Lawsuit accuses ex-social worker of tapping into youth’s funds

A former youth in care is suing the B.C. government and a former social worker accused of stealing funds designated for children entrusted to his care.

As a ward of the Ministry of Children and Family Development, K.L. bounced between foster and group homes in the Kelowna area throughout his childhood before being assigned to social worker Robert Riley Saunders.

More >> Lawsuit accuses ex-social worker of tapping into youth’s funds

Failure to publish report on rape of three children in foster care condemned in Dáil

A TD was so angry with the Taoiseach’s reply to her question in the Dáil about a child sexual abuse report that she told him “a dignified silence for your three minutes might have been a better response”.

More >> Failure to publish report on rape of three children in foster care condemned in Dáil

Judge dismisses lawsuit against child welfare department

A judge has dismissed a negligence lawsuit against the Vermont Department of Children and Families.

The Rutland Superior Court judge reaffirmed that DCF does not have a duty to warn the public of the dangers a ward may pose to the general public. The Brattleboro Reformer reports the lawsuit claimed a ward of the state attacked another child at a Rutland McDonald's, arguing DCF was negligent in a duty to warn respite workers about the ward's behavior.

More >> Judge dismisses lawsuit against child welfare department

As more migrant children get detained, he gets richer

The founder of Southwest Key made millions from housing migrant children. His nonprofit has stockpiled taxpayer dollars and possibly engaged in self-dealing with top executives.

More >> As more migrant children get detained, he gets richer

Local foster parent faces child abuse charge

A local foster parent faces a child abuse charge in Greene County after a grand jury indicted him for allegedly shaking and striking an infant in his care.

According to online court records, John D. Grant, 34, of Bolivar is charged with class B felony abuse or neglect of a child — serious emotional or physical injury in Greene County Circuit Court. He was indicted by a grand jury in August and arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

More >> Local foster parent faces child abuse charge

Fredericksburg foster dad intentionally burned child, Spotsylvania County investigators say

A Fredericksburg man is facing criminal charges after police identified “patterned burns” on a foster child in his care.

Authorities said they began investigating on Aug. 23 when a staff member at a Spotsylvania County elementary school noticed burns on the child and told police and child protective services.

More >> Fredericksburg foster dad intentionally burned child, Spotsylvania County investigators say

Attorney: CPS pressured investigator to charge mom after agency hit with $127K sanction

Child Protective Services workers allegedly pressured a Harris County investigator to file charges against the mother whose case prompted a $127,000 sanction against the agency, the family’s lawyer said Monday in court.

Dillon and Melissa Bright ended up in the middle of a legal imbroglio earlier this year after CPS wrongfully removed their children amid apparently unfounded suspicions of child abuse.

More >> Attorney: CPS pressured investigator to charge mom after agency hit with $127K sanction

Yandy Smith Slammed for Leaving Foster Child Out of Family Portrait ‘Just Like a Foster Mother’

Yandy Smith recently received backlash after posting a family picture without her foster daughter.

Earlier this year, Smith made the decision to go from mentor to foster mom. She took a young girl by the name of Infinity Gilyard under her wings after mentoring her years ago with the non-profit organization EGL Partners Uplifting our Daughters. In August, Smith announced that a New York judge granted her approval to foster the young girl and the “Love and Hip Hop” star welcomed Gilyard into her family.

More >> Yandy Smith Slammed for Leaving Foster Child Out of Family Portrait ‘Just Like a Foster Mother’

Bolivar foster dad accused of shaking 3-month-old baby

A Bolivar foster father has been accused of shaking a 3-month-old child who became unresponsive and had to be hospitalized for more than a week.

John Grant, 34, was indicted by a grand jury in August and arrested Tuesday on a felony child abuse charge.

More >> Bolivar foster dad accused of shaking 3-month-old baby

Incarcerated Mothers Can Lose Parental Rights Just For Being Incarcerated

A new report from the Marshall Project outlines how child-welfare systems take children away from incarcerated mothers, viewing former or current inmates as unfit caregivers not on the basis of prior child neglect charges, but often simply for being incarcerated.

The problem stems in part from the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act, which says state-funded child-welfare programs must “begin termination of parental rights” when a child has been in foster care for 15 of the last 22 months.

More >> Incarcerated Mothers Can Lose Parental Rights Just For Being Incarcerated

South Carolina foster parent forced child to wear electric dog collar, police say

Police in South Carolina say a foster parent made a six-year-old wear an electric dog collar and abused the child with a spoon-like object.

News outlets report that 61-year-old Deborah Ann Jarrell of Myrtle Beach was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child.

More >> South Carolina foster parent forced child to wear electric dog collar, police say

UK judge removes Christian child placed in Muslim foster care

A five-year-old Christian girl placed in foster care with a British Muslim family in east London will be returned to her own grandmother after a UK judge ruled on the case in a family court. Judge Khatun Sapnara, a Bangladeshi-origin British Muslim herself, said yesterday that it was in the girl’s best interests to live with a family member who could keep her safe, promote her welfare and meet her needs “in terms of ethnicity, culture and religion”.

The case was first highlighted through media reports and triggered alarm over reports that the English-speaking girl had been forced to live with an Arabic-speaking family and that they had forced her to remove a necklace bearing a crucifix. The UK’s Children’s Act 1989 requires a local authority to give consideration to “religious persuasion, racial origin and cultural and linguistic background” when making decisions about a child who has been taken into care as a result of a court order.

More >> UK judge removes Christian child placed in Muslim foster care

Lawsuit claims DCF protected state of Kansas official instead of girl

A civil lawsuit filed in Shawnee County District Court in a long-running dispute alleges the Kansas Department for Children and Families protected a state official instead of his young daughter.

