Human services pose early test for Charlie Baker administration

Human services pose early test for Charlie Baker administration - Editorials - The Boston Globe:

GOVERNOR-ELECT Charlie Baker knows from experience that the state’s human services system — child protection, mental illness, welfare, and juvenile justice — will pose the stiffest challenge for his new administration at the highest stakes. Baker served as secretary of health and human services from 1992 to 1994, a time when scores of people died under the care or control of state human service agencies — 42 suicides in the state mental health system in 1994 alone, according to a Globe article from that period. Human services advocates pointed — as they often do — to insufficient budgets. State officials pointed — as they often do— to better record-keeping that accounted for more suicides.

‘We Want Our Kids Back,’ Protestors Gather Outside Courthouse on Adoption Saturday

‘We Want Our Kids Back,’ Protestors Gather Outside Courthouse on Adoption Saturday | whotv.com:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Hundreds of families made their adoptions final at the Polk County Courthouse during the “Adoption Saturday” event.

However there are some families not in favor of “Adoption Saturday.”

STATE-BY-STATE ANALYSIS HIGHLIGHTS PARENTAL INEQUALITY ACROSS THE NATION

NPO:

National Parents Organization just released its 2014 Shared Parenting Report Card. It is the first national study to provide a comprehensive ranking of the states on their child custody statutes, assessing them primarily on the degree to which they promote shared parenting after divorce or separation.

Here is the report and the executive summary:

• 2014 Shared Parenting Report Card: A New Look At Child Welfare, A State-by-State Ranking

• 2014 Shared Parenting Report Card Executive Summary

Comment: New Hampshire got a C
From what I have seen, shared custody in NH is almost NON-Existent

Man who beats gf's 17 month old foster son to death will only get a YEAR in jail

Man who beats gf's 17 month old foster son to death will only get a YEAR in jail:

Brooklyn man gets lesser rap for beating death of 17-month-old Kymel Oram after jurors find no intent to harm

Investigation by Maryland health inspectors clears group home operator in death of foster child's death

Investigation by Maryland health inspectors clears group home operator in death of foster child's death - Baltimore Sun:

Maryland health regulators say they found serious violations at the group home for disabled foster children where a 10-year-old Baltimore boy died in July — including conflicting records on his care, and miscommunication between staff and the emergency responders and medical personnel who labored to save him — but nothing that contributed to his death.

Adoptions collapse after judge denounces 'sloppy’ social workers

Adoptions collapse after judge denounces 'sloppy’ social workers - Telegraph:

Scarcely a day goes by now without more public evidence of disquiet at how lamentably our “child protection” system has gone off the rails. On Tuesday, for the second time, parents convinced that their children had been wrongly removed from them went to Brussels to appear before a sympathetic committee of the European Parliament. This time they were protesting at the ruthless pressures brought on them by social workers for daring to put their case to the MEPs. It prompted one committee member, Tatyana Zdanoka, to say: “In my experience the UK is unique in Europe for the secrecy of its family courts and for the threats and bullying by authorities of parents who want to speak out about their treatment.”

Day care druggings spark call for change; investigation shows provider violated law for years

Day care druggings spark call for change; investigation shows provider violated law for years - Elkhart Truth:

INDIANAPOLIS — Lawmakers and children’s advocates are calling for a crackdown on illegal day cares after an Indianapolis provider who’d been cited repeatedly for violations pleaded guilty to drugging children in her care.