Parents, advocates tackle issues with Kansas’ foster care system
Foster care parents and children’s advocates examined ways to address the rapidly growing number of juveniles in Kansas’ troubled foster care system during a forum Monday evening.The event was organized by Strengthen Families Rebuild Hope and took place at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.The Department for Children and Families has come under fire […]
Foster care teens can soon ask to reunite with birth parents
Teenagers in foster care in Virginia will be able to express their preference on restoring their birth parents’ parental rights under a law that will take effect July 1.The General Assembly passed and Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation allowing foster care children ages 14 and older to tell a judge whether they want their birth […]
More than a statistic – Hardship drove senior Htet Htet Rodgers to success
MORE THAN A STATISTIC Hardship Drove Senior Htet Htet Rodgers To Success Orleans Parish Juvenile Court Judge Ernestine S. Gray and Joy M. Bruce, executive director of CASA New Orleans, co-authored an editorial in 2016 stating that nationally one of the fastest-growing groups of children entering foster care has been those aged 14 to 17. National […]
How We Found More Black Foster Parents and Confronted the Racial Disparity in Foster Care – Youth Today
I’ve worked in child welfare for over eight years and, from day one, I’ve been struck by the high numbers of black children in foster care. As of January 2017, black children were overrepresented in the foster care system by more than double in Washington state, where I work. African-American children in the United States are more […]
Oklahoma Senate passes controversial adoption bill
From the piece: “Bills such as SB 1140 are a clear attempt to solve a ‘problem’ that simply doesn’t exist while enshrining anti-LGBTQ discrimination into law,” said Marty Rouse, national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT advocacy group. OKLAHOMA SENATE PASSES CONTROVERSIAL ADOPTION BILL – Tulsa World The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill […]
Philly halts foster placements with 2 faith-based agencies shutting out LGBT couples
Mayor Jim Kenney said he finds it unbelievable that the two faith-based agencies that had been contracted with the city discriminate against qualified same-sex couples.“I think that two women or two men that happen to love each other or are married to each other who pass all the background checks and the financial circumstances and […]
Gov. Henry McMaster allows foster care agencies in South Carolina to favor certain religions
Gov. Henry McMaster is coming to the defense of an Upstate foster care agency that requires participating families to be Christian.McMaster issued an executive order Tuesday that allows foster care providers to discriminate based on religion without losing their license.For nearly three decades, Greenville-based Miracle Hill Ministries has only allowed foster children to be placed […]
Trump’s Immigration Policy Pushing Children Into Foster Care | Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
The struggle to reunite a Congolese woman swept up in an immigration crackdown with her little girl — and to reunite countless families like them — continues, child welfare advocates say. “Ms. L,” as she is identified in court records, was arrested and locked up in San Diego, while her 7-year-old daughter — identified in […]
America’s Foster Care System Is the Pipeline For Child Sex Trafficking
Here’s the ugly truth: most Americans who are victims of sex trafficking come from our nation’s own foster care system. It’s a deeply broken system that leaves thousands vulnerable to pimps as children and grooms them for the illegal sex trade as young adults. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) introduced legislation in 2017 to amend an antiquated 1996 […]
28-yr-old saves sister’s baby: 6 months later heart is broken by TV news
Everybody carries the weight of the things they’ve done in life. Most people will never show it, but inside they can so often be keeping things hidden that remain unseen by the outside world.To most people, 28-year-old Marcio Donaldson is just a young man with a talent for singing. Marco entered American Idol last season and moved past […]