Responding to the evil of child abuse means rescuing children from the people who harm them and punishing their abusers. It also means avoiding unnecessary state intrusion into the lives of innocent families.
Every year, 3.5 million children undergo traumatic child abuse investigations or some other formal response from CPS. Yet only 18% of abuse reports are found to be substantiated. And every year, HSLDA assists families who have been wrongfully accused of child abuse and whose lives have been intruded upon by overzealous CPS investigators.
More >> Protecting Children from Unnecessary Trauma
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Monday, July 22, 2019
850 Teddy Bear Vigil July 21 2019
A Teddy Bear Vigil was held at the Edmonton Alberta Legislative Building Steps. Each bear represented a fallen child due to the negligence of the Child and Family Services. We are making changes and our children of tomorrow will be still here thanks to Keri and Velvet taking lead in starting a new cycle of methods that work for all families and would not tear apart, but provide all the supports necessary to achieve the level of parenting all want to see. Taking children away from their homes in most of these cases as you will see will upset most of us and want to go home and give our babies hugs and kisses and remind them how important they are to us and our futures. Love your family, Please click on the link to the Petition. Thank you for all who took part today and those who couldn't make it sent their prayers! Almost 7,000 Signatures! Let's make it to 10,000!
Thank you! http://chng.it/9MxQKhRXtd
After Saying It Would Go Above and Beyond to Educate Its Foster Care Students, Indiana Unveils a Plan That Is Little More Than Bullet Points
hen Indiana released a bleak report this spring on the educational outcomes of students in foster care, it broke new ground in making public the state’s troubling statistics. Only 64 percent of its foster care students graduated from high school; only 9 percent passed the 10th-grade math test. For black students in the system, it was even worse: only 3 percent passed the 10th-grade math test.
Others were shocked, but not foster parents like Kristi Cundiff.
More >> After Saying It Would Go Above and Beyond to Educate Its Foster Care Students, Indiana Unveils a Plan That Is Little More Than Bullet Points
Others were shocked, but not foster parents like Kristi Cundiff.
More >> After Saying It Would Go Above and Beyond to Educate Its Foster Care Students, Indiana Unveils a Plan That Is Little More Than Bullet Points
The Trump Administration Isn’t Providing Legal Aid To Migrant Children In Temporary Shelter
The Trump administration is not providing legal services to migrant children in a newly opened temporary facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, in what advocates say is a violation of law.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, the government agency that operates all shelters for migrant children, has confirmed it has not yet contracted with any legal aid providers to give the kids access to counsel. The children face deportation proceedings and are already getting court dates, according to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), which has stepped in to offer free legal counsel in the absence of a contract.
More >> The Trump Administration Isn’t Providing Legal Aid To Migrant Children In Temporary Shelter
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, the government agency that operates all shelters for migrant children, has confirmed it has not yet contracted with any legal aid providers to give the kids access to counsel. The children face deportation proceedings and are already getting court dates, according to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), which has stepped in to offer free legal counsel in the absence of a contract.
More >> The Trump Administration Isn’t Providing Legal Aid To Migrant Children In Temporary Shelter
Pennsylvania School Board Members Criticize Threatening Lunch Money Letter
Five of nine members of the Wyoming Valley West School Board tell FOX40 sister station WNEP the district should not have threatened to place kids in foster care if their parents fail to pay their lunch tabs.
But the district's solicitor has doubled down, claiming some parents need the threat of losing their kids to get them to pay up.
More >> Pennsylvania School Board Members Criticize Threatening Lunch Money Letter
But the district's solicitor has doubled down, claiming some parents need the threat of losing their kids to get them to pay up.
More >> Pennsylvania School Board Members Criticize Threatening Lunch Money Letter
Valley mom shares experience with foster parents in child molestation case
A Valley mom spoke with ABC15 about her experience with George and Leslie Little, the Gilbert foster parents at the center of a child molestation case.
The mom, who didn't want to use her name, says she placed her two daughters in foster care two years ago in order to keep them safe.
More >> Valley mom shares experience with foster parents in child molestation case
The mom, who didn't want to use her name, says she placed her two daughters in foster care two years ago in order to keep them safe.
More >> Valley mom shares experience with foster parents in child molestation case
A Colorado war veteran lost parental rights to her children through a rarely-scrutinized legal process. Now she’s asking the state Supreme Court to intercede.
When Ashley checked herself into a homeless shelter for female veterans, she had the well being of her two young children in mind.
