| US: The $20 million boondoggle that perfectly illustrates the banality of child welfare thinking (Opinion) |
| NCCPR Child Welfare Blog – November 16, 2021 |
| The money goes to two adoption advocacy groups (reinforcing the bias that permanency equals adoption, not reunification, and prioritizing paper permanence over what has aptly been called “relational permanence”) not one, but two schools of social work, and – I kid you not – a consortium of child welfare system administrators. (After all, social work schools and child welfare administrators have created such a wonderful system, who wouldn’t want to throw an extra $20 million their way?) |
| Also: Grant Funds National Effort to Engage Foster Youth in Decisions About Care (Requires subscription): https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/grant-funds-national-effort-to-engage-foster-youth/60349 |
https://www.nccprblog.org/2021/11/the-20-million-boondoggle-that.html
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| CA: ‘The only word I know to call it is hell’: Turpin sisters share the details of their family’s house of horror (Includes video) |
| CNN – November 20, 2021 |
| Jordan Turpin’s bold getaway in January 2018 led to the discovery of her siblings and uncovered what Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin described as one of the “worst, most aggravated child abuse cases” he has ever seen. Despite overcoming a life many could not even begin to imagine, the Turpin children aren’t completely safe yet. ABC reported that a few of the Turpin children were placed with a foster family that was arrested and charged with abusing multiple children in their care, including at least one Turpin child. “They felt betrayed,” Melissa Donaldson, the Director of Victim Services in Riverside County, told ABC’s 20/20 show. “They have been victimized again by the system, and that’s unimaginable to me that we could have the very worst case of child abuse that I’ve ever seen, maybe one of the worst in California history, and that we would then not be able to get it together to give them basic needs, basic necessities,” Hestrin added. |
| https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/20/us/turpin-sisters-interview-abc-diane-sawyer/index.html |
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| ID: Struggles of Aging-Out Foster Youth in Focus as Holidays Approach (Incudes audio) |
| Public News Service – November 22, 2021 |
| The holidays can be a hard time for foster care youth, especially young people who have recently aged out of the system. Ivy Smith, who is chair of the Idaho Foster Youth Advisory Board, was herself part of the foster care system. This year, Idaho lawmakers passed a bill that extends support for foster care youth from age 18 to 21. Smith said this is an important adjustment, especially with many young people aging out of the system without ever having had a job before |
| https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2021-11-22/youth/struggles-of-aging-out-foster-youth-in-focus-as-holidays-approach/a76593-1 |
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| KY: Want to improve adoption in Kentucky? Listen to those who have been there. (Opinion) (May require subscription) |
| Courier Journal – November 22, 2021 |
| Historically, the collective voice of adoptive youth has been excluded from the lexicon of child welfare services. Too often adoptees are excluded from research studies or in the conceptualization and implementation of adoption programs and interventions. Sure, adoptees are often invited to share stories of their experiences, usually at annual events or fundraisers. Unfortunately, these stories are often relegated to a moment in time that is more about tugging at hearts of potential donors and far less about learning from these experiences as a mechanism for system improvement. |
| https://www.courier-journal.com/story/opinion/2021/11/22/improve-ky-adoption-listening-kids-who-have-been-there-opinion/8681683002/ |
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| NC: Forsyth health-care initiatives gain $93 million in state budget funding |
| Winston-Salem Journal – November 21, 2021 |
| Forsyth County’s health-care sector will receive about $93 million in funding from the 2021-23 state budget, highlighted by $25 million for a crisis behavioral health program. Another state-funded program – without a designated amount disclosed – involves the divisions of Social Services and Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services establishing a two-year child welfare and behavioral health pilot project. Its goal is offering easier access to comprehensive health services for children in foster care by: creating better continuity of care; providing an alternative to therapeutic foster care; and ensuring care and services are available without disruption to a child’s foster care placement while accessing services needed to treat the child’s trauma. |
| https://journalnow.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/forsyth-health-care-initiatives-gain-93-million-in-state-budget-funding/article_b14025ae-48bd-11ec-94bd-ebb5cab92acd.html |
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| NM: 9 ways to improve CYFD’s foster care system (Opinion) |
| Albuquerque Journal – November 22, 2021 |
| As foster and adoptive parents of 13 years, we have had hundreds of children in our home, worked with many social workers, children’s attorneys, advocates and therapists, and mentored numerous biological and foster parents. We are on the front lines and have seen first-hand the personal triumphs and tragic stories of children placed in the care of the state. Over the last few years the previous CYFD secretary presented a narrative that does not reflect reality. |
| https://www.abqjournal.com/2447616/we-can-do-better.html |
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| PA: Luzerne County human services departments highlight services in budget presentation (Includes audio and video) |
| Sunday Dispatch – November 21, 2021 |
