From 35,000 feet above the Mediterranean, here’s the latest!
Leading off, The New York Times reports on a lawsuit filed by the Bronx Defenders and the law firm of Arnold & Porter on behalf of a mother whose child was removed by the NYC Administration for Children & Families (ACS) only because she had smoked marijuana shortly before going into labor. The complaint contends that racial discrimination was the real reason for the removal and emphasizes that marijuana use is legal in New York. In support of its allegations that the removal was a pretext for racial discrimination, the complaint also cites research and audits providing evidence of systemic racism within ACS. Read the facts for yourselves and see what you think.
If Governor Greg Abbott agrees, anonymous calls to Texas’ child abuse hotline will soon be verboten.
In somewhat related news, Maryland has a new law stating that parental marijuana use is not by itself grounds for alleging child neglect.
After reviewing the two articles above, you might be interested in my earlier thoughts on THC use during pregnancy.
In Quebec, two female friends — each of whom has her own spouse — want to parent a child together. The law can’t figure out that one.
While it’s not breaking news, an article in USA Today highlights that over 75,000 children in foster care went missing for two days or longer between July 2018 and December 2020. A federal audit estimates that child welfare agencies failed to properly report around 20,000 cases of youth missing from care.
Colorado’s legislature just passed a bill to emphasize placement of children with relatives. Here’s an overview. The legislation, which is awaiting action by the Governor, provides strong incentives to engage relatives quickly, place children with them whenever possible, and maintain stable relative placements.
Here’s an article from the UK about a child with complex behavioral health needs. With no appropriate facilities available, she was first placed in a hotel - which she trashed - then later spent almost two months in a hospital “seclusion room.” According to the Guardian, she is one of many children in such dire straits: “These children in deep distress can be as young as 11 or 12; they may have learning disabilities, mental health conditions, autistic spectrum disorders, or have been trafficked or otherwise abused. Throughout their childhoods, the specialist services they need have frequently not been available. As they get older, and their behaviours become more volatile and disturbing, a comprehensive and sustained failure by councils to commission enough secure therapeutic placements – and a lack of political will from national government to fix the system – means that when many of these vulnerable and volatile children hit rock bottom, there is simply nowhere for them to go.” Sound familiar?
Here’s an opinion piece calling for a “radical overhaul of the child welfare system,” which the author criticizes for placing too many African-American children in care and for failing to protect African-American children from abuse.
An interesting case out of Tennessee’s Supreme Court reversed a lower court’s order terminating the parental rights of two parents whose child presented at a hospital with multiple rib fractures deemed to have resulted from abuse. No evidence showed that either parent inflicted the abuse, nor did any evidence demonstrate that either parent should have been aware of the broken ribs before they were detected by an x-ray.
North Carolina is piloting safe babies court teams.
This new (?) child protection conference in June looks interesting.
Y’all have a great week!
Tom