KARA works hard finding statistics, stories & articles around the nation that define at risk children today.
These are the most important and compelling articles we’ve found this week;
AZ: Child-welfare cases are private. Does that protect the kids, or the state officials? (Commentary)
Arizona Republic – May 03, 2019
When news broke that a Maricopa woman had been accused of starving, pepper-spraying, and otherwise abusing seven adopted children, questions immediately turned to what the Department of Child Safety knew and when the agency knew it. The case of Machelle Hobson and her foster-children-turned-adopted children drew an unusual amount of attention because some of the alleged abuse was related to the children’s performances for a popular YouTube channel.
FL: Grandparents get custody of Florida boy as parents fight cancer treatment
Associated Press – May 03, 2019
A judge ruled that a 3-year-old Florida boy will be turned over to his maternal grandparents while his parents are involved in a legal battle over his cancer treatment. Joshua McAdams and Taylor Bland-Ball want to treat Joshua “Noah” McAdams with natural remedies. When they failed to show up for his scheduled chemotherapy treatment, Florida authorities issued an endangered child alert. The family was tracked down in Kentucky and the boy was returned to Tampa.
https://www.ocala.com/news/20190503/grandparents-get-custody-of-florida-boy-as-parents-fight-cancer-treatment
https://invisiblechildren.org/?s=withholding+medical+treatment+
IL: Flannery Fired Up: How the system failed A.J. Freund, Part II; “Two Chicagos” (Includes video)
Fox 32 – May 03, 2019
In the wake of A.J. Freund’s death, Illinois lawmakers plan to convene two days of public hearings in the State Capitol next Tuesday and Wednesday. Two leading lawmakers tell Flannery Fired Up they will demand big changes at the state’s troubled Department of Children and Family Services. Child welfare case workers and courts missed one warning sign after another in A.J.’s case. The tragic result: he was delivered back to a grotesque home allegedly defiled by feces, urine and two parents addicted to drugs.
https://www.invisiblechildren.org/category/politics-and-funding/
ME: Political Brew: Protecting children (Video)
News Center Maine – May 05, 2019
A push for more reforms to Maine’s child protective services system, NEWS CENTER’s political correspondents discuss.
NJ: Grandparents May Not Be Entitled To Visitation Even With A Signed Agreement
NJ Family Legal Blog – May 03, 2019
Grandparent visitation is a unique area of family law that presents interesting case law every few years and seems to be growing with time and modern families. We have blogged about this issue, including the requirement to show harm to the child if the grandparent doesn’t have visitation and procedure for grandparent visitation applications, as well as impact of Consent Orders between parents and grandparents for visitation with the child. The Appellate Division just released an unpublished (non-precedential) decision in a consolidated appeal that touches upon both the harm requirement for cases reviewed under the Grandparent Visitation Act, as well as issues with consent agreements for grandparent visitation: L.S. and L.V. v. F.S. and S.P.M./L.S. and L.V. v. F.S. and A.K.
https://www.thereporter.com/2019/05/05/danette-mitchell-a-suicide-crisis-are-we-failing-our-youth/
US: Are children property of their parents even if those parents are violent, addicted, severely mentally ill or criminal?
Kids At Risk Action, May 05, 2019
This leads to even harder questions & the data is compelling
https://www.invisiblechildren.org/2019/04/03/ten-impossible-questions/
S: Children abused, families move – Children suffer
Charlston SC Channel 5 TV
How not tracking child abusers allows torture & death to at risk children in America
https://www.live5news.com/2019/04/29/children-abused-families-move/
