Beilue: Lowering bar for CPS not good step

Beilue: Lowering bar for CPS not good step | Amarillo Globe-News:
Not that there’s ever a good time to be a neglected or abused child in Texas, obviously, but some are worse than others. Like now. A federal judge has declared the Texas foster care system unconstitutionally flawed and ordered an independent overhaul. Unlike most other states under similar orders, Texas is fighting the ruling.

Study: More help needed for unrepresented in family court

Study: More help needed for unrepresented in family court | National | journaltimes.com:

DENVER (AP) — After speaking to more than 100 people in four states who represented themselves in divorce, custody and child support cases, researchers are calling on lawyers to provide cheaper services and courts to offer more resources to those acting as their own attorneys. More and more Americans are navigating the legal system on their own. Some jurisdictions report it's becoming the norm for at least one party to act on his or her own behalf in family court, often because trained help is out of financial reach.

Questions surround death of 2-year-old child in foster care

Questions surround death of 2-year-old child in foster care | KBJR 6 & Range 11 | KDLH 3: News, Weather, Sports for Duluth MN / Superior WI / Northland | Local News:

Cloquet, MN (NNCNOW.com) -- A funeral was held Friday morning on the Fond du Lac Reservation for a two-year-old girl who drowned in a plastic laundry bin in a Bemidji Foster home last Sunday. According to a criminal complaint, Kira Friedman was placed in the shower and left unattended by her foster dad, who is now facing manslaughter charges.

Snohomish Co. Judge: ‘pervasive and egregious' misconduct by child advocacy program

Snohomish Co. Judge: ‘pervasive and egregious' misconduct by child advocacy program | KING5.com:
SNOHOMISH COUNTY -- A Snohomish County superior court judge made dramatic rulings Friday on the county’s 30 year program intended to help children in highly charged CPS court cases.............

Legal motions filed after this allegation turned up more accusations of misconduct and on Friday Farris ruled on them. She found some VGALs demonstrated a bias against the biological parents and instead, worked to ensure the children stayed with foster parents.

This is true of CASA worker's NATIONWIDE!

Judges must ask about youths’ tribal status under new rule

Judges must ask about youths’ tribal status under new rule - The Washington Post:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new federal rule will require judges in every state to ask whether a child is a Native American during foster-care and adoption proceedings — especially when there’s reason to believe a child is a tribal member.

It's About time!!!!

Sammy’s Law Would Require Recording CPS Interviews With Parents

Sammy’s Law Would Require Recording CPS Interviews With Parents « CBS Sacramento:

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A new bill aims to change the way Child Protective Services operates in California.The bill is called Sammy’s Law, named after a Sacramento baby taken from his home by CPS when his mom asked for a second medical opinion.

Yes!!! This is exactly what's needed NATIONWIDE!!!

Judgment Day for little ‘Indian’ girl ripped from Foster family

Judgment Day for little ‘Indian’ girl ripped from family:

(Editor’s note: For most of the press, the sad saga of Lexi Page, stripped from the only family she ever knew because she is 1/64th Choctaw and given by social workers to a woman who not only is not related to Lexi by blood, but also is non-Native American, is long forgotten. But not for WND, which continues to follow the tragic case of racial profiling and discrimination in foster and adoptive care.
My comment: This whole mess isn't the Pages fault, Lexies fault or the Chochtaw Nation's fault. It's our own Government's fault for not placing Lexi with relatives to begin with. Whether Native American or not, Federal Mandates state "Relative placement" before Foster care, but as we ALL know, the States do NOT abide by Federal mandates, but they still keep receiving Federal funding. Why????