| The agency is seeking $6.9 million in county funding toward its $45.63 million budget, said county Human Services Program Director John Alunni, who was appointed interim Children and Youth administrator after prior director Joanne Van Saun was arrested in July. Alunni told council the agency has received 6,788 referrals this year through Nov. 10. That includes 812 Child Protective Services (CPS) and 2,721 General Protective Services (GPS) referrals, Alunni said. |
| https://www.psdispatch.com/news/78239/luzerne-county-human-services-departments-highlight-services-in-budget-presentation |
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| TX: Options for growing number of McLennan County children in foster care critically limited |
| Waco Tribune-Herald – November 20, 2021 |
| The growing number of McLennan County children in foster care face an increasingly critical shortage of placement options, compounding already difficult circumstances. Last year, there were about 1,181 children in foster care in McLennan County, said Anna Futral executive director of the local Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children organization, which helps children navigate the child welfare system. The number of children in care has more than doubled since 2011, when 465 McLennan County children were in foster care, said Ferrell Foster, senior specialist for care and communication at Prosper Waco. Despite the growing number of children in need, there are just 17 licensed foster families in the county. Generally, children in care of the state are placed with a foster family, with a relative or in a residential psychiatric care facility. |
| https://wacotrib.com/news/local/options-for-growing-number-of-mclennan-county-children-in-foster-care-critically-limited/article_5dec3bac-4342-11ec-af80-7fbc0336ef26.html |
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| US: Students didn’t return to public schools this year |
| CommonWealth Magazine – November 21, 2021 |
| When the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released its enrollment figures for the 2020-2021 school year last fall, it was clear that the pandemic had a huge impact, with 37,400 fewer students than the prior year. Most policy experts and advocates assumed these children would return this fall. They haven’t. Newly released enrollment figures for the 2021-2022 school year show that enrollment remained flat this year, with 911,529 students attending public schools, an increase of just 65 students compared to last year. |
| https://commonwealthmagazine.org/education/students-didnt-return-to-public-schools-this-year/ |
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| US: The U.S. Should Stop Being Hypocritical When It Comes to Ending Child Marriage (Commentary) |
| Ms. Magazine – November 21, 2021 |
| The U.S. has a well documented child marriage problem. A shocking fact is that in the majority of child marriage cases, it is adult U.S. citizen men petitioning for foreign child brides and fiancés. Many of these adult U.S. citizens are in their 40s and 50s. Bluntly put, our laws facilitate predatory behavior by U.S. citizens and put girls in the U.S. and abroad at risk of child marriage. |
| Also: Report: How the U.S. Immigration System Encourages Child Marriages: https://bit.ly/3HLpATF |
| https://msmagazine.com/2021/11/21/naila-amin-child-marriage/ |
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| Cuba: Cuba studying complete ban of child marriages |
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| On Cuba News – November 21, 2021 |
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| Cuba is studying the complete prohibition of child marriages through a legal reform that would eliminate an exception that allows girls to marry from the age of 14 and boys from the age of 16. Press media report that the latest version of the draft of the new Family Code eliminates this exceptional authorization contemplated in the 1975 code and that had made dozens of child marriages possible in recent years. |
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| https://oncubanews.com/en/cuba/society-cuba/cuba-studying-complete-ban-of-child-marriages/ |
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| CA: Child welfare organization saves lives in LA County |
| Pasadena Weekly – November 18, 2021 |
| Los Angeles County accounts for more than 30,000 foster children. Many are victims of abuse or neglect, have physical or learning disabilities, or have been put at risk of ending up in the juvenile justice system or living on the street. It is CASA of Los Angeles’ mission to provide the services, attention and advocacy necessary to drastically improve, and even save, the life of a foster child. “In the child welfare community, they’ve established themselves as an organization that can be counted on and has a voice,” Pasadena CASA volunteer Dave Stein said. “We are advocates, and the No. 1 job is to do our best to help make sure the youth gets what the system is supposed to deliver.” |
| https://pasadenaweekly.com/child-welfare-organization-saves-lives-in-la-county/ |
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| CA: SLO County foster kids sometimes sleep in offices as family shortage reaches crisis (Includes video) (Includes audio) |
| Tribune – November 18, 2021 |
| As an unhoused teenager in San Luis Obispo County, Journey Bliven had just two options for shelter: hang out in a social worker’s office, or find someone else to take her in. Typically, a social worker will bring the child into the Department of Social Services offices while they search for a place for the child to stay. “We want to make sure the child is safe and warm,” said Jennifer Finocchio, a placement and foster support supervisor in the Department of Social Services. “We don’t want them to wait in an ER waiting room or the side of the road.” If the Department of Social Services is unable to find a relative or family friend with which to place the child, as was the case for Bliven, the agency turns to its pool of local foster families. Before the coronavirus pandemic, there were roughly 130 households willing to take in foster kids in an emergency, officials said. Today, that number has shrunk to about 95, which leaves more children in jeopardy than ever before. This is the first part of a two-part series on the foster care crisis in San Luis Obispo County. |
