Bomb threat at Norwalk social services building leads to arrest, short evacuation

One arrest was made after the Norwalk Social Services Center and surrounding buildings were evacuated briefly Wednesday night after a bomb threat, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Buildings between Alondra Boulevard and Hayford Street, and Clarkdale and Elaine avenues, were evacuated.

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Miami Woman Charged With Making Bomb Threat to Department of Children and Families Headquarters

Authorities say a South Florida woman called in a bomb threat to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

The Tallahassee Democrat reports that 33-year-old Paulletta Higgins was booked into Miami-Dade County Jail Saturday and charged with falsely reporting a bomb, making harassing phone calls and falsely reporting a crime.

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Diaper Subsidy Vetoed By California Gov. Brown

California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a measure Sunday that would have subsidized diapers for needy families on government assistance. Brown said the measure represented an end run around the budget process.

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Families 'pushed into child protection system by cuts'

Struggling families are being pushed into the child protection system because early intervention services are not available, MPs have heard.

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Black Kids in Mississippi Are Being Systematically Denied the Services They Are Entitled To

While the national political spotlight has faded from Mississippi since the primary vote, its poorest families are now getting the wrong kind of attention from Washington: The US Commission on Civil Rights has issued a scathing report detailing how both childcare providers and families are being systematically cheated out of their entitled social welfare resources.

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Ontario to end clawback of child support for parents on welfare

About 18,600 single parents in Ontario who rely on both social assistance and child support payments will see their incomes rise under rule changes to be introduced early next year, according to Thursday’s provincial budget.

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Bed bugs found in Johnston social services building

Bed bugs found in Johnston social services building

Johnston County officials shut down the Department of Social Services Main Building Thursday after bed bugs were found in the waiting area and a few offices.

Hilary Cottam: Social services are broken. How we can fix them

This is a Ted Talk on the failed structure of social services which often lead to more drastic forms of intervention.

Hilary Cottam: Social services are broken. How we can fix them

When a family falls into crisis — and it sometimes happens, thanks to unemployment, drugs, bad relationships and bad luck — the social services system is supposed to step in and help them get back on track. As Hilary Cottam shows, in the UK a typical family in crisis can be eligible for services from more than 70 different agencies, but it's unlikely that any one of them can really make a difference. Cottam, a social worker herself, asks us to think about the ways we solve deep and complex social problems. How can we build supportive, enthusiastic relationships between those in need and those that provide help?

• Beveridge Report

Conservative Fiscal Irresponsibility: Cutting welfare increases the number of kids in state care

I just came across this very important article which states an truth which leads me to the following conclusion, which I've known for years:  The best way to reform CPS is to address the needs of the family so that children can remain safe in the home, and keep them with family when that's not possible.

Republicans, however, want to reform welfare because they think it will save money.

Hundreds of Az’s poorest families will be dropped from assistance program

Arizona will become the first and only state to impose a one-year lifetime limit for impoverished households receiving federal benefits from the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program – a move that will cut payments to about 1,600 families next July.

I usually don't post stuff about welfare like TANIF or SNAP, because it is a whole different can of worms, but this is just too important to pass up because it demonstrates either how conservative welfare reformers are out to destroy the family or just how stupid they are while claiming to be for smaller government and fiscal responsibility because the cost of snatching a kid and warehousing them in foster care on a monthly basis will make that $195 a month look like pocket change.

“I think what we have in Arizona is an aggressive and intentional effort to undermine support for vulnerable families,” said Cynthia Zwick, executive director for the Arizona Community Action Association. “Well, I’m worried that many of those families will end up on the streets, they will become homeless. They will not have the resources they need for their children, that their children will be placed in unsafe circumstances.”

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The average family on TANF receives $195 each month. Part of the savings from the program will instead go to Arizona’s Department of Child Safety to help with abuse and neglect investigations and foster care. 

It is also true that CPS creates jobs and contracts and work for lawyers, shrinks, various NGO's, and it certainly creates billing opportunities for System Sucks to bring those desperately needed federal dollars into the state.  Not the point.  That all costs more money for the tax payer who ultimately pays the bills as well as more government intervention into our lives when it is not completely necessary, such as in minor neglect cases which will increase when they cut families off welfare.

