I hope you had a chance to read my Christmas column this week about A Christmas Carol and Charles Dickens’ influence on our child welfare system. Before you get all snug in your bed with visions of sugarplums etc., here’s the latest child welfare news:
Oklahoma is the only state that constitutionally requires jury trials in termination of parental rights cases, although it appears several other states provide that option by court case or statute. This interesting article discusses how jury trials delay permanency for children and how Oklahoma is revisiting the court case that mandated jury trials.
The federal government is scrutinizing conditions at Connecticut’s juvenile detention centers, including the use of isolation and the lack of mental health treatment and special education services.
Here’s a story from Washington state highlighting a theme I keep hammering at: children with autism (and often co-occurring mental health disorders) stuck in hospitals — often emergency rooms — because there are no available therapeutic facilities for them. For Christmas, can I ask Santa (or Congress) for an end to the IMD exclusion?
As I’ve reported before, the Pinellas County Sheriff (Tampa Bay, FL area) has blasted Florida’s child welfare lead agency in the area for keeping children in offices overnight. But guess who actually removed a lot of those children from their homes, at the second-highest rate in Florida? Yep, the Sheriff’s Office. The point to be made here is that child protection has to work as a system, not as a collection of agencies. If you push the balloon in one area, another area’s going to bulge.
Over 50% of the children free for adoption in Colorado have been waiting for 2-3 years, and another 20% longer than that.
The US Justice Department has awarded grants of $141 million to fight child abuse.
I hope everyone has a joyful Christmas and holiday season. If you’re shopping for yours truly, I hope you’ll consider (1) a steak-aging cabinet; (2) the electric train set I wanted as a kid; or (3) a paid subscription to this newsletter! May your holiday season be blessed, peaceful, and meaningful.