Her symptoms from post-traumatic stress disorder had become unmanageable. For years, she had been able to suppress the trauma from her 17-month deployment to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, as well as the sexual assault she said she suffered at the hands of two men in her unit. But trauma, in time, always boils over.
More >> A Colorado war veteran lost parental rights to her children through a rarely-scrutinized legal process. Now she’s asking the state Supreme Court to intercede.
Her symptoms from post-traumatic stress disorder had become unmanageable. For years, she had been able to suppress the trauma from her 17-month deployment to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army, as well as the sexual assault she said she suffered at the hands of two men in her unit. But trauma, in time, always boils over.
More >> A Colorado war veteran lost parental rights to her children through a rarely-scrutinized legal process. Now she’s asking the state Supreme Court to intercede.
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Moscow Officials Sued For Allowing Gay Couple to Adopt
Russia’s Investigative Committee has accused social welfare officials in Moscow of criminal negligence for allowing a gay couple to raise children they adopted nearly a decade ago.
Russia banned gay adoption, along with “homosexual propaganda among minorities,” in 2013.
More >> Moscow Officials Sued For Allowing Gay Couple to Adopt
Russia banned gay adoption, along with “homosexual propaganda among minorities,” in 2013.
More >> Moscow Officials Sued For Allowing Gay Couple to Adopt
‘High Number of Requests for Adoption of Children in Iran’
An Iranian official says there are currently 10 requests for adoption of per child in Iran, particularly after single women were recently authorized to apply for.
Montazer Shabar says the high number of requests has prolonged the process of adoption.
More >> ‘High Number of Requests for Adoption of Children in Iran’
Montazer Shabar says the high number of requests has prolonged the process of adoption.
More >> ‘High Number of Requests for Adoption of Children in Iran’
Preventing Ky. family separation through Families First
MOREHEAD Preventing family separation and reducing the number of children entering the foster care system is the goal of a child welfare act explained in one of nine statewide forums held recently in Rowan County.
The Family First Preservation Services Act, passed in the 2019 regular legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Matt Bevin, implements child welfare reform by redirecting federal funds - Title IV-E funding- to evidence-based, preventative services for children, parents or caregivers.
More >> Preventing Ky. family separation through Families First
The Family First Preservation Services Act, passed in the 2019 regular legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Matt Bevin, implements child welfare reform by redirecting federal funds - Title IV-E funding- to evidence-based, preventative services for children, parents or caregivers.
More >> Preventing Ky. family separation through Families First
State board to rule on future of Children Services strike
Montgomery County’s Children Services division and the union representing its workers have been called to an emergency hearing on Sunday before the State Employment Relations Board.
More >> State board to rule on future of Children Services strike
One Family's Journey Through Guardianship Hell
The last time Patricia Femia saw her mother, Ada Vocino, was February 14, 2013 — Valentine’s Day. But this was anything but a heartfelt meeting. The two women were in the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown, N.J. and were there for war.
Patricia was Ada’s only child. Until a few months before that day in court, Ada’s life had revolved around Patricia and her family. They’d lived together in an apartment Patricia built into her home in 2007, as Ada — a wartime immigrant — wanted. Previously, Ada helped raise Patricia’s sons and daughter.
More >> One Family's Journey Through Guardianship Hell
Patricia was Ada’s only child. Until a few months before that day in court, Ada’s life had revolved around Patricia and her family. They’d lived together in an apartment Patricia built into her home in 2007, as Ada — a wartime immigrant — wanted. Previously, Ada helped raise Patricia’s sons and daughter.
More >> One Family's Journey Through Guardianship Hell
Rosenbaum trial: Laila had bruising 'all over'
This week, Laila Marie Daniel would have turned 6 years old. Instead, a mound of stuffed animals and balloons mark her grave in a corner of Berea Cemetery as jurors heard testimony about breaks, bruises and her last excruciating moments on Earth.
Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum are on trial for murder, assault, battery and child cruelty in the death of Laila, their foster child. Jennifer Rosenbaum has said the child had choked on a piece of chicken the night she died.
More >> Rosenbaum trial: Laila had bruising 'all over'
Jennifer and Joseph Rosenbaum are on trial for murder, assault, battery and child cruelty in the death of Laila, their foster child. Jennifer Rosenbaum has said the child had choked on a piece of chicken the night she died.
More >> Rosenbaum trial: Laila had bruising 'all over'
Private Companies Are Cashing in on ICE's Detention Centers
When employees at Wayfair, a swanky furniture and interior decorating company, discovered earlier this month that they had unknowingly been responsible for providing bedding to immigrant detention centers run by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), they demanded that executives break off ties with the agency. When the higher-ups refused, the employees staged a walk-out in Boston.