It’s not the first time that the state has cut back on TANF assistance. In 2010, Arizona reduced its limit to three years and in 2011, it went down to two years. Federal law permits 60 months. According to DES, about half of Arizona’s current recipients, will lose benefits come July. 

And Arizona's Child Welfare system has been an out of control, baby-stealing mess since long before that.  This is not what they need.  This will not help them solve any of their current problems.  It will only create more.

“It seems clear that Arizona has abandoned these two original functions and instead chosen to funnel TANF funds into an overburdened and underfunded child welfare system that has been plagued over the years by both structural and operational failures,” says a recent report from Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute.

The fact of the matter is that TANIF, SNAP, daycare subsidies, drug treatment programs, housing assistance or whatever the problem is, is much cheaper than the alternative.  A young mother simply can't be left to fend for herself when 3/4th (or more) of her McDonald's paycheck is expected to go to daycare and McDonald's and Walmart don't have to pay their workers enough so that they don't have to qualify for welfare assistance.

Social worker report may as well have been in foreign language, says judge

Social worker report may as well have been in foreign language, says judge

A social worker's report on a woman who wanted to care for two children might as well have been "written in a foreign language", a family court judge has suggested.

Mismanagement at DHHS result in a 35 million bill from Uncle Sam

Mismanagement at DHHS result in a 35 million bill from Uncle Sam

More troubles for the NC Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Federal government says they botched the paperwork in the reimbursement claims it made under the Children's Health Insurance Program. The Inspector General says the state (that's us taxpayers) owe the Feds $34.8 million.

Social Services docks subsidy over Facebook “joke”

Social Services docks subsidy over Facebook “joke”

A 39-year-old Tomar woman claims to have lost her right to vital RSI funding all because of a jokey photo she posted on Facebook.

Note: This is slightly off topic, but it proves that Big Brother is watching you on Facebook.

Former foster children too often end up on welfare in B.C.: report

Former foster children too often end up on welfare in B.C.: report

There has been little improvement in the dire outcomes experienced by children in government care, suggests a new report from the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Court ruling may affect welfare entitlements of one-parent families

Court ruling may affect welfare entitlements of one-parent families

A High Court ruling in an action by a separated father of four may have signficant implications for the welfare entitlements of one-parent families. Among the court’s findings is the man was wrongly treated as a single person for the purpose of considering his application for rent allowance.

Officials: Woman exchanged DSS info on children for cash, gifts

Officials: Woman exchanged DSS info on children for cash, gifts

Authorities said personal information for dozens of children was sold for cash and gifts.

Reported bomb threat resolved at DCF

Reported bomb threat resolved at DCF

The suspect in this afternoon's alleged bomb threat has been identified as 29-year-old Don Peckens.

"A Social Worker Advised Me to Have a Baby if I Wanted Public Money"

"A Social Worker Advised Me to Have a Baby if I Wanted Public Money"

Against the GOP shrug of "get a job", the article brings up the ramifications of age, gender, geographic location, particular education/career paths, how technology has changed the way we communicate and interact as a society. It gets right to the heart of what's wrong with all the political grandstanding over employment, all the lame "employment programs", the endless fluff pieces written by "human resources professionals": the entire system is predicated on ideas about local "social networks" that just aren't the reality for a lot of people anymore. 

“Dishonest” social worker who claimed she didn’t realise she was employing her ex-partner has been struck off

“Dishonest” social worker who claimed she didn’t realise she was employing her ex-partner has been struck off

The Birmingham social work manager paid the father of her child for maintenance services in the council, but claimed she didn't know it was him

Child poverty rate declines in America for first time since 2000

Child poverty rate declines in America for first time since 2000

Poverty in America declined in 2013, and the poverty rate went down faster for children than for adults – which is notable not only because they are children but also because the poverty rate for children has long been higher than for adults.

Violence against social workers just “part of the job” with 70% of incidents not investigated

Violence against social workers just “part of the job” with 70% of incidents not investigated

A Community Care survey reveals that the shockingly high levels of violence against social services workers are still not being dealt with by employers