Legally Kidnapped

Shattering Your Child Welfare Delusions Since 2007


Friday, September 23, 2016

Foster dad with THREE children in his care is charged with child sex offences and possessing child pornography

A foster father with three children in his care has been charged with child sex offences and possessing child exploitation material.

More >> Foster dad with THREE children in his care is charged with child sex offences and possessing child pornography

B.C.'s child watchdog asks Attorney General to intervene in Metis toddler case

British Columbia’s representative for children and youth is urging the province’s attorney general to intervene in the case of a Metis toddler being adopted to non-aboriginal parents in Ontario.

More >> B.C.'s child watchdog asks Attorney General to intervene in Metis toddler case

One Year Update on Fixing Arkansas' Foster Crisis

A year ago, Governor Asa Hutchinson put the Division of Children and Family Services in the spotlight following an evaluation that found a system in need of a fix. Now we are working to see where DHS says it has made progress and which problems still persist.

More >> One Year Update on Fixing Arkansas' Foster Crisis

Tiahleigh Palmer’s mother Cindy thanks investigators after foster father is charged with murder



TIAHLEIGH Palmer’s mother Cindy said “a piece of my heart is missing” in her first public statement since the arrest of her daughter’s alleged killer.

More >> Tiahleigh Palmer’s mother Cindy thanks investigators after foster father is charged with murder

New Charges for Long Island Foster Father Accused of Abusing Boys


A longtime foster father, already accused of sexually abusing five of his adopted sons and endangering the welfare of two foster children, was charged on Thursday with abusing another boy in his home on Long Island.

More >> New Charges for Long Island Foster Father Accused of Abusing Boys

State housing foster children in a closed youth detention center

State officials are housing 37 foster care children with severe emotional and behavioral issues in a repurposed former juvenile detention center in northeast Texas, a decision a ranking Texas senator said Thursday amounts to the “warehousing” of troubled youths in the state's care.

More >> State housing foster children in a closed youth detention center

Dandridge DCS case manager charged with filing false reports in child abuse investigation


A Tennessee Department of Children’s Services employee is facing charges in both Jefferson and Sevier counties.

More >> Dandridge DCS case manager charged with filing false reports in child abuse investigation

Thursday, September 22, 2016

TN Dept. of Children's Services employee indicted for filing false report in abuse case

TBI agents said a Tennessee Department of Children's Services employee has been indicted on several charges stemming from a child abuse case in which they said a false report was filed.

More >> TN Dept. of Children's Services employee indicted for filing false report in abuse case

Labor criticises $8.5m reform plans for foster care homes after 'Girl X' failures

Questions have been raised about whether a shake-up of the NSW foster care system does enough to help vulnerable children.

More >> Labor criticises $8.5m reform plans for foster care homes after 'Girl X' failures

MP compares sex ed to residential schools

Conservative leadership hopeful Brad Trost raised some eyebrows Wednesday when he compared Ontario's new sex-education curriculum to residential schools.

More >> MP compares sex ed to residential schools

Audit cites Kansas foster care system compliance failures

Auditors say the Kansas foster care system isn’t meeting many federal requirements, including ones aimed at providing stability for children.

More >> Audit cites Kansas foster care system compliance failures

Our Economy Is Booming, So Why Are Kids Still Going to Bed Hungry?

In 2009, when the economic devastation of the Great Recession was most widely felt, one in four American children struggled with hunger, according to a USDA report released at the time that President Obama called “unsettling.” As unemployment shot up after the housing collapse, the number of Americans enrolled in the food stamp program hit record high after record high. The richest nation in the world was facing a hunger crisis—and children were among the most vulnerable.

More >> Our Economy Is Booming, So Why Are Kids Still Going to Bed Hungry?

Brad Pitt Under Investigation For Child Abuse After Allegedly Flipping Out — Details Here

If Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's divorce isn't already messy enough between rumors of cheating, substance abuse, and the custody battle, it's about to get a WHOLE lot worse now that the LAPD is reportedly investigating Pitt for child abuse!

