The title of this blog post lists some of the potential policy solutions I've seen in policy discussions on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. As with most violent acts that catch the eye of the nation, advocates are calling for policy solutions that span the liberal-conservative political spectrum. Such knee-jerk solutions include stronger gun control laws (ranging from increasing...
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Results tagged “media & publicity”
One of the new laws that went into effect last Wednesday was regarding unreasonable child restraint. Although we've posted on this in the past (Criminal Neglect Penalties for Unreasonable Restraint of Children added to the Vulnerable Adult Bill), I recently saw an article that discussed this new law as a policy change for general child abuse, when in fact it...
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Photo from October 2011 of 'Baby Veronica,' provided by Melanie Capobianco, the woman who was in the process of adopting her. AP Photo/NewsOK It is important that I provide some background to this post prior to delving into the issue. A toddler named Veronica is at the center of this story. This is what I've been able to determine from...
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An article highlighted in a recent Child Welfare in the News listing from Child Welfare Information Gateway discussed issues with Illinois' child maltreatment reporting hotline: Child abuse hotline callers must leave messages. The article states that "[m]ore than 60 percent of calls to Illinois' child abuse hot line...are answered by a message service instead of a welfare specialist" and that...
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Earlier today in our Stability, Permanency & Adoption (SPA) blog, JaeRan blogged about data in the child welfare system as being "unorganized, uncentralized, and differ[ing] greatly depending on who is managing the data." She concluded with an explanation of how having better and shared data can help us better answer our questions about the wellbeing of children and families, since...
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An article today from Child Welfare in the News discussed the issue of considering religion in adoptive placements in Israel. Currently in Israel, parents and adopted children must be of the same religion, meaning that non-Jewish children who are adopted by Jews must be converted to Judaism: "Those adopting non-Jewish children must convert them through a special Orthodox rabbinical court...
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We here at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare have developed the Child Welfare Video Wall, with the help of LT Media.Lab at the University of Minnesota. The Child Welfare Video Wall is an opportunity for everyone who works in, cares about, or has been impacted by the field of child welfare to give voice to their...
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There are more than 400,000 children and youth in foster care; May has been designated as National Foster Care Month in order to bring awareness of the experiences of these children and youth. This year's theme is "Change A Lifetime" in order to encourage individuals to work to change the lives of children and youth in foster care. One way...
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Criminal Neglect Penalties for Unreasonable Restraint of Children added to the Vulnerable Adult Bill
S.F. 1586/ H.F. 1945 was revised on April 9, 2012, adding additional penalties for parents, guardians or caregivers who confine or restraint children which results in demonstrable bodily harm. Demonstrable bodily harm is bodily harm capable of being perceived by a person other than the victim. These penalties include up to 2 years in prison, or a fine up to...
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S.F. 2297 and H.F. 1899 were signed into law by Governor Dayton on April 4, 2012. This law, known as Jacob's Law, requires both parents to be notified if their child is a possible victim of abuse, neglect or sexual assault. This petition was brought forth by Sarah Guggisberg of Clara City, MN whose son was abused by a neighbor....
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Today (Wednesday, February 1) there will be a hearing in the Minnesota House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee at 10:15 AM in Room 10 State Office Building. The agenda includes several items, but the one most relevant to child welfare is Jacob's Law (HF 1899), whose short description is "Jacob's law established requiring notice of crime...
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Today's highlighted bill, H.R. 3766: Jeremy Bell Act of 2011, was introduced on December 23rd by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick. The proposed bill would penalize by fine, imprisonment, or both, public and private school employers who complete interstate transfers of employees who are child sex offenders. The bill also addresses sexual conduct reporting standards for employees of a school. This bill...
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On December 20th, Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-FL) introduced H.R. 3741: Rilya Wilson Act (no relation to the Representative), which aims to "protect foster children and to ensure that every state has a procedure in place to promptly report their disappearance." Essentially, this bill would require child welfare agencies to report missing or abducted children to law enforcement as soon as...
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Yesterday, The U.S. Senate HELP Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on child abuse, which Sen. Bob Casey requested back in November in the wake of the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. The purpose of this hearing was to examine child abuse laws to determine whether or not all adults should be mandated to report any suspected abuse...
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UPDATE: Check out Child Welfare Information Gateway's webpage providing resources on the use of psychotropic medicines for children and youth in fostercare. With the newly-released Government Accountability Office report, "Foster Children: HHS Guidance Could Help States Improve Oversight of Psychotropic Prescriptions," there has been a flurry of activity recently on the issue of over-medicating youth in foster care. I don't...
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(Updated November 26 with new legislation. -HNO) Due to the intense media coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State, it seems that a blog post on mandated reporting in child welfare might be quite relevant and useful. Although the media can be helpful in bringing child welfare issues to the top of policymakers' priority lists (remember Caylee...
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The Foster Children Opportunity Act, H.R. 3333, which was introduced on November 3rd, 2011, would protect abused and neglected immigrant children in foster care and ensure they are given ample opportunity to gain legal status before they leave care. Under current immigration law, many immigrant foster children are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) and other types of immigration...
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With November being Native American Heritage Month it is important to examine not only what we know about this history but also what we know about the policies affecting Native Americans. Danielle mentioned the current disproportionality rates for Native children in the child welfare system in Part 1 of the blog. This disproportionality was evident in the 1970s, which eventually...
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At the end of October, National Public Radio aired a three-part series on Native American children in South Dakota's foster care system, which was the result of a year-long investigation. NPR's report highlighted the fact that in South Dakota:700 Native children are removed from their home every year.They represent over 50% of the foster care system but only 15% of...
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Last Friday, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced plans to introduce the Every Child Deserves A Family Act, an anti-discrimination bill that would prohibit child welfare agencies receiving federal assistance from discriminating against prospective foster or adoptive parents based solely on sexual orientation, gender identity and/or marital status. In addition, this bill would prohibit agencies from discriminating against the sexual orientation...
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