CPS staff arrested in PA

.... and other child welfare news

We’re leading off today with a story out of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where three county child protective services workers and two supervisors were arrested this week on charges of endangering children and failing to report child abuse because they did not remove children from homes that were described by police as “deplorable.” In a written response to an evaluation conducted by the State Department of Human Services, county officials said the charges stemmed from “agency responses to dirty houses primarily in impoverished communities [in cases] where no child injury was found.” It appears that in at least some of the cases, police had gone to the homes themselves but did not remove any children despite Pennsylvania law authorizing them to do so. The county’s child welfare director has stated that his office already was struggling to fill 40 vacancies and that these charges were pushing staff to quit or retire, making the situation only worse. I’ve reached out to the officials in Scranton and will let y’all know if they respond.

• A pilot program in Washington, DC is providing no-strings-attached financial support to mothers with children who are involved in the child welfare system.

• From Wisconsin comes an article emphasizing the urgent need for children in foster care to receive good mental health therapy. “What they needed was trauma-informed support that offered a path forward,” the article states. “What they got was a cycle of foster homes, the path forward harder to find by the day.”

• Arizona will no longer take the federal benefits of children in care, thanks to a new law. The state child welfare agency will continue to screen for eligibility and apply for federal benefits for children in care but will now work with the child and the child’s attorney to find a fiduciary to manage the funds until the child turns 18.

• Traditionally, states in the South have required unwed fathers of children to go to court and establish their parental rights through a legitimation petition. Once in line with that position, Florida just changed its law to consider such fathers automatically entitled as parents.

• From the Imprint, more on the ongoing debate in NYC over whether child protective services workers should be required to advise families of their rights at the beginning of a CPS investigation, Miranda-style.

• Los Angeles continues to house foster children in hotels. What’s needed is intensive treatment foster care, says one county official.

• New York State is now a “haven” for children who identify as transgender.

• You can find highlights of Georgia’s FY 2024 human services budget here.

• Following a short tenure, January Contreras is leaving as the head of the federal Administration for Children and Families.

• Also from the Imprint: “There are children dying and being injured on your watch,” federal judge Janis Jack told Texas state child protection officials at a hearing. “You want to protect the providers and not the children. This is a pattern.” Hmm. Maybe protecting the capacity of the providers to actually care for children leads to protecting the children?

Have a good rest of your week. And consider becoming a paid subscriber!
Tom