It's a strange disconnect, that this company that sells accent chairs and floral-patterned credenzas was connected to the latest iteration of American concentration camps. But the truth is that there's a lot of money to make in the immigrant detention business, and plenty of the companies cashing in are household names.
More >> Private Companies Are Cashing in on ICE's Detention Centers
It's a strange disconnect, that this company that sells accent chairs and floral-patterned credenzas was connected to the latest iteration of American concentration camps. But the truth is that there's a lot of money to make in the immigrant detention business, and plenty of the companies cashing in are household names.
More >> Private Companies Are Cashing in on ICE's Detention Centers
Project PA: Just uncovered documents give 'Kids for Cash' victim hope in getting kids back
There are late-breaking developments in our Project PA story we first brought you last week.
Joshua Fromel is one of the thousands of victims in the “Kids for Cash” scandal; it’s called one of the biggest cases of judicial misconduct in American history.
More >> Project PA: Just uncovered documents give 'Kids for Cash' victim hope in getting kids back
Joshua Fromel is one of the thousands of victims in the “Kids for Cash” scandal; it’s called one of the biggest cases of judicial misconduct in American history.
More >> Project PA: Just uncovered documents give 'Kids for Cash' victim hope in getting kids back
Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather
Baby H, the B.C. infant who was seized from hospital after medical staff reported her mother was neglecting her 90 minutes after having a C-section is back in a stranger’s care after her aunt asked for a break.
The child, who is now five weeks old, hasn’t lived with her parents in that time and has been bounced from foster home to foster home to an aunt and now to another non-Indigenous foster home, says the grandfather.
More >> Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather
The child, who is now five weeks old, hasn’t lived with her parents in that time and has been bounced from foster home to foster home to an aunt and now to another non-Indigenous foster home, says the grandfather.
More >> Baby H is in her fifth foster home and family services has stopped communicating with family says grandfather
‘This Cannot Be My Life’: The ‘Nightmare’ of Foster Care in Indian Country
Brian Melendez’s life was about to change forever. In the winter of 1987, a domestic dispute erupted in a house on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony in Reno, Nevada. As law enforcement and social workers descended on the scene, an already bad situation turned into chaos.
“I didn’t understand what was happening. All I knew was that there was arguing and fighting, and that my mother was all bloody and people were in handcuffs,” says Melendez.
More >> ‘This Cannot Be My Life’: The ‘Nightmare’ of Foster Care in Indian Country
“I didn’t understand what was happening. All I knew was that there was arguing and fighting, and that my mother was all bloody and people were in handcuffs,” says Melendez.
More >> ‘This Cannot Be My Life’: The ‘Nightmare’ of Foster Care in Indian Country
Saturday, July 20, 2019
RI woman had to adopt her own biological son; bill to change that failed
Sara Watson and Anna Ford decided on their son’s name four days after he was born. But when they went to fill out his birth certificate and name him “Eli,” they received some unexpected news.
“The hospital staff said, we’re really, really sorry but you can’t put your name on this birth certificate,” Watson recalled.
More >> RI woman had to adopt her own biological son; bill to change that failed
“The hospital staff said, we’re really, really sorry but you can’t put your name on this birth certificate,” Watson recalled.
More >> RI woman had to adopt her own biological son; bill to change that failed
Will Texas Keep Fighting Foster Care Reform?
It’s been more than three years since a federal judge ruled that Texas dumps some of the state’s most vulnerable children into a foster care system “where rape, abuse, psychotropic medication and instability are the norm.”
Following a 2015 trial in a lawsuit brought by children’s advocacy groups, federal district judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christi also concluded that state leaders can’t be trusted to reform the system on their own. Her blistering, 260-page verdict delivered in December 2015 accused state officials of deep-sixing an internal review that revealed “staggering” failures in child abuse investigations. She scolded one state witness who attempted to manipulate department data, including lowering child fatality stats. The judge chastised another state expert who, in an attempt to debunk the plaintiffs’ claims, further traumatized a teenage girl who’d already been battered by the system.
More >> Will Texas Keep Fighting Foster Care Reform?
Following a 2015 trial in a lawsuit brought by children’s advocacy groups, federal district judge Janis Jack of Corpus Christi also concluded that state leaders can’t be trusted to reform the system on their own. Her blistering, 260-page verdict delivered in December 2015 accused state officials of deep-sixing an internal review that revealed “staggering” failures in child abuse investigations. She scolded one state witness who attempted to manipulate department data, including lowering child fatality stats. The judge chastised another state expert who, in an attempt to debunk the plaintiffs’ claims, further traumatized a teenage girl who’d already been battered by the system.
