The East Germans split up families, too. It caused lifelong trauma.

Katrin Behr was only 4 years old when her life was turned upside down forever.

“They came early in the morning and took away my mom,” Behr recalls of that fateful day in 1972 in East Germany, when she became the victim of a large-scale, secretive socialist scheme to separate children from parents considered politically defiant. Her mother’s crime? She wanted to flee the repressive socialist country into U.S.-protected West Germany.

More >> The East Germans split up families, too. It caused lifelong trauma.

Child welfare advocates: Strip foster care system from state

A children’s rights group is asking a federal judge to appoint an independent party to oversee Mississippi’s troubled child welfare system, saying the state has failed to adequately protect children in its care for the past decade.

More >> Child welfare advocates: Strip foster care system from state

Taking immigrant kids from parents shows contempt for families.

We go to work each day as pediatricians to promote the health and well-being of children, and we form relationships with families from all walks of life. We see rich and poor, immigrant and native-born parents provide the steady love and care necessary to help their children heal from the simple fractures of childhood, endure the side effects of leukemia treatment or recover from surgeries. A new government policy of separating immigrant children from their parents shows contempt for this basic impulse of a parent to protect a child and fosters deep and lasting harm for children who may end up as our patients.

More >> Taking immigrant kids from parents shows contempt for families.

• Illegal border crossings remained high in May despite Trump’s crackdown

Adoption without safeguards endangers children

MUCH of the recent public debate on information and tracing for people who have been adopted in and from Ireland appears to suggest that the matter has only been under consideration for the last three years.

A look back at some of the key moments in the last 15 years is a reminder that, in the absence of legislation, adopted children’s rights continue to be denied.


More >> Adoption without safeguards endangers children

Concerns over social worker who had sex with boy, 15, were 'swept under the carpet'

A social worker who had sex with a 15-year-old boy was allowed to continue in her job for almost 30 years after concerns were ignored, a court was told.

Myriam Bamkin, now 61, indecently assaulted the troubled teen in a gym at Amberdale Children's Home, in Stapleford, just before he turned 16.

More >> Concerns over social worker who had sex with boy, 15, were 'swept under the carpet'

Together again: Court celebrates parents who did the work to get kids back

On Saturday, the Maricopa County Juvenile Court celebrated more than a dozen parents for overcoming the issues that broke them apart, sent their kids away and plunged them into the hard work of getting them back.

More >> Together again: Court celebrates parents who did the work to get kids back

California bans state-funded travel to Oklahoma over its anti-LGBT adoption law

California on Friday announced a ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel to Oklahoma in response to the state's controversial LGBTQ adoption bill, USA Today reported.

"California taxpayers are taking a stand against bigotry and in support of those who would be harmed by this prejudiced policy," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Friday.

More >> California bans state-funded travel to Oklahoma over its anti-LGBT adoption law

Report: 1,700 Texas foster youths ran away from state care in 2017

More than 1,700 Texas foster care youths ran away from state care last year, and at least 35 of them became victims of sex trafficking, according to a new state report.

More >> Report: 1,700 Texas foster youths ran away from state care in 2017

After CPS workers attacked, union calls for special attention on safety

After two violent incidents last week involving Monroe County Child Protective Services workers, the union that represents them is calling on officials to take worker safety more seriously.

In a statement, the Federation of Social Workers said the union "is deeply concerned about ongoing issues of safety that can place all workers in the field at risk of harm."

More >> After CPS workers attacked, union calls for special attention on safety

Michigan City police say foster child turned out to be adult trying to avoid deportation to Mexico

An undocumented immigrant spent 20 days in a foster home until the Department of Child Services learned he wasn't a juvenile, police said.

According to a Michigan City police report, a worker from the Indiana Department of Child Services said Javier Santiago, 22, and other undocumented individuals were in a van stopped on the Indiana Toll Road in early May.

More >> Michigan City police say foster child turned out to be adult trying to avoid deportation to Mexico

More immigrant children in U.S. custody with 'zero tolerance' policy

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Migration called the plan by Department of Homeland Security to separate families arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border “ineffective” policy and “contrary to our Catholic values.”

“Forcibly separating children from their mothers and fathers is ineffective to the goals of deterrence and safety and contrary to our Catholic values,” Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, Texas, said in a statement released Friday afternoon June 1.

More >> More immigrant children in U.S. custody with 'zero tolerance' policy

• Protesters Across The U.S. Decry Policy Of Separating Immigrant Families - You wont' see them doing this for American families...
• MASS PROTESTS PLANNED IN 30 CITIES OVER ‘INHUMANE’ SEPARATION OF FAMILIES AT BORDER
• Complaint targets separation of immigrant families at border
• ‘Lost’ Immigrant Children? That’s a Different Story
• Did the Trump Administration Lose Immigrant Children?
• How Liberals Got Lost on the Story of Missing Children at the Border
• Dan Patrick compares separating immigrant families to child protective services

Kansas child welfare agency rescinds rule banning opposition

The Kansas Department for Children and Families plans to remove a new rule banning contractors from opposing the agency after questions about whether the change would stifle policy debate and contradict promises of transparency.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the removal comes after the agency announced new child welfare contracts Thursday that raised free-speech concerns. The contracts require prior approval for any public statements identifying the agency. Private contractors also must "conspicuously acknowledge support of DCF" in any announcement about the contract.

