How The Army’s Flub Let A Felon Become A Foster Parent In Texas

But some important information didn’t show up in a state background check before a foster-care agency hired McQueen and his wife last March to care for abused and neglected children

Two years ago, former Army 1st Sgt. McQueen pleaded guilty to more than a dozen military charges for attempting to run a prostitution ring in Fort Hood. As part of the plea deal he was demoted to private, sentenced to 24 months in prison, was stripped of his retirement pay and received a dishonorable discharge.

More >> How The Army’s Flub Let A Felon Become A Foster Parent In Texas

Teen jailed for sexually abusing foster kids in his parents' care

A teenage boy has been jailed for more than four years for sexually abusing two young children who had been placed in his family's care by Child Youth and Family.

The youth's parents were also convicted of physically assaulting a child in their care.

More >> Teen jailed for sexually abusing foster kids in his parents' care

15 years for foster mother who burnt child to death

Pretoria - Anna Mahlangu, 64, sobbed loudly as she went down the stairs to the holding cells of the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, after being sentenced to 15 years for the murder of her 13-year-old foster child.

Mahlangu, who was wearing a striped skirt, doek (scarf), tracksuit top and scarf, hugged her family members before disappearing from view.

More >> 15 years for foster mother who burnt child to death

Forced adoptions deserve a proper apology, too.

Anne Preston's story had a happy ending, but thousands of mothers who had their children stolen away by government-funded agencies live every day with a void in their hearts. Perhaps they deserve an apology and a commitment to help heal the wounds, Mr. Trudeau.

More >> Forced adoptions deserve a proper apology, too.

Protecting Our Children: Controversy lingers at Capitol over arming teachers in schools

HARRISBURG – As schools grapple with the challenge of ensuring that their students are as safe as possible, the push to clarify whether schools can allow educators to carry firearms will likely carry over into 2018.

The state Senate approved Senate Bill 383, a measure that would allow schools to give the OK for staff to carry firearms, in a 28-22 vote in June. The bill is currently under consideration by the House Education Committee.

More >> Protecting Our Children: Controversy lingers at Capitol over arming teachers in schools

Child protection worries spawn variety of bills

HARRISBURG – The struggle to help the state’s child protection safety net cope with the increased demands placed on it by the opioid crisis has spawned with at least seven bills in the General Assembly, but the process of moving them forward has so far been slow.

More >> Child protection worries spawn variety of bills

Indian-American toddler Sherin Mathews’ gravesite location released

After #Sherin Mathews’ body was discovered on October 22 in a culvert less than a mile from the Mathews’ family home, her 35-year-old mother, Sini Mathews, held a private burial service, which was attended by relatives and a gathering of family friends, the Asian Age reported. According to reports by a number of news agencies, the exact location where the Indian-American [VIDEO] toddler was buried was a closely guarded secret, attributed to the level of social media attention and “intense press,” the Age relayed.

More >> Indian-American toddler Sherin Mathews’ gravesite location released

"When I adopted three children I thought my life was complete, instead I was plunged into a dark despair"

When Fiona Dunn adopted her three children she thought her life was complete.

Fiona, 53, and her husband Neal, 52, always knew they wanted to be parents, but having met in their late 30s, they found themselves unable to conceive.


So nine years ago they adopted two girls and a boy, siblings who were part of a larger family, through an adoption agency.

But, despite her joy at finally becoming a mum, Fiona, a tax specialist from Rochdale, found herself plunged into a dark despair.

More >> "When I adopted three children I thought my life was complete, instead I was plunged into a dark despair"

Note: Boo hoo. 

Minnesota 2-year-old’s death in foster home investigated

After a 2-year-old girl died in a St. Paul residence this month, the state suspended the home’s foster care license.

Police said Tuesday they continue to investigate the circumstances of the child’s death on Nov. 13. No one has been arrested and police have not said whether they believe the girl’s death is suspicious.

More >> Minnesota 2-year-old’s death in foster home investigated

Child Protective Services Poses A Serious Threat to Our Children

The Huffington Post has released a report on Child Protective Services (CPS) by Child Advocate and contributor Patricia Mitchell, founder of Patricia’s Children, Inc. The report is filled with documented data that is important for all families to know, due to the threat that CPS poses to literally every family in America.

Some of the data in the report will come as no surprise to the families impacted by medical kidnapping. While children and parents are being destroyed behind closed agency and courtroom doors, the majority of the public remains blissfully ignorant of the reality, much like the citizens in Eastern Europe were unaware of the atrocities happening to their fellow citizens in the concentration camps under the Nazi regime.

More >> Child Protective Services Poses A Serious Threat to Our Children

180 orphanages want to shut down

With the state insisting on mandatory registration of orphanages under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act by December 15, at least 180 institutions have informed the government that they are not willing to register and are planning to shut down their operations.

The orphanages are citing serious financial crunch and loss of decisionmaking powers with regard to the admission of children, if they are brought under the JJ Act. A couple of such applications sent by the orphanages to the government, accessed by TOI, says that they want the children to be shifted from their institutions to places that are deemed fit by the government.

More >> 180 orphanages want to shut down

Auditor General: PA Child Welfare System Beset By ‘Breathtaking’ Turnover

HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) — The auditor general has briefed a state House committee on a devastating report on Pennsylvania’s child welfare system, which concludes there is a lack of support for caseworkers on the front lines.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale appeared before the state House Children and Youth Committee to discuss his “State of the Child” report issued in September. DePasquale painted a bleak picture: at-risk children ill-served by a system plagued by what he termed the ‘breathtaking’ turnover of overworked, underpaid, stressed employees.

