Lawsuit: Foster children exposed to porn

The Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) is facing yet another multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging negligence in its placement of foster children.

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Sponsor pulls faith-based foster care bill, says 'not about discrimination' against LGBT people

A Seward lawmaker has tabled his measure aimed at protecting faith-based foster care agencies from losing state funding if they decline to work with same-sex couples.

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Noted experts speak out about the issues surrounding child poverty in the US

One in five children in the U.S. lives below the federal poverty level (FPL) and nearly half of children in America are classified as poor or near poor. Childhood poverty creates long-lasting, often permanent, physiologic changes through constant exposure to threats such as malnutrition, acute and chronic disease, toxic stress, social deprivation, and lack of opportunity. Because poor children and families are generally forced to cluster in specific neighborhoods, these changes also produce the higher crime rates, lower education levels, worse job prospects, and vicious cycles of intergenerational poverty that destroy entire communities. In order to contextualize the problem and propose possible solutions, a new supplement to Academic Pediatrics is entirely devoted to examining child poverty in America.

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DCYF review will include cases of children who died

An outside review of the state’s child welfare agency will include the cases of two children who died while the Division of Children, Youth and Families was investigating allegations of abuse, according to a spokesman for Gov. Maggie Hassan.

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VT Lawmakers Trying to Streamline DCF Mandatory Reporting

Last year, lawmakers passed a mandatory reporting law for child abuse and neglect, but realized there was confusion when more than one person reported the same incident.

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Nebraska senators shelve religious exemption for child welfare groups

An effort to protect state funding for faith-based child placement groups that refuse to work with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender foster parents has died in the Nebraska Legislature.

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Bill aimed at improving Alaska’s overwhelmed foster care system clears the House

 On the first day of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a bill aimed at better managing the Alaska foster care system, HB27, passed the Alaska House of Representatives unanimously Friday.

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• House passes foster care improvement bill, says more needs to be done

SO MANY DALLAS CPS INVESTIGATORS HAVE QUIT, STATE HAS TO BRING IN BACKUPS FROM OTHER AREAS

Unusually large numbers of child-abuse investigators in Dallas County are quitting, which has forced Child Protective Services to bring in scores of workers from other parts of Texas to temporarily handle cases and ramp up recruitment for replacements.

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Safety is a priority for New Jersey Department of Children and Families | Opinion

In a recent opinion piece published by the Star Ledger that was submitted by Hetty Rosenstein, director of the State's largest public employee union, it was grossly mischaracterized that Governor Christie's veto of legislation aimed to improve the safety of thousands of Department of Children and Families staff was a callous disregard of state workers' lives.

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Sponsor of vetoed grandparents bill working to refine legislation

The sponsor of a grandparents' rights bill vetoed by Gov. Gary Herbert over concerns it could jeopardize adoptive parents' rights said Thursday he is willing to work with the governor to refine the legislation.

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Despite Texas’ broken child welfare system, many heroes still hard at work

I keep searching for slivers of hope in the dense, entangled thicket of troubles that is the Texas child welfare system.

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An ‘Exemplary’ Foster Father, a String of Suspicions and Sexual-Abuse Charges

When New York City needed foster care for vulnerable boys with emotional problems, the answer was often the Long Island home of Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu.

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State officials blast Monterey County CPS handling of abuse case leading to two child deaths

The tragic deaths of Shaun and Delylah Tara, whose bodies were found last December in a Northern California storage locker, again have thrust the state's Child Protective Services departments into a harsh spotlight, raising questions about whether the agencies can truly protect the state's most vulnerable children.

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Teen taken by CPS for alleged "medical neglect" says she isn't being reunited with mother

Just over a year ago, 17-year-old Leiani McMichael says she was living the life of a normal teen. She played sports, drove a car and went to school. Then, she says something happened to her that could happen to anyone.

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Foster parent guilty of assault after 19-month-old burned

A New York City woman has been convicted on assault charges after prosecutors say she left her 19-month-old foster son sitting in scalding water and then didn't seek medical attention.

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Former Foster Care Commissioner John Specia Says State Should Appeal Judge's Ruling

The state's foster care system isn't as bad as a federal judge's damning ruling makes it out to be, the former head of the beleagured Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said on NPR's Texas Standard show this week.

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Attorneys for foster kids claiming abuse fighting to obtain ACS case files needed for lawsuit

Lawyers for 10 children alleging abuse while in foster care are fighting for access to the kids’ ACS case files, part of an ongoing federal lawsuit seeking reforms to the child welfare system.

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Kansas dad ends hunger strike, sues state over custody of his children

When his five children were taken away from him last April, Raymond Schwab decided to fight the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

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Judge Fires Back After DHS Criticism

Pulaski County Juvenile Court Judge Patricia James has sharp words for a top DHS official who accuses her of ignoring state law.

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Garden City marijuana advocate files lawsuit against the state, petitioning to get her son back

A Garden City mother is suing state leaders over the loss of her son, after he told his class she was a marijuana user.

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Grassroots group seeks change for child welfare system it calls 'tangled and broken'

With a state investigation under way in the shooting death of 12-year-old Ciara Meyer in Perry County, a group is calling for reforms in the state's children and youth services.

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Dad: DCF making me ‘jump through hoops’ to get son

A frustrated father whose toddler was treated with the lifesaving antidote Narcan because of a possible opiate overdose said the state’s child welfare agency is making him “jump through hoops” to win back custody of his 1-year-old boy.

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Manitoba politicians promise to improve child-welfare system

Manitoba's beleaguered child-welfare system came under the provincial election spotlight Wednesday with promises from all parties to cut a record number of kids in care.

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Santa Clarita drama queen foster couple will ‘never ever stop fighting’ for part Choctaw girl

 A day after the state’s highest court refused to intervene, the former foster parents of a girl with Native American ancestry vowed to continue their fight to return her to their Santa Clarita home after she was sent to out-of-state relatives per a court order.

More >> Santa Clarita foster couple will ‘never ever stop fighting’ for part Choctaw girl

• Santa Clarita foster couple will ‘never ever stop fighting’ for part Choctaw girl
• Former social worker begs 'adults': Do right by Lexi
• Former foster family says they won't give up fight for 6-year-old girl
• Foster Family Vows to Fight for Child Given to Choctaw Blood Relatives
• Why the Lexi Page case may go to the US Supreme Court

Bill to terminate rapists' parental rights heads to governor

The Maine Senate has passed bill designed to make it easier for victims to strip their attackers of parental rights to children conceived as a result of rape. 

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