Small Savings on the Backs of Foster Children

Small Savings on the Backs of Foster Children - NYTimes.com:

In 1853, Charles Loring Brace, a patrician reformer, devised a plan to remediate the circumstances of New York City’s 30,000 homeless children, many of whom passed their days as desperate salesmen hawking rags and newspapers, and who had acquired the label, absent a world of ethnic sensitivities, of “street Arabs.” Founding theChildren’s Aid Society, Brace controversially arranged for abandoned children to be sent, by rail, to farm families — “kind, Christian homes in the country” as he put it, typically where they would work. By 1929, approximately 100,000 city children had been relocated across the country, often with no sense of where they would be going, in what became known as the Orphan Train movement and was the precursor to the American foster care system.

Read More:

Drug issues propel rise in foster care in Maine

Drug issues propel rise in foster care in Maine | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram:

As more children land in state custody, Health and Human Services officials say they need extra funding.

AUGUSTA – Substance abuse problems among young parents have driven up the number of children in foster homes by 35 percent over projections, prompting state human services officials to seek an extra $4.2 million from the Legislature.

Read More:

Terry Achane baby: Soldier wins 22-month custody battle and finally reunited with daughter

Terry Achane baby: Soldier wins 22-month custody battle and finally reunited with daughter | Mail Online:

It's about time. The baby should have been given to her father a long time ago!

Terry Achane returned from work to find his wife had given newborn daughter away for adoption

The girl spent 22 months with the Frei family, who say they are devastated at losing the child

Read More:

Title IV-E Adoption Assistance

Title IV-E Adoption Assistance | Children's Bureau | Administration for Children and Families:

May 17, 2012

Categories:

Funding

Topics:

Adoption, Title IV-E

Tags:

Program Description

The Adoption Assistance Program provides funds to States to facilitate the timely placement of children, whose special needs or circumstances would otherwise make it difficult to place, with adoptive families. Authorized under title IV-E of the Social Security Act, and amendments, the Adoption Assistance Program provides Federal matching funds of 50 to 83 percent, depending on the state's per capita income. Funding is contingent upon an approved State plan to administer or supervise the administration of the program. The State must submit yearly estimates of program expenditures as well as quarterly reports of estimated and actual program expenditures. Funds are available for a one-time payment to assist with the costs of adopting a child as well as for monthly subsidies to adoptive families to assist with the care of the eligible child. Additionally, funds are available for: administrative costs to manage the program; training staff and adoptive parents; adoptive parent recruitment; and other related expenses.

The fifty (50) States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are eligible to participate in the Adoption Assistance Program awards. The average monthly number of children receiving IV-E Adoption Assistance in FY 2008 was approximately 381,000.

Budget Information

The program is funded at $2,160,000,000 for FY 2008.

Tortured Twice In Louisiana; A Sad Abused Ten Year Old Boy Facing Prison For Escaping His Abuser

Tortured Twice In Louisiana; A Sad Abused Ten Year Old Boy Facing Prison For Escaping His Abuser | INVISIBLE CHILDREN:

Joseph Hall was a *tortured little ten year old boy and a ward of the state when he shot his nazi father in the head in Louisiana.   His father held monthly hate filled nazi gatherings in the home & in drunken a drug fueled rage he beat his son severely and regularly.

Read More:

Over Forty Children Paralyzed by Vaccines in One Village

Over Forty Children Paralyzed by Vaccines in One Village | Dr. Sircus:

I am so glad (not!) that we have people like Bill Gates to make sure vaccines are funded for African children. I am not alone in that perspective but there are brave people like Christina England, a U.K. journalist and author who alone is reporting about the unspeakable harm that international vaccination programs bring to the children of the world.

Read More:

The State of America’s Mental Health System

The State of America’s Mental Health System | The Children's Monitor:

Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing assessing the state of America’s mental health system. Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Lamar Alexander (R-TN) welcomed two panels of witnesses to discuss mental health in America and how to improve access to mental health services for individuals with mental illnesses and/or disorders. In his opening statement Chairman Harkin acknowledged that the hearing was long overdue as the HELP committee hasn’t held a hearing on mental health since 2007. He also explained the stigma associated with mental illness, which he referred to as the nation’s silent epidemic. Citing recent statistics, he pointed to the fact that most mental health conditions begin by adolescence. Harkin went on to talk about the need for mental health parity by clarifying that although the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) was enacted over four years ago, the Obama Administration has yet to issue a final rule. Alexander, newly elected to his post as Ranking Member, expressed his hope for the bipartisan fashion in which he expected to be able to work with the Chairman and described his role in the hearing as being one of a listener first and foremost. He said his goal of the hearing was to learn who needed help, who provided that assistance, and how the federal government could help facilitate that process.

The first witness to testify before the committee was Pamela Hyde, Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). She testified to the prevalence of mental illness and substance use disorders, gaps in treatment, and the need for more training of mental health professionals.  She also lauded the Administration’s recent efforts to change the conversation regarding mental health in this country. During question and answer she was asked by the Chairman and others to clarify when the Administration would release the final rule on mental health parity to which she noted that the process was ongoing.

Dr. Thomas Insel, Director at the National Institute of Mental Health offered testimony on the research associated with improving the quality of care provided to those with mental illness. He focused on serious mental illness which he said affects about 1 in 20 Americans. He echoed the Chairman’s comments that chronic illness begins early in life, but went on to say that these disorders are treatable. He was asked by the Chairman to talk about the use of antipsychotic medications for children and the long-term effects associated with these medications. Insel said there are real concerns because the use of these drugs for children is increasing and the side effects, especially when used long term, are more adverse. He said the larger issue still, is the rate of adolescents with serious mental illness who are not getting properly diagnosed or treated.

While the first panel focused on the federal efforts to address mental health, the second panel focused on local and community-based mental health providers. Common themes among this panel included solutions to help with early identification of mental illness, service integration, the need for increasing funding and removing barriers to mental health services and treatments.