| https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article254808357.html |
|
| CO: Sexual abuse, misconduct allegations kept quiet for decades at world-renowned Colorado Center for the Blind (Includes audio) |
| Colorado Sun – November 18, 2021 |
| More than a dozen previously unreported instances of sexual misconduct and abuse spanning at least two decades at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton have surfaced during an internal investigation of the school’s parent organization. The allegations were made public in a report released in June by a special committee investigating misconduct claims in the National Federation of the Blind, the school’s parent organization. The investigative findings bolstered the accounts of eight people associated with the center who told The Colorado Sun that leadership at the world-renowned school covered up sexual offenses against children for years or simply ignored them. |
| https://coloradosun.com/2021/11/18/colorado-center-for-the-blind-sex-assaults/ |
|
| ME: Maine Voices: Working together to break the cycle of youth homelessness (May require subscription) |
| Portland Press Herald – November 18, 2021 |
| In November, when the hours of daylight are fading rapidly, and frost and cold nights remind us that winter is near, most of us start to settle into the comforts of our homes. Here in Maine, we are particularly aware that the warm season is ending and feverishly prepare for the long cold months ahead. This is especially – acutely – true for people experiencing homelessness in our community. November is National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, and for good reason. The reality of winter begs us to shift our attention to our most vulnerable neighbors. Youth and young adults who are experiencing homelessness not only lose their home, but often also lose their community, friends, family and any sense of stability, predictability and safety in their lives. |
| https://www.pressherald.com/2021/11/19/maine-voices-working-together-to-break-the-cycle-of-youth-homelessness/ |
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| NM: CYFD: We need a critical examination of our child welfare system in New Mexico (Includes video) |
| KOAT – November 18, 2021 |
| Target 7 tried to speak to the deputy secretary of the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) while he was at an event Thursday. “It should go without saying how seriously we take this situation and look at this very critically from a systemwide perspective,” Vigil said. Vigil says she cannot talk about the specifics of the case involving the death of a one-month-old infant. His mother has been charged with the death. Investigators say one week before the baby died, Kira Milton called 911 saying she was afraid she was going to hurt her children. One week later, she called again. When deputies arrived at the home, the baby was dead. “Let me just reiterate that it does not serve the people of New Mexico to point fingers and to blame. What matters and what serves the people when there is an error in judgment or weaknesses and processes, that we are proactive and addressing that and avoiding that So we can minimize this from ever happening again,” Vigil said. |
| Also: CYFD secretary addresses concerns about death of infant (Includes video): https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/cyfd-secretary-addresses-concerns-about-death-of-infant/6306268/ |
| https://www.koat.com/article/cyfd-child-welfare-system-new-mexico/38295589# |
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| OH: Local organization says need for bilingual foster families is high (Includes video) |
| WKBN – November 18, 2021 |
| A local organization is asking for more bilingual families to volunteer as foster parents. “The need is so great. In Ohio alone, there are 25,000 youth in foster care,” said Courtney Townsend, program director for foster parent growth and retention. The National Youth Advocate Program is an organization that helps match foster families with waiting children. “We actually just started our last virtual training of the year, and there is still time to join that class,” she said. Townsend says the need for foster parents willing to take in teenagers, sibling groups and bilingual children is high. |
| https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/local-organization-says-need-for-bilingual-foster-families-is-high/ |
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| SD: New Group To Offer Foster Care Adoption Service In SD (May require subscription) |
| Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan – November 18, 2021 |
| Lifeline Children’s Services, a national Christian adoption agency, today announced the expansion of its foster care adoption services to South Dakota. The agency serves vulnerable children through private domestic adoption, foster care adoption and international adoption. November is National Adoption Month, a time set aside to raise awareness about the urgent need for adoptive families for children in foster care. Nationally, there are approximately 400,000 children in the foster care system, of which about 120,000 children are in need of adoptive families. In South Dakota, approximately 1,700 children are in the foster care system. Over the last few years, about 190 children have been adopted from foster care annually. |
| https://www.yankton.net/community/article_217b704c-48e3-11ec-a1e6-cf13c533e58d.html |
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| TN: How Child Welfare Was Fixed (Commentary) |
| Tennessee Tribune – November 18, 2021 |
| Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS) changed a lot from 2004-2014. It was under a 2001 federal court order to make more than 100 changes in how it managed the state’s child welfare system. By 2010 DCS had made significant progress. According to a 2019 study by the Center for the Study of Social Policy, 77% of children who entered foster care in 2010 experienced just one move compared to 61% of children who entered care in 2001. Fifteen percent of children who entered foster care in 2001 experienced four or more moves, but just 8% of children in foster homes in 2010 moved four or more times. This is the 8th article in The Tennessee Tribune’s series on the Department of Children’s Services. |
