Thank you for stopping by. You will find news about child welfare, foster care, termination of parental rights, supreme court cases, lawsuits, sex crimes and much more. Be sure to check back often.
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Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated: Guess who is Sicker?
It's never been done before. The first-of-its-kind study of vaccinated vs. unvaccinated American homeschooled children shows who is really ailing... and parents should be worried.
Something is wrong with America's children. They are sick - allergic, asthmatic, anxious, autoimmune, autistic, hyperactive, distracted and learning disabled. Thirty-two million American children - a full 43% of them - suffer from at least one of 20 chronic illnesses not including obesity. Across the board, once rare pediatric disorders from autism and ADD to Type 1 diabetes and Tourette's syndrome are soaring, though few studies pool the data. Compared to their parents, children today are four times more likely to have a chronic illness.
DHS Releases 2016 Child Protective Services Report
HARRISBURG - Today, the Department of Human Services (DHS) released the 2016 Child Protective Services report.
In 2016, 46 children lost their lives as a result of abuse, up from 36 in 2015. Seventy-nine nearly died as a result of abuse, an increase from 57 in 2015. Every child fatality and near fatality is closely examined by review teams to determine what, if any, risk factors may have contributed to the child's death with an eye toward preventing future child fatalities.
'Grandma Underground' still fighting for Kentucky kinship care payments
Sent from the "Grandma Underground," the personal stories included pleas for help from grandparents and other relatives struggling to raise children removed from homes because of abuse, often from parents caught up in the state's drug epidemic.
"She was born a drug baby and has a lot of medical problems and suffers many withdrawal attacks," wrote Teresa Grider, a grandmother from Elizabethtown, describing the youngest of five grandchildren she's raising. "If you was ever to see one, it would make tears come to your eyes as it does me."
News from The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- A review by Rhode Island's child advocate has found that four children died in the past year despite warnings from family, friends, police and others.
The findings in a report released Thursday by the Child Fatality Review Panel call for an overhaul of the way the Department of Children, Youth and Families Child Protective Services assesses risk and investigates calls placed to its hotline.
Child Services responds to criticism after recent deaths
A spokesman for the Administration for Child Services responded Wednesday to criticism of the agency, after the deaths of multiple children at homes that were at one time probed by the agency.
He said it's important to understand that it takes multiple government factions -- and ultimately a judge -- to determine custody of a child in New York City, amid an average of 55,000 reports of child abuse per year. The most recent death was that of 1-year-old Bianca Abdul, who, according to police, was found unconscious inside a home in Midland Beach by her mother. Family told police there hadn't been heat in the home since November, and at one point a 12-year-old girl had been temporarily removed from the home, according to a NYPD spokeswoman.
Kentucky opening secret files to help prevent 'a mother's worst nightmare'
To protect children from the people who are paid to care for them, the General Assembly this month passed a bill that will crack open confidential files at the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services for prospective employers.
Senate Bill 236 will allow parents hiring babysitters - and it will require public schools and publicly funded youth camps hiring anyone who will work with minors - to ask job applicants for a letter from the cabinet that shows if they are one of the 92,418 people who presently have a "substantiated finding" of child abuse or neglect, as determined by a child protection caseworker. The bill prohibits schools and camps from hiring people who have such a black mark.
10 Tragic Cases Of Children Murdered By Social Workers
Child welfare agencies were created to promote the safety and well-being of children. They investigate cases of family violence, child abuse, and neglect, and when necessary, they take protective action.
The goal of social workers is to keep children with their families when it is deemed safe and to provide them with a safe environment when they are determined to be at risk. Unfortunately, many cases are ignored or mishandled in such a way that the abused child continues to suffer. When social workers fail to act, the consequences can be deadly. Their negligence in these cases makes them almost as culpable as the perpetrators.
Scathing report calls for overhaul of RI's child welfare services
A report released Thursday by the Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) suggests the state of Rhode Island is not doing enough to protect at-risk children.
Upon analyzing the cases of four recent child fatalities and two near fatalities, the agency highlighted the need for drastic reform at the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF).
Can You Sue Child Protective Services for Emotional Distress?
If you've ever been visited by Child Protective Services, you know just how stressful and distressing it can feel. Even the best of parents can get frazzled when someone with the legal authority to take aware their kids is present.
Unfortunately, unless your civil rights are violated, you likely won't have any legal claim against Child Protective Services stemming from the agency's, or its representatives', routine actions. So, you likely won't be able to sue for emotional distress. However, when civil rights are violated, individuals can sue CPS, and these claims can be costly for cities.
Democratic lawmaker says Texas CPS workloads make 'a travesty' of child protection
A Democratic-sponsored bill that would set goals for reducing Texas child welfare workers' caseloads is laudable but needs more careful consideration, two key Republican writers of House social services policy said Monday.
Houston Democratic Rep. Armando Walle's measure would double-down on state GOP leaders' recent approval of 829 new positions at beleaguered Child Protective Services. The bill would encourage CPS to hire 893 more employees over the next two years and create an additional 825 slots at sister agencies such as Adult Protective Services, Child Care Licensing and the unit that operates the protective services department's hotline for reporting abuse, the Legislative Budget Board has estimated.
