Child Welfare in the News - March 22, 2011

AZ: Adoption priorities: SB 1188 would favor married couples
Jewish News of Greater Phoenix March 4, 2011
"The intent of the legislation is to establish the principle that, where possible, children being placed for adoption deserve the chance to have a mom and dad," Herrod said. "If all things are equal, and the choice is between a married mom and dad and a single adult, the child should be placed with a married mom and dad." That sounds innocuous, but it isn't, according to Dana Naimark, president and CEO of the Children's Action Alliance, since approximately 30 percent of children adopted out of the Arizona foster-care system are brought into single-parent homes.
http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?110304+adoption

CA: New OC rule aims to protect kids from registered sex offendersabc7.com March 22, 2011A new ordinance is pushing to make it a crime for registered sex offenders to enter areas where children regularly gather in Orange County. If the ordinance is adopted, it would limit where registered sex offenders would be allowed to go. There are more than 3,000 registered sex offenders in Orange County alone.
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=8026841

CA: Local Congressman Pete Stark Fights Confiscation of Foster Children’s Social Security Benefits
Bay Citizen March 22, 2011
For foster children like Myers, access to OASDI and SSI benefits can be a critical boon. But according to the report, state administrations redirect $150 million a year in such benefits to pay for the routine administration of foster care: shelter, food and other necessities.
http://www.baycitizen.org/blogs/citizen/representing-best-interest-children-1/

FL: Florida child welfare workers need better pay, lighter caseloads to be more effective
News-Press March 22, 2011
To achieve a high degree of effectiveness, a strong motivating vision and a well-paid staff (paid, for example, as well as teachers) are needed. Much lower caseloads are also required (40 cases is an impossible load). The 12 to 15 recommended by the Child Welfare League of America makes it possible to be effective.
http://www.news-press.com/article/20110323/OPINION/103230359/1015/Florida-child-welfare-workers-need-better-pay-lighter-caseloads-more-effective

FL: First foster students about to graduate from UCFOrlando Sentinel March 22, 2011
Dinoski was one of approximately 23,000 Florida children living in foster care as a teenager, one of about 1,000 who left the foster care program when turning 18, and one of the 2.5 percent much closer to graduating from college, according the statistics from the department's handbook, "On Your Own But Not Alone."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/ucf/orl-ucf-first-foster-students-about-to-graduate,0,5153617.story

IA: State penalizes Family ResourcesQuad City Times March 22, 2011
The state of Iowa has temporarily downgraded Family Resources Inc.’s license after an investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the Wittenmyer Youth Center campus in Davenport.
http://qctimes.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/article_4926a530-5501-11e0-8172-001cc4c03286.html

NH: Hospitals, families bear brunt of NH budget cuts
The Associated Press State & Local Wire March 22, 2011
State Rep. Neal Kurk, a Weare Republican, told the House Finance Committee that his subcommittee's recommendations total $207 million in cuts to services and programs funded from state taxes in the Department and Health and Human Services' budget. The cuts will mean the loss of another $165 million in federal funds for the programs.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2011/03/22/hospitals_families_bear_brunt_of_nh_budget_cuts/

NY: Reintroducing Regina Calcaterra, Foster Child AdvocatePatch.com March 22, 2011
After months in the political spotlight, the 44-year-old attorney and New Suffolk resident, who grew up in poverty in an abusive family environment, is now spearheading an effort to get the word out about You Gotta Believe, a Coney-Island based organization dedicated to helping foster children on Long Island become adopted into permanent homes before they age out of the county's system at 18 or 21— and become homeless.
http://northfork.patch.com/articles/99-reintroducing-regina-calcaterra-as-foster-childrens-advocate#video-5358728

NY: Judge orders city, ACS to ID case workers who monitored still-missing boy, 7
New York Post March 21, 2011
Judge John Gleeson in Brooklyn federal court threw out the suit against the city and its Administration for Children's Services agency, but ruled that Rodriguez now can bring a new lawsuit against individual workers from ACS and St. Vincent's Services, whom she blames for not supervising her boy's foster care.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/judge_orders_city_acs_still_missing_qnYKnYc0Q2zvGZRmB4kW7O

OH: Baby Vanessa case revealed flaws in state’s parental registry system
Dayton Daily News March 19, 2011
Under Ohio law, fathers are given 30 days to make a paternity claim through what is known as the Ohio Putative Father Registry. Mills registered on June 25, 2008 — 12 days after Vanessa’s birth at Miami Valley Hospital and nine days before Doss brought her home to California. Under current law, an attorney, adoption agency or parent is required to search the registry before an adoption is finalized, but not before the baby is placed in a prospective home. Critics say that can set the stage for a complicated custody battle.
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/baby-vanessa-case-revealed-flaws-in-states-parental-registry-system-1112637.html

OK: Helping churches establish foster care and adoption ministries
News OK March 19, 2011
Robin Jones, executive director of the Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, said the conference is designed to help churches that are interested in establishing foster care and adoption ministries.
http://newsok.com/helping-churches-establish-foster-care-and-adoption-ministries-is-conference-goal-going-on/article/3549901#ixzz1HQHohjUt

OK: Two new reports claim DHS is failing to protect children
Tulsa World March 22, 2011
Based on evidence shared in a federal class-action lawsuit over the state's foster-care system, two experts commissioned by the New York-based Children's Rights group condemn the Oklahoma Department of Human Services as a mismanaged agency.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20110322_11_A9_Bsdovd600533

OR: Oregon Considers Free Tuition For Foster KidsKTVZ March 22, 2011Current and former Oregon foster children could get the opportunity to go to college for free. That's the idea behind a bill getting a public hearing in the Legislature on Tuesday.
http://www.ktvz.com/news/27279687/detail.html


INTERNATIONAL


JAPAN: Foreigners Looking to Adopt Japanese Earthquake Orphans Need Not ApplyFox News March 22, 2011“I have been receiving many strange emails, from mostly U.S., and was asked, ‘I want girl, less than 6 months old, healthy child,’ Tazuru Ogaway, director of the Japanese adoption agency Across Japan, told FoxNews.com. “I honestly tell you such a kind of emails makes Japanese people very uncomfortable, because for us, sound like someone who are looking for ‘what I want’ from our terrible disaster.”
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/03/21/foreigners-looking-adopt-japanese-earthquake-orphans-need-apply/#ixzz1HQPXxn2t


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