The legal action claims the plaintiff’s civil rights to due process and equal protection were violated.

More >> Lawsuit claims DCF protected state of Kansas official instead of girl

Parenthood lost: How incarcerated parents are losing their children forever

Lori Lynn Adams was a mother of four living in poverty when Hurricane Floyd struck North Carolina in 1999, flooding her trailer home and destroying her children’s pageant trophies and baby pictures. No stranger to moneymaking scams, Adams was convicted of filing a fraudulent disaster-relief claim with FEMA for a property she did not own. She also passed dozens of worthless checks to get by.

More >> Parenthood lost: How incarcerated parents are losing their children forever

Baby P’s mother allowed contact with surviving children from inside prison

The mother of Baby P – tortured to death in 2007 – has been granted access to her surviving children by social services ahead of a new application to be released from prison. Tracey Connelly has been writing to her children from behind bars in an attempt to ‘build bridges’ before applying for parole.

More >> Baby P’s mother allowed contact with surviving children from inside prison

Child separations, here at home: We remove far, far too many kids from their families in the name of saving them

The Trump administration shocked the nation’s conscience last spring when it purposely separated immigrant children from their parents. The outcry was loud and clear and spanned the political spectrum. As well it should have; taking children from their parents when not absolutely necessary is cruel.

Unfortunately, it is not unusual. At a City Council hearing last week, witness after witness testified that New York City officials routinely inflict the trauma of family separation on families right here at home.

More >> Child separations, here at home: We remove far, far too many kids from their families in the name of saving them

Special Report: Women forced to give up babies for adoption still failed by State bodies

Teenager Jackie Foley was told to sign a consent form under a fictitious name in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home. Her son was adopted and given a bogus name. Nearly half a century later, her treatment at the hands of State agencies has been as cold-hearted as that of the nuns, writes Conall Ó Fátharta.

JACKIE Foley was just 16 years old in 1974 when she signed a consent form in Bessborough Mother and Baby Home form to have her son adopted. She didn’t sign her own name.

More >> Special Report: Women forced to give up babies for adoption still failed by State bodies

He’s Built an Empire, With Detained Migrant Children as the Bricks

Juan Sanchez grew up along the Mexican border in a two-bedroom house so crowded with children that he didn’t have a bed. But he fought his way to another life. He earned three degrees, including a doctorate in education from Harvard, before starting a nonprofit in his Texas hometown.

Mr. Sanchez has built an empire on the back of a crisis. His organization, Southwest Key Programs, now houses more migrant children than any other in the nation. Casting himself as a social-justice warrior, he calls himself El Presidente, a title inscribed outside his office and on the government contracts that helped make him rich.

More >> He’s Built an Empire, With Detained Migrant Children as the Bricks

Jailed parents must be included in hearings on their kids' fate, Iowa Supreme Court rules

Parents in prison or jail must be allowed to fully participate in hearings on whether their parental rights will be taken away, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Allowing parents who are incarcerated to participate in person or by phone in such hearings is considered best practice for juvenile court judges, but the practice is not always followed. The court's 4-3 opinion will require juvenile court judges and court staff to do more to ensure the parents can fully participate.

More >> Jailed parents must be included in hearings on their kids' fate, Iowa Supreme Court rules

Easing of adoption laws is not in the best interests of children

The recent release of the Federal Parliamentary Committee report on adoption is trying to conflate two important issues for Australia's vulnerable children: the historically low rate of adoptions and the rising number of children in out-of-home care nationwide.

More >> Easing of adoption laws is not in the best interests of children

A Chicago Psychiatric Hospital Will Lose Federal Funding Over Safety and Abuse Issues Involving Children in State Care

At the same time, a federal judge said he will appoint a monitor to oversee the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. “The stakes cannot be higher,” the judge said.

More >> A Chicago Psychiatric Hospital Will Lose Federal Funding Over Safety and Abuse Issues Involving Children in State Care

A now former staff member of an Abilene shelter for "abused, neglected, runaway, and homeless children" is accused of having a sexual relationship with one of the kids who was placed there by Child Protective Services.

More >> Document: Ex-staff member had sex with teen at Abilene shelter for abused, neglected kids

Police: Foster parent made child wear electric dog collar

Police in South Carolina say a foster parent made a 6-year-old wear an electric dog collar and abused the child with a spoon-like object.

News outlets report that 61-year-old Deborah Ann Jarrell of Myrtle Beach was arrested Wednesday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child.

More >> Police: Foster parent made child wear electric dog collar

Operators of Tent City for Migrant Kids Say They Want Out But ‘Can’t Abandon the Children’

The San Antonio-based nonprofit that is operating a controversial West Texas tent city for migrant children wants out of the job. But the government isn’t revealing the future of the facility in Tornillo, a farming community southeast of El Paso, that currently holds about 2,300 children.

More >> Operators of Tent City for Migrant Kids Say They Want Out But ‘Can’t Abandon the Children’

• A Damning New Memo Reveals How the Trump Administration Is Failing Migrant Children

Stop whining about the foster care system and do something to fix it

Seventy percent of the men and women in America’s prisons and jails were in foster care. Regardless of what some Kansas media tell you, and what lawyers claim in pending lawsuits, Kansas’ foster care woes aren’t unique. They are endemic in the foster care system nationwide. Indeed, by almost all measurements, the Kansas foster case system is average. Average case lengths, average case outcomes, and, sadly, average success rates for kids who grow up and end up in prison. Can we agree that average sucks? Because of this reality, no matter who is in charge of Kansas DCF, it will take years not months to fix the system, if fixing it is even possible.

More >> Stop whining about the foster care system and do something to fix it