Child Welfare News

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Here for your Monday are a few reads from your child welfare ecosystem.

• The top story remains the NYT/ProPublica article I wrote about last week involving “shadow foster care.” I was critical of the one-sided nature of the piece, but feedback I’ve gotten from readers says there are still major issues around the country with the use of safety plans. Later this week, I’ll share with you some thoughts on the problem that Dr. Sharon McDaniel at A Second Chance shared with me.

• As I’ve said before, the challenges faced by child protection and welfare professionals around the world are so often the same, and we often see the same media response when a child dies from preventable abuse. In the UK, the public is alarmed by the tragic death of six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes at the hands of his father and stepmother. There are a number of articles questioning why the UK’s child protective services failed: Lack of funding? Too much focus on keeping families together?

• The Minnesota Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit against a county child protective services agency and several caseworkers stemming from the 2014 death of Eric Dean and their negligent failure to remove him from his home and inform law enforcement of the abuse allegations involving him. The opinion holds that Minnesota’s mandated reporting law, which has its own immunity statute, abrogated the usual “official immunity” defenses for discretionary acts. You can read the whole thing here.

• Here’s another follow-up article on the issues with a pediatric abuse specialist whose mistaken diagnoses of child abuse in Michigan and Alaska are alleged to have caused great pain for a number of innocent parents, caregivers, and families. It took this victim eight years and $250,000 in attorney fees to clear her name.

• Lots of coverage of the Eric Crumbley story, including the charges against his parents. My question: given his violent drawings the morning of the shooting and written statements reflecting hopelessness as well as suicidal and homicidal thoughts, why weren’t mental health personnel immediately called in to assess him? In my mind, this case presents yet another indictment of our broken children’s mental health system and shows the need for school-based behavioral health clinics.

• Nebraska is one of just a few states whose foster care numbers are on the rise. Anybody know why?

• Kansas has a new State Child Advocate.

• Finally, here’s a heartwarming story about CASA’s impact in Nevada to get you through your Monday.

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