More >> Brad Pitt Under Investigation For Child Abuse After Allegedly Flipping Out — Details Here

Hot Car Death: Foster Father Allegedly ‘Forgets’ 3-Month-Old Baby in Car For Nine Hours

Mame Neta Attocknie, a three-month old baby was reported dead, Tuesday after her foster father allegedly left her in the car in Geronimo, Oklahoma, KFOR News is reporting. The three-month-old baby had allegedly been forgotten in the car for nine hours while the foster father was asleep.

More >> Hot Car Death: Foster Father Allegedly ‘Forgets’ 3-Month-Old Baby in Car For Nine Hours

FOUR WAYS TO FIX WASHINGTON’S FOSTER CARE SYSTEM

Washington’s Department of Social and Health Services faces what internal documents reveal is a crisis in finding places to house foster children – kids removed from their parents’ homes as a result of neglect or abuse. Many young people are being shuttled between hotels and emergency housing.


Metis toddler removed from B.C. foster parents, to be moved to Ontario later

A British Columbia foster mother says there are no words to describe her loss after the provincial government removed a Metis toddler she has raised almost since birth from her care.

More >> Metis toddler removed from B.C. foster parents, to be moved to Ontario later

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Kentucky social workers say system is in crisis, placing children in danger

On a Facebook page called “Kentucky Kids Matter,” state child protection workers say Kentucky’s system is in crisis and children are in danger.

“We have a crisis going on that should be concerning to all people as our children are in serious danger due to the current conditions of child protective services,” said Jeff Culver, a Jefferson County child protection supervisor for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

More >> Kentucky social workers say system is in crisis, placing children in danger

Tiahleigh Palmer: Foster father collapses in watch house after being charged with murdering schoolgirl

Tiahleigh Palmer's foster father Rick Thorburn, who has been charged with murder over the 12-year-old's death, has been taken to hospital after collapsing in the Beenleigh watch house on Tuesday afternoon.

More >> Tiahleigh Palmer: Foster father collapses in watch house after being charged with murdering schoolgirl

Why we should do everything possible to avoid foster care and keep kids with their families

When I read about the crisis in Texas foster care system, all I can think about is my beautiful younger sister Nannette. Nannette got out of foster care, but she didn't survive. She became a statistic, a victim of the consequences of what experts call adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Research has shown that ACEs accumulate over time, and the number of these experiences in childhood predicts morbidity and mortality in adulthood. It doesn't say it on her death certificate, but Nannette died from too many ACEs.


More >> Why we should do everything possible to avoid foster care and keep kids with their families 

Audit into DCF finds agency not meeting all federal standards

A legislative post audit into the Department for Children and Families found that the agency is not meeting all its state and federal requirements for the foster care program.

More >> Audit into DCF finds agency not meeting all federal standards

Social workers warn of growing risks of job

Ten years after western Kentucky social service aide Boni Frederick was slain on the job, state social workers are asking lawmakers to address what they say is a crisis at the Department for Community Based Services, the agency that investigates child abuse and neglect.

More >> Social workers warn of growing risks of job

State’s foster system sets kids up for failure

When foster children spend the night in a hotel or in a foster home that agrees to keep them for only one night at a time, they typically don’t make it to school the next day. Instead, they sit in a Washington Department of Social and Health Services office. Over-stretched social workers must take turns babysitting them, while also trying to manage dozens of other cases.


More >> State’s foster system sets kids up for failure

BRAD PITT VOWS TO FIGHT ANGELINA JOLIE FOR JOINT CUSTODY OF KIDS; MARION COTILLARD DENIES AFFAIR

*Brangelina’s six children are about to be caught in a tug-o-war.

More >> BRAD PITT VOWS TO FIGHT ANGELINA JOLIE FOR JOINT CUSTODY OF KIDS; MARION COTILLARD DENIES AFFAIR

The Latest: New Mexico AG lists gaps in child welfare system

In the nearly 15 years since New Mexico was rocked by one of the worst cases of child abuse the state had ever seen, no shortage of children have shared fates similar to Baby Brianna.


More >> The Latest: New Mexico AG lists gaps in child welfare system

Woman charged after allegedly making false child abuse report, police say

A woman is facing charges after allegedly trying to get police to gain entry to a family member's home for her.

More >> Woman charged after allegedly making false child abuse report, police say

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