A few bites of news for your mid-week enjoyment.
ATLANTA folks: GEEARS is hosting a forum this evening from 5:30 to 6:30 pm at which the mayoral candidates will discuss how they’d address the needs of children and families. You can sign up and attend virtually here.
Here’s an opinion piece about children in Texas for whom placements are hard to find.
Kansas joins a number of states with a Child Advocate or child welfare ombudsman.
The HHS Office of Inspector general critiqued Missouri for not doing enough to address youth who have run away from foster care. Acting Director Jennifer Tidball has already begun addressing the issues. We had this issue in Georgia as well and addressed it through a cooperative agreement with the GBI. Many states struggle with how to provide for youth who don’t want to be in a foster placement.
Should a mother who left her baby daughter in a dumpster be able to get custody of her older son despite her abusive actions toward the younger child? That’s the legal question in Florida case. In V.S. v. Dep't of Children & Families, 46 Fla. L. Weekly D 1329, 2021 WL 2346077, one appellate judge expressed her opinion that it’s unconstitutional for the state to allow abuse against one child to be imputed as indicative of danger to a sibling. The Florida Supreme Court may take up the issue.
The City of Milwaukee is being released from a long-standing federal consent decree that regulated its child welfare system. The court noted that the city has made gains and has maintained them despite the Covid pandemic. The move will allow the city to spend more funds on serving children and less on attorney fees and monitoring costs.
If you see news of interest, please email it to me! trawlings@tomrawlings.com