More >> Will Texas Keep Fighting Foster Care Reform?
Women adopted from South Korea learn they're sisters and grew up 30 minutes apart
Two women who were born in South Korea have developed a close bond after learning they're actually sisters and share the same biological mother.
More >> Women adopted from South Korea learn they're sisters and grew up 30 minutes apart
More >> Women adopted from South Korea learn they're sisters and grew up 30 minutes apart
Montgomery County Children Services workers on strike
Montgomery County Children Services workers’ strike began at 12:01 a.m. today.
More >> Montgomery County Children Services workers on strike
More >> Montgomery County Children Services workers on strike
JUDGE: Killing The Indian Child Welfare Law Would Hurt People Like Me
Stories like mine do not get told. I was only in the fifth grade when I was removed from my classroom and taken from my family by a state social worker. A 10-year-old who is ripped apart from his family — never having the chance to say goodbye to his mother or grandmother — develops a scar that never goes away. But it is a scar that many bear because, like me, they are members of Native American tribes.
For decades, our own government did not agree with how Indian families like my own raised their children, and removed us from our loved ones to be raised in a culture that was entirely alien. I cycled through a total of six non-Native homes over the course of five years. I was forced to accept six different religions and six different cultures, impacting everything from my spiritual values to the food I ate. I was treated as unworthy of love, as an outsider, as though my background meant I was undeserving of the family that every child deserves. I waited countless nights alone in foster homes thinking my mother would come rescue me. She never did. In fact, it was recorded in my file that I was banned by the court from any contact with family members.
More >> JUDGE: Killing The Indian Child Welfare Law Would Hurt People Like Me
For decades, our own government did not agree with how Indian families like my own raised their children, and removed us from our loved ones to be raised in a culture that was entirely alien. I cycled through a total of six non-Native homes over the course of five years. I was forced to accept six different religions and six different cultures, impacting everything from my spiritual values to the food I ate. I was treated as unworthy of love, as an outsider, as though my background meant I was undeserving of the family that every child deserves. I waited countless nights alone in foster homes thinking my mother would come rescue me. She never did. In fact, it was recorded in my file that I was banned by the court from any contact with family members.
More >> JUDGE: Killing The Indian Child Welfare Law Would Hurt People Like Me
Friday, July 19, 2019
Safehouse no longer accepting children from Social Services
Operation Safehouse, a non-profit that helps runaways, homeless youths, and other youths in crisis, is placing a moratorium on accepting placements by the Department of Public and Social Services after an employee was attacked.
SafeHouse Executive Director Kathy McAdara said a child placed at the shelter by DPSS attacked the manager of the Riverside shelter without provocation last Saturday. The resident also destroyed Safehouse property, McAdara added. Law enforcement had to be brought in before the child was finally removed from the shelter.
More >> Safehouse no longer accepting children from Social Services
SafeHouse Executive Director Kathy McAdara said a child placed at the shelter by DPSS attacked the manager of the Riverside shelter without provocation last Saturday. The resident also destroyed Safehouse property, McAdara added. Law enforcement had to be brought in before the child was finally removed from the shelter.
More >> Safehouse no longer accepting children from Social Services
DCFS placed boy in foster home with sex offender, he was abused: lawsuit
A new allegation claims the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services placed a child in a home with a convicted sex offender, and he was sexually abused. That’s according to a pair of lawsuits filed by the Cook County public guardian against DCFS, the foster mother and the sex offender.
“DCFS is supposed to run a background check," public guardian Charles Golbert said. “They did not do that in this particular case so they ended up placing a 12-year-old boy with a convicted child sex molester.”
More >> DCFS placed boy in foster home with sex offender, he was abused: lawsuit
“DCFS is supposed to run a background check," public guardian Charles Golbert said. “They did not do that in this particular case so they ended up placing a 12-year-old boy with a convicted child sex molester.”
More >> DCFS placed boy in foster home with sex offender, he was abused: lawsuit
Change underway for Illinois DCFS after controversial children’s deaths
Changes are on the way for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services after recent deaths of children in their care.
Between July of 2017 and June of last year, there were 98 deaths of children in DCSF care, 34 were under the age of 3.
More >> Change underway for Illinois DCFS after controversial children’s deaths
Between July of 2017 and June of last year, there were 98 deaths of children in DCSF care, 34 were under the age of 3.
More >> Change underway for Illinois DCFS after controversial children’s deaths
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