Clovis man who owned cheer gym arrested for molestation of foster children over several year period

A Clovis man is in custody after being accused of sexually abusing his foster children. Robert Martin, 55, is being held in the Fresno County Jail without bail.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Wright says, "One of the children was molested between the ages of 9 and 13. One of the children was 10 and one of the children was five at the time."

More >> Clovis man who owned cheer gym arrested for molestation of foster children over several year period

50 years on: We want an apology, says unmarried Shrewsbury teenager forced to give up baby daughter

Now, almost 50 years later, MPs are calling for an apology after half a million babies were forcibly removed from their young and unmarried mothers.

More than 20 MPs have backed a motion recognising the “pain and suffering” of women who were deemed vulnerable and who were subsequently forced to give up their babies by the authorities. Their move follows the government’s rejection last year of a demand for a public inquiry.

More >> 50 years on: We want an apology, says unmarried Shrewsbury teenager forced to give up baby daughter

Black children in Nova Scotia's foster care system face challenges, say advocates

Robinah Kakembo has seen first-hand the problems that can arise when African immigrant and refugee families in Nova Scotia come into contact with the province's foster care system.

Kakembo and her husband, Patrick, have been foster parents for the past 17 years. They take in black and African children.

More >> Black children in Nova Scotia's foster care system face challenges, say advocates

Michigan Reunification Day celebrates families regaining custody of children

The Michigan Hall of Justice in Lansing served as a place of celebration on Monday.

Two newly reunited families were honored at the third annual Michigan Reunification Day.

One of the hardest things to go through as a parent is losing custody of a child. But fighting to regain that custody can be even harder.

More >> Michigan Reunification Day celebrates families regaining custody of children

Social worker seeks removal from register after saying job had ‘negative’ impact on him

A social worker with 32 years of experience will seek voluntary removal from the register after saying his career had a “negative” impact on him.

The social worker was suspended in 2015 after failing to carry out visits, reports and maintain care plans in statutory timescales.

More >> Social worker seeks removal from register after saying job had ‘negative’ impact on him

How children in state care are being failed

Too many children in state care are being moved between caregivers and this instability has led many to turn to a life of crime and being unable to bond with their caregivers, youth advocates say.

New data obtained by the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act shows each year between 2013 and 2017 more than 40% of children in state care had three or more caregivers during the previous five years.

More >> How children in state care are being failed

Lucky mum from 'baby scoop' era backs calls for an inquiry into forced adoption

At the 50th anniversary of her miraculous escape from the "baby scoop" era, an Australian who gave birth in New Zealand is keen to see an inquiry for the sake of those who were not so lucky.

An "exception rather than the rule", Josette Ible has been in New Zealand to thank North Shore Hospital staff for helping her to keep her daughter.

More >> Lucky mum from 'baby scoop' era backs calls for an inquiry into forced adoption

DCF, FDLE investigating local woman in alleged child adoption scheme

An Action News Jax investigation into an alleged child adoption scheme has sparked a criminal investigation with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and a separate investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

At the center of it all is a 3-year-old boy named Dylan, once a part of Florida's foster care system.

More >> DCF, FDLE investigating local woman in alleged child adoption scheme

Children from border fight in Washington state foster care

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and a roster of fellow Democratic politicians on Saturday decried the federal government's decision to separate young children of asylum seekers taken into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border from their parents indefinitely.

The administration is sending more than 1,600 immigrants — including some of those parents — to federal prisons amid a lack of space in other facilities. Inslee said six children were brought to a Seattle foster care facility after being separated from their families at the border. It's unclear where the parents are, but the governor's office said they are not in Washington state.

More >> Children from border fight in Washington state foster care

• Asylum Seeker's Children Taken from Her While in Custody

Adoption scandal: DNA test hints at birth parents’ stories

A woman who was illegally adopted and believed she was from Dublin has said that a DNA test showed she has no genetic relatives in the county.

Maria Dumbell, 68, has been trying to obtain information about her identity for 40 years. She took a test earlier this year which showed that all her descendants and family were from Cork.

More >> Adoption scandal: DNA test hints at birth parents’ stories

• Adoption Scandal Might Extend To St Peter’s Castlepollard

Abandoned by her adoptive family, betrayed by the state

Four decades ago, Mallika was adopted by a Danish family from a children’s home in Coimbatore, only to be abandoned a few years later. Personal misfortunes and state apathy further added to her ordeals.

More >> Abandoned by her adoptive family, betrayed by the state

'We must right a historic wrong': Women forced to give up their babies for adoption tell of their decades of heartache as MPs call for an apology

Women forced to give up their babies for adoption in the Fifties and Sixties told yesterday of their decades of heartache as MPs urged the Government to apologise for the scandal.

More than half a million newborns were taken from young unmarried women at a time when being a single mother was often seen as shameful.

More >> 'We must right a historic wrong': Women forced to give up their babies for adoption tell of their decades of heartache as MPs call for an apology

• Mothers who were forced to give up their babies for adoption are long overdue an apology

'Where's my mom?' cries girl as immigrant kids separated from parents arrive in Michigan

Separated from her parents at the southern border, a 9-year-old girl from Guatemala who recently arrived in Michigan often cries out in Spanish: "Where's my mom? When can I talk to my mom? When can I see my mom?"

Her cries of pain are echoed across the United States with a growing number of immigrant children being ripped by U.S. officials from their parents after they cross the border illegally in hopes of getting asylum.