More >> Auditor General: PA Child Welfare System Beset By ‘Breathtaking’ Turnover

Ballarat Orphanage abuse victim devastated by decision not to lay charges against former superintendent

A former resident of a children's home in Ballarat says she is devastated by a decision to drop sex abuse charges against her overseer, who is considered too ill to face court.

More >> Ballarat Orphanage abuse victim devastated by decision not to lay charges against former superintendent

Data mining program designed to predict child abuse proves unreliable, DCFS says

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is ending a high-profile program that used computer data mining to identify children at risk for serious injury or death after the agency's top official called the technology unreliable.


More >> Data mining program designed to predict child abuse proves unreliable, DCFS says

They say they suffered ‘cruel and sadistic’ abuse as kids at Ontario training schools — and the government paid them to keep quiet

The Ontario government has secretly settled hundreds of lawsuits alleging historic sexual, physical and emotional abuse by teachers and staff at provincially run schools for troubled youth, a Toronto Star investigation has found.

Staff and teachers were accused of sodomizing students, forcing them to perform oral sex, and pushing them to engage in "scrambles," a sort of fight club where students were encouraged to beat one another.

More >> They say they suffered ‘cruel and sadistic’ abuse as kids at Ontario training schools — and the government paid them to keep quiet

Don’t Give Kids Holiday Gifts That Can Spy on Them

During the holiday season, my husband and I tend to offer suggestions to those who are generous enough to insist on buying presents for our kids. Things like “Don’t spend more than $50” and “No guns.” Or, for those with whom we can be comfortably blunt, “Just cash, please.”

The idea is to make gift-giving less stressful and expensive and to make it less likely that the gift givers will waste money on things our kids don’t need — or that we simply would rather they didn’t have.

This year we’re adding a new rule to our list: No toys that can spy. The idea: to keep seemingly innocuous internet-connected devices that may compromise our privacy and security out of our home and especially out of our children’s hands.

More >> Don’t Give Kids Holiday Gifts That Can Spy on Them

Monster foster mother starves to death her son in order to get state benefits.

Lyubov Korokova a foster mother from Magadan a city that is located 5 900 km from Moscow is being accused of starving her son to death in order to claim state benefits. She was fooling doctors to believe that her foster son Valery Kondourov had s rare disease.

More >> Monster foster mother starves to death her son in order to get state benefits.

Heslam: Scathing report upsets foster mom

A couple of years ago, Barbara Papile got a call from a social worker asking her if she could take in a 1-month-old baby girl. Papile went to the hospital to see the baby, who had been abused by her teenage father and had 30 broken bones.

More >> Heslam: Scathing report upsets foster mom

Report: Pa.’s child welfare system broken

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale thinks the state’s child welfare system is broken, and the head of McKean County’s Children and Youth Services doesn’t disagree.

Earlier this week, DePasquale briefed the state House Children and Youth Committee on a year-long review of the state’s child welfare system. His office prepared a report, “State of the Child,” which included a focus on learning how the opioid crisis in putting more of a strain on the CYS system “as they strive to keep Pennsylvania’s at-risk children safe.”

More >> Report: Pa.’s child welfare system broken

Caseworker turnover affecting Nebraska youth in foster care

LINCOLN, NEB. — An annual report on foster care shows more than half the juveniles in out-of-home care in Nebraska had three or more caseworker changes.

An unstable workforce makes it hard to ensure children are safe and getting what they need, said Julie Rogers, Nebraska's inspector general of child welfare. It can also affect caseloads and morale, she said.

More >> Caseworker turnover affecting Nebraska youth in foster care

Audit: DCF Missing Serious Injuries Suffered By Kids In Its Care

BOSTON (CBS) — The Department of Children and Families did not know about 260 serious injuries to kids under the agency’s care, including gunshot wounds, burns, broken bones and head contusions.

That is one of the glaring findings of a report released Thursday by State Auditor Suzanne Bump, who analyzed two years of DCF data in 2014 and 2015.

More >> Audit: DCF Missing Serious Injuries Suffered By Kids In Its Care

DCF faces high turnover of investigators, leaving new employees with caseload

(WEAR) — The Florida agency in charge of child welfare has a big problem with employee turnover. Channel 3 News has learned most Child Protective Investigators (CPI) with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) in the northwest district have not been in their positions more than a year.


More >> DCF faces high turnover of investigators, leaving new employees with caseload

Report: Massachusetts DCF Failed to Report Rapes, Abuse, Other Crimes Against Children

The Boston Globe is reporting that an audit scheduled to be released Thursday shows that the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families failed to report rapes and other crimes committed against children in their care.

More >> Report: Massachusetts DCF Failed to Report Rapes, Abuse, Other Crimes Against Children

Illinois Dumps George Sheldon's 'Failed' Predictive Analytics Program

The last of the legacy George Sheldon hoped for at the Illinois Department of Children and Families (DCFS) crumbled this week when Sheldon's successor ended a Florida company's high-profile program meant to identify children at risk for serious injury or death.

"We are not doing the predictive analytics because it didn't seem to be predicting much," new DCFS Director Beverly "B.J." Walker told the Chicago Tribune. The story was reported in Wednesday morning's edition.

More >> Illinois Dumps George Sheldon's 'Failed' Predictive Analytics Program

DCYF lawsuit reaches potential $1 million settlement

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Officials are predicting a settlement of more than $1 million in the near future in a decade-old civil rights lawsuit against Rhode Island's child welfare agency.

House Fiscal Advisor Sharon Reynolds Ferland told the House committee Tuesday to expect a legal settlement of $1.2 million. But she says the settlement might be "much larger."

More >> DCYF lawsuit reaches potential $1 million settlement