More >> Kansas child welfare agency rescinds rule banning opposition

Man, 67, charged after OPP review of former children's aid society's operations

A Picton, Ont., man is facing 20 charges following a provincial police investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in connection with the operation of an agency that placed foster children in homes.

OPP say they began an investigation in early 2016 into the operations of the former Prince Edward County Children's Aid Society between 2002 and 2010.

More >> Man, 67, charged after OPP review of former children's aid society's operations

Man Sues Indiana Child Services Over Son's Death

A man is accusing the Indiana Department of Child Services of being complicit in the death of his 5-year-old son, who died in the care of his mother and her boyfriend.

The Indianapolis Star reports that Justin Morgan filed a lawsuit this month contending the agency received at least 11 reports of suspected abuse before Brayson Price's 2016 death.

More >> Man Sues Indiana Child Services Over Son's Death

Outgoing ICE director says separating parents and children is ‘sad’ but part of the job

Migrants who enter the U.S. illegally shouldn’t be surprised by recent reports of children being separated from their parents at the border — they should expect it, a top immigration official said Thursday.

Thomas Homan, the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff that migrants crossing the border “don’t understand” U.S. immigration laws.

More >> Outgoing ICE director says separating parents and children is ‘sad’ but part of the job

Adoption controversy: ‘My son was stolen and illegally adopted’

Ann Crowe (58) had her first baby, Roger Declan, at Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork in February 1979.

Two days later, he was gone. She has not seen him since.

More >> Adoption controversy: ‘My son was stolen and illegally adopted’

• Irish Leader Apologizes for Adoptions That ‘Robbed Children’ of Their Identity

DCYF struggles to improve, as bad news keeps coming

The state is about to pay $6.7 million to settle what amounts to a malpractice lawsuit against its child protective service agency, the Division for Children, Youth and Families, stemming from a horrific case of child sexual abuse involving two young girls who were supposed to be under the agency’s protection.

Yet in the past legislative session, lawmakers balked at spending $5 million to hire enough social workers to prevent such abuse in the future. Dr. Lawrence Shulman of Grantham, a member of the DCYF Advisory Board, expressed his frustration over the issue at the May 21 board meeting, with DCYF Director Joe Ribsam.

More >> DCYF struggles to improve, as bad news keeps coming

Abuse reports shut down his Alabama boys home. Now he's opened another in Missouri

The religious home for young boys promises to be a safe haven for those struggling with drugs, alcohol or a "rebellious spirit."

On the website of The Joshua Home — in Pineville, Mo., south of Joplin — anonymous parents credit "Brother" Gary Wiggins and his wife, Meaghan, with turning their sons' lives around through Christian study, prayer and love.

More >> Abuse reports shut down his Alabama boys home. Now he's opened another in Missouri

Nebraska study shows lopsided percentages of minority children in foster care

The office that checks up on kids in foster care reported Thursday that the number of minority kids in out-of-home care is out of proportion.

On March 31, African-American children, as well as Native, biracial and Latino children, were overrepresented in the population of kids in foster care and other types of out-of-home care, according to the Nebraska Foster Care Review Office.

More >> Nebraska study shows lopsided percentages of minority children in foster care

Judge Throws Out Settlement in Kentucky Foster Care Case

A federal judge has thrown out a legal settlement that would require Kentucky to monitor faith-based foster homes to make sure they don't use public money to evangelize children in the state's care.

More >> Judge Throws Out Settlement in Kentucky Foster Care Case

Consent: How one mother beat the child welfare system and got her kid back

When her son started talking about suicide while living in a group home this mother decided she needed to do something.

Emails between her and the child welfare agency show she pushed to get him help while being kept at a distance.

More >> Consent: How one mother beat the child welfare system and got her kid back

Grandparents have the right to see their grandchildren, EU court rules

Grandparents have the right to see their grandchildren, the European Union’s top court said on Thursday after a Bulgarian woman sought access to her grandson after her daughter and the child’s father divorce.

The woman had requested seeing the child one weekend each month and twice a year for holidays.

More >> Grandparents have the right to see their grandchildren, EU court rules

Mandated Reporters - The phone call that can destroy your life

Every CPS intervention begins with a phone call

More >> Mandated Reporters - The phone call that can destroy your life

Concerns for CPS workers after two cases of violence

Workers at Child Protective Services were twice targeted by violence last week, with one case worker attacked by an angry client and in a second incident the union tells us someone sprayed a house with bullets while a worker was conducting an investigation.

More >> Concerns for CPS workers after two cases of violence

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald brands adoption scandal 'child trafficking'

Mary Lou McDonald has branded the adoption scandal “child trafficking” which should be punishable by law.

More >> Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald brands adoption scandal 'child trafficking'