Child Welfare in the News - March 9, 2011

CO: Child abuse, neglect in county impacts youngest mostTrinidad Times Independent March 8, 2011Infants under the age of 1 year old showed the highest rate of maltreatment in Las Animas County, according to recently released child abuse statistics from the Colorado Department of Human Services’ Division of Child Welfare (DCW).
http://trinidad-times.com/child-abuse-neglect-in-county-impacts-youngest-most-p1641-1.htm

CT: Former KDHE Secretary Rod Bremby to be commissioner for Connecticut Department of Social ServicesLawrence Journal World March 8, 2011Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Tuesday that Bremby would be the commissioner for the state's Department of Social Services.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/mar/08/former-kdhe-secretary-rod-bremby-be-commissioner-c/

FL: Two top DCF officials resign in wake of girl's deathThe Tampa Tribune March 8, 2011Two high level executives are among a handful of people who have resigned from the Department of Children and Families after the agency came under scrutiny in recent weeks over the death of a 10-year-old foster girl at the hands of her adoptive parents.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/mar/08/081439/two-top-dcf-officials-resign-in-wake-of-girls-deat/

IA: Budget cuts strip Cherokee MHI of 28 bedsLe Mars Daily Sentinel March 8, 2011"This is what a reduced level of funding would allow us to do to sustain," said Roger Munns, spokesman for the Department of Human Services (DHS). "This was the impact." Fewer beds -- especially for children and adolescents. . .
http://www.lemarssentinel.com/story/1708866.html

IA: US Supreme Court won't hear Indiana adoption caseLouisville Courier-Journal March 8, 2011The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from a Sellersburg, Ind. couple fighting for custody of the now 3-year-old boy whose biological mother gave the child up for adoption by them when he was born in Ohio.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110308/NEWS02/303080104/-1/sports0803/U-S-Supreme-Court-won-t-hear-Indiana-adoption-case?odyssey=nav%7Chead

OH: 'Baby Vanessa' improperly taken from Ohio, biological father arguesDayton Daily News March 8, 2011DAYTON — The process under which 2-year-old Vanessa Doss was placed in a private adoptive home in California came under scrutiny Monday during the first day of the “Baby Vanessa” custody hearing.
http://m.daytondailynews.com/dayton/db_101693/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=r3Mo8bAW&detailindex=0&pn=0&ps=4

OK: DHS Criticized In Children's Deaths In RV Fire
KOCO March 07, 2011
The Department of Human Services was criticized after a report showed that it had five chances to remove three children from an unstable home environment before they died in a Del City fire last Jan. 4.
http://www.koco.com/mostpopular/27112109/detail.html

TX: Fort Worth agency approved to handle adoptions from HondurasFort Worth Star Telegram March 8, 2011The Fort Worth-based Gladney Center for Adoption is one of four U.S. agencies recently approved to process adoptions through Honduras, the ninth country where Gladney does so.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/08/2906728/fort-worth-agency-approved-to.html

International

UK: Foster parent ban: 'anti-gay' Christian couple treated right, says PMDaily Telegraph March 8, 2011A Christian couple, Eunice and Owen Johns, banned from becoming foster parents because of their faith-based opposition to homosexuality were treated appropriately by the courts, David Cameron has said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8370280/David-Cameron-defends-ban-on-anti-gay-foster-parents.html