TAMPA, Fla. — Three months after Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone and photojournalist Matthew Apthorp were the first journalists to share a new lawsuit accusing Florida’s child welfare system of going out of its way to break families apart, 18 additional families have now joined the suit.
“People saw your story on the news. People said it happened to me,” said Attorney Valentina Villalobos with Community Law for Families & Children.
Since our initial story aired, Villalobos said her phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
“I can’t even answer my own phone right now, I need an assistant screening my calls,” she said in regards to the volume of calls she’s been getting from families sharing similar stories.
