § 666, as well as honest services fraud. A federal audit is due, and the State of Florida must explain why this step is routinely skipped.
Reunification MUST Happen Now
If elected Governor of the State of Florida, Moe will implement an Emergency Reunification Initiative for all next-of-kin who have been told “no”. DCF has its own policies in place that apply undue scrutiny to next-of-kin seeking to keep their families together under the mistaken belief that their policies supersede state and federal law. They don’t. If our laws say next-of-kin gets priority, DCF is powerless to do otherwise, but there is currently no accountability when they take actions contrary to our laws. Moe will change this and the first order of business is reunify these families and compensate them for the damage DCF has done to them.
Joy’s parental rights case has been postponed to April 23rd, 2026 and the community will show up again to demand Justice. Moe will be there.
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