ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Secretary of the Department of Children and Families wants to know how a former Merritt Island foster family was approved to adopt children even though their foster home was previously shut down and children removed because of concerns over mistreatment there.

Within a year of those adoptions being finalized by a judge, the adoptive father, 35-year-old Robert Howard, was arrested and charged with 70 counts of sexual battery on a child.

Brevard County sheriff's detective Dan Ogden says pornographic images of the victim taken with Howard's camera were among potentially thousands of digital photos and video clips containing child pornography found in the home. Local 6 is not identifying that girl.

"Based on what I've seen from his images, he has a preference for pre-teen children engaged in sexual activity," said Ogden, adding he got a “sick feeling” when he realized DCF had sent foster children through the Howard home.

In an effort to identify any other victims in the images, Ogden is trying to contact all 36 former foster children placed by DCF in the Howard home between 2000 and 2002. Ogden said yesterday he’s already talked to some and found no new victims.

After receiving inquiries from Local 6 last week about DCF's actions in the case, DCF Secretary Lucy Hadi ordered an investigation to determine “whether the case was properly handled by the Orlando district office and (to) identify any areas for improvement.”

The action came a month after DCF's communications director e-mailed Hadi and other top DCF officials a Local6.com news report on Howard's Oct. 19 arrest , according to a document obtained by Local 6. That news report did not mention DCF and did not include any information about Howard being an adoptive or foster father.

DCF refuses to reveal what Hadi knew about the Howard case in October and why she did not order an investigation then, saying she did so last Monday only after being made aware of "specific details."

Local 6 disclosed to DCF last Monday that it had uncovered how top DCF officials overruled subordinates, helping the Howards to this year adopt the last two of their five adopted children.

CONCERNS OVERRULED

The Howards' last application to adopt was unanimously rejected by a committee of DCF workers and other child welfare specialists in Brevard last year, citing concerns about indications of prior abuse in the home.

But in September 2004 Orlando District Administrator Mike Watkins and General Counsel Kelly McKibben overruled the adoption review committee. Watkins said he has overruled a committee’s recommendation only one time in nearly two years as district administrator.

Watkins and McKibben refused to comment on their actions, but Watkins produced a spokesman who, when asked if DCF would object to a family with confirmed prior indications of abuse adopting children, replied: "If, in fact, that were the case, of course we would, and we would make those objections known to the court."

But, Watkins and McKibben -- DCF’s top two officials in Central Florida -- did just the opposite. They overruled the objections of subordinates and judged it was appropriate for the Howards to adopt, despite confirmed prior indications of abuse.

According to various sources:

In February 2001, DCF was told that Robert Howard was bragging he walked in on a foster daughter who was naked in the shower, claiming she asked him if he "liked what he saw," Howard admitted accidentally walking in on a 9-year-old girl, but -- after she announced she was in the shower -- he said he immediately covered his eyes and walked out before he could see her naked.

The girl denied Howard ever even walked in on her.

DCF ruled that complaint unfounded and allowed the Howards to adopt children and continue as foster parents.

Then, in September 2002, three foster children were removed from the home, in the 1400 block of Saturn Street, after one child claimed to have been locked overnight in her room, where she was forced to urinate on the carpet, and other children claimed they were told hidden cameras watched their every move in the house.

Child abuse investigator Ogden says such behavior would be warning signs to him "of a pattern of abuse and I would have fears that they may escalate."

No cameras were found and no criminal charges were sought against the Howards because the "confinement" and "bizarre punishment" mistreatments confirmed by DCF investigators did not rise to the level of criminal conduct, according to sources.

But the three foster children were placed in other homes and the department made sure the Howards were not relicensed as a foster home in January 2003.

COMMUNICATIONS BREAKDOWN

But, in March 2003, the mother of two former foster children previously placed with the Howards dropped them off there and failed to return as promised, prompting the Howards to again call DCF and, this time, be approved to shelter the two new children.

The DCF workers who approved of that "non-relative placement" failed for months to get all the background on the house from other DCF employees who played a role in the removal of children just months earlier, according to sources.

And when the prior abuse report was discovered, the agency decided to leave the children with the Howards anyway as it moved ahead with terminating the natural mother’s parental rights, according to sources.

Robert Howard and his 57-year-old wife, Margaret, sought to become the adoptive parents, but were stymied by the adoption review committee’s negative recommendation, according to sources.

But then Watkins and McKibben overruled the committee and a judge finalized the adoption earlier this year.

McKibben, who says she can't comment because of confidentiality laws, is one of three finalists being considered by Gov. Jeb Bush for a Circuit Court judgeship in Brevard County. She is the same DCF attorney who tried to prolong the Terry Schiavo case by filing an unsuccessful 11th-hour motion to intervene, claiming Schiavo had to be kept alive so abuse allegations could be investigated.

Opposing counsel said McKibben’s actions on behalf of Governor Bush "reek(ed) of intervention of politics in this case” and the judge rejected them.

As for Watkins, he did issue this general statement: "You have to understand that when you make thousands of these decisions in a state as large as ours, that there are instances that no one can predict after that event occurs what might happen to a child in that situation."

We have learned, though, that McKibben and Watkins considered that the children were likely going to stay with the Howards anyway, whether they were adopted or not, because DCF believed removing them would be very traumatic.

Now all five adopted children have been removed and Robert Howard remains in jail without bond.

His wife has refused to comment.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.