| https://tntribune.com/how-child-welfare-was-fixed/ |
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| WV: DHHR official says W.Va. Child Protective Services’ caseload becoming unmanageable (Includes video) |
| WCHS – November 17, 2021 |
| The foster crisis in West Virginia is nothing new, but advocates say an online database is leaving out vital information such as the nearest available foster families, how many kids they could care for or what county in which they are located. While the state Department of Health and Human Resources said the website is supposed to be revamped late next year, foster care advocates question what is being done until that time. |
| https://wchstv.com/news/local/pack-wva-child-protective-services-caseload-becoming-unmanageable |
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| WV: W.Va. has removed kids from some out-of-state foster homes; officials offer no plan for broader system fix |
| Mountain State Spotlight – November 17, 2021 |
| The official overseeing West Virginia’s foster care system says the state has removed kids from some out-of-state foster homes identified in a Mountain State Spotlight investigation, but did not provide any details and told lawmakers he still has no proposals for a broader fix for the state’s troubled system. “I wish there were a statute that could be changed or a bill that could be drafted that would make everything better,” Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau of Social Services Commissioner Jeff Pack told state lawmakers on Tuesday. “But I don’t know what that would be.” |
| Also: Foster care: A system in crisis: https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2021/10/01/a-system-in-crisis/ |
| https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2021/11/17/west-virginia-kids-out-of-state-foster-homes/ |
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| US: Lori Falce: Treat addicts to save children (Opinion) |
| Tribune-Review – November 19, 2021 |
| Evil is easy to judge. Easy to condemn. Easy to fight. Lock up someone who deliberately hurts a child and you remove the problem. But we can’t lock up a thoughtlessly forgotten danger. It’s harder to combat addiction than it is abuse because it spreads like a contagion and settles in like a deep depression. If addiction were easy to root out, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wouldn’t have reported 100,300 drug deaths between May 2020 and April 2021. Because it’s not an easy fix, it becomes more than an addict’s problem. It’s an addict’s family’s problem. It affects parents and spouses. Most tragically, it affects children – sometimes when they watch Mom go in and out of rehab or when Dad goes to jail for possession or when they are taken away and put in foster care. |
| https://triblive.com/opinion/lori-falce-treat-addicts-to-save-children/ |
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| US: Biden administration reverses Trump-era waivers of nondiscrimination protections (Includes video) |
| Hill – November 18, 2021 |
| The Biden administration is reversing Trump-era rules that allowed federally-funded child welfare agencies to bypass non-discrimination rules if they conflicted with providers’ religious beliefs. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday said it was rescinding waivers granted to three states that allowed faith-based foster care groups that contracted with state agencies to turn away same-sex and non-Christian couples while still receiving federal money. |
| https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/582274-biden-administration-reverses-trump-era-waivers-of-nondiscrimination |
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| US: How to Prepare When Adopted Children Are Ready to Meet Their Birth Parents (Includes audio) |
| People – November 18, 2021 |
| Reunions like Richardson’s may be becoming more common among the estimated 7 million Americans who are adopted, with the advent of DNA testing kits and the increase in open adoptions (today, roughly 9 in 10 domestic adoptions are open). Yet the search for one’s birth parents and the reactions it can trigger can be emotionally fraught, filled with many ups and downs. Experts in adoptee/birth reunions have some suggestions for this process. And, advises Richardson, “Everybody’s experience is different.” |
| https://people.com/human-interest/how-to-prepare-when-adopted-children-want-to-meet-birth-parents/ |
|
| US: Why Are More Black Kids Suicidal? A Search for Answers. (May require subscription) |
| New York Times – November 18, 2021 |
| Over the past generation, a mental health crisis has been brewing among Black youths like Joe, one that very few people – including Black families – have spoken about publicly. Self-reported suicide attempts rose nearly 80 percent among Black adolescents from 1991 to 2019, while the prevalence of attempts did not change significantly among those of other races and ethnicities. Legislators and academics are now pushing for better research to understand why, especially in light of new evidence that suggests Black children may have unique risk factors for self-harm. |
| Also: Temporal Trends in Suicidal Ideation and Attempts Among US Adolescents by Sex and Race/Ethnicity, 1991-2019: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2780949 |
| https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/well/mind/suicide-black-kids.html?searchResultPosition=1 |
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| Child Welfare in the News is distributed at no charge by Child Welfare Information Gateway (https://www.childwelfare.gov), a service of the Children’s Bureau/ACF/HHS (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb). It features news stories on topics of interest to child welfare and related professionals. Inclusion does not imply endorsement of any view expressed in a resource, and opinions or views do not reflect those of Child Welfare Information Gateway, the Children’s Bureau, or staff. |
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