More >> 'Where's my mom?' cries girl as immigrant kids separated from parents arrive in Michigan

Doubled in a decade, tally of the children placed in care in the UK

Last year 14,490 children were taken into care in England – 40 a day – almost double that of 2008, when the figure was 7,440.

The bombshell new statistics came in an answer to a parliamentary question.

More >> Doubled in a decade, tally of the children placed in care

Stolen Kids? Ireland Fears 15,000 Illegal Adoptions as Mothers Told Babies Died

As many of 15,000 children are suspected of having been illegally adopted in Ireland over the past 100 years, according to UK children charity organization Barnardo.

More >> Stolen Kids? Ireland Fears 15,000 Illegal Adoptions as Mothers Told Babies Died

MPs demand apology for unmarried mothers who gave up children

MPs are calling on the government to apologise to women who were coerced into handing over their babies for adoption in Britain in the 1950s and 60s.

More than 20 MPs have backed a motion recognising the “pain and suffering” of women forced to give up their babies. Their move follows the government’s rejection last year of a demand for a public inquiry.

More >> MPs demand apology for unmarried mothers who gave up children

How Child Separation Is Normally Done

The Trump administration’s apparent policy of separating parents and children entering the U.S. without papers—even those seeking asylum—has drawn criticism, and rightly so: It’s transparently cruel and essentially disconnected from any public safety or child welfare purpose. A district court judge has also said such a policy, if it did exist, would be a clear and “brutal” constitutional violation. It’s also a breathtaking departure from the procedural norms that the U.S. legal system has developed over decades for removing children from their parents—a process that state courts treat with a constitutional seriousness akin to criminal cases. As a public defender in Connecticut, I’ve represented parents and children in neglect and abuse cases for almost 10 years, and while the system is far from perfect, the prevailing understanding among all participants—judges, parents’ and children’s lawyers, and the state child welfare agency—is that family separation is the last resort.

More >> How Child Separation Is Normally Done

• ‘It’s Horrendous’: The Heartache of a Migrant Boy Taken From His Father
• Judge rules that challenge to family separation at border can proceed
• Commentary: How border policy creates more mess for foster care system

One Man's Journey Leads to Outcry on Child Protection Cases

It's a lawsuit between parents and the Minnesota Department of Human Services that has been ongoing on for months.

Dwight Mitchell said three children were taken from him because of a single spanking incident. After months of fighting a system that he claims wrongfully overreached its authority, he is now being joined by many other parents who allege the state's protection laws are unconstitutionally broad and vague.

More >> One Man's Journey Leads to Outcry on Child Protection Cases

Teen was driving foster mother's minivan in fatal crash with semi truck in Clark County

The Shelby County Department of Job and Family Services said Friday the teen who was killed in a Clark County crash Thursday night was a foster child.

In a release Friday, the county department identified the teen as 13-year-old Sky Lhamon, who was in permanently in the custody of service.

More >> Teen was driving foster mother's minivan in fatal crash with semi truck in Clark County

Trump administration to fingerprint parents who claim custody of unaccompanied migrant kids

The Trump administration will now fingerprint and run immigration checks on the mothers and fathers who come forward to claim custody of unaccompanied migrant children stopped at the border under a new policy that is stoking new fears in immigrant communities nationwide.

The initiative implemented this week is the latest get-tough effort by the Trump administration that promised stronger vetting procedures of sponsors after drawing criticism last week for reportedly losing track of more than 1,475 children they had placed with sponsors.

More >> Trump administration to fingerprint parents who claim custody of unaccompanied migrant kids

Ex-foster parent gets 25 years for sexually assaulting children in his care

Former Twin Lakes foster parent Gary Reed got a 25-year prison term during sentencing Thursday for sexually abusing children he had in his care.

Speaking through a letter read to the court by his wife, one of Reed’s victims said he thought he had finally found salvation from a lifetime of abuse when he was placed in Reed’s home.

More >> Ex-foster parent gets 25 years for sexually assaulting children in his care

• 25 years in prison for man accused of sexually assaulting boys in his care as a foster parent

Are More Than 10,000 Children in U.S. Detention Centers?

The Department of Health and Human Services announced that 10,773 unaccompanied immigrant children were indeed in detention facilities as of May 2018.

More >> Are More Than 10,000 Children in U.S. Detention Centers?

ProPublica Illinois Investigates ‘Stuck Kids’ in Psychiatric Hospitals

A ProPublica Illinois investigation co-published this month with The Atlantic outlines a disturbing pattern when it comes to the care of children in Illinois psychiatric hospitals.

Hundreds of children between 2015 and 2017 were forced to stay in these hospitals after they should have been released, the investigation found. They were under the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which had nowhere else to send them, according to the report. In some cases, they stayed for months longer than medically necessary.

More >> ProPublica Illinois Investigates ‘Stuck Kids’ in Psychiatric Hospitals

Minnesota County Ordered to Pay $1.5M Settlement for Its ‘Deliberate Indifference’ to Foster Child Who Hanged Herself

Hennepin County has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a wrongful death suit brought by the family of a 6-year-old girl who committed suicide while in foster care, the Star Tribune reported Wednesday.

More >> Minnesota County Ordered to Pay $1.5M Settlement for Its ‘Deliberate Indifference’ to Foster Child Who Hanged Herself

DCF, FDLE investigating local woman in alleged child adoption scheme

An Action News Jax investigation into an alleged child adoption scheme has sparked a criminal investigation with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and a separate investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families.

More >> DCF, FDLE investigating local woman in alleged child adoption scheme