Family Rights and Child Abuse News

"They were just suspicious of me from the beginning"

by Jennifer Hemmingsen

It was February 2009 - five weeks before her due date - but his ex's new boyfriend had beaten her so badly that doctors had to deliver the baby. That's how the Iowa Department of Human Services got involved.

Rodgers wanted to take his daughter home with him, but the DHS worker said he would have to go through the agency. She placed the baby with a foster family. It took three months for DHS to confirm Rodgers' paternity. Again, he asked to take his daughter home. Instead, the agency allowed him to visit her. Twice a week. With supervision. Even though Rodgers had no history of child abuse or neglect, DHS would make him jump through more than two years' worth of hoops to prove he was good enough to keep her.

thegazette.com

December 31, 2011

#SAFE on phone makes reporting child abuse, neglect easy

by Rick Nathanson

Reportings of suspected child abuse and neglect have ticked up nearly 20 percent in the wake of last month's brutal killing of 10-year-old Victoria Martens and a campaign by the state.

If the calls about abuse or neglect involve a parent, guardian or someone in the household, it is screened in for investigation by CYFD; if the call involves someone outside the household, such as a coach, teacher or neighbor, then CYFD cross-reports the call to local law enforcement for investigation, Jacobson said.

abqjournal.com

September 20, 2016

$100 Million Plan To Improve Oklahoma's Foster Care System

by Tess Maune

OKLAHOMA CITY - An improvement plan to reform Oklahoma's foster care was approved Tuesday, by a group of child welfare experts.

The Pinnacle Plan is part of a settlement agreement in a class action lawsuit against the Department of Human Services. It was settled in January, and since then, the state has been working on a seven-point plan to protect our children.

newson6.com

July 26, 2012

$6 million rape lawsuit plagues Houston foster care agency

Houston lawyer, Troy J. Wilson, is currently leading the charges in a lawsuit seeking at least $3 million in actual damages and at least $3 million in exemplary damages by the end of a jury trial against Houston-based foster care agency, America's Angels.

The lawsuit, filed by a Fort Bend county couple, alleges that the couple's daughter was raped and sodomized while in Davis' care. According to the court documents, the under-age victim of the allegedly witnessed a male visitor at Davis' residence engaging in sexual acts with another under-aged child at Davis' residence. The child eventually ran away with another child from the home, but was caught and picked up by the alleged assailant. He took both minors to a hotel in West Houston where he had sex with both of them, according to the lawsuit. He then took them to meet four or five other men who proceeded to rape them, sodomizing them and throwing them out of the vehicle in the late evening, the lawsuit states. The minors were then rescued by members of the community and taken to a medical hospital and psychiatric facility for treatment.

examiner.com

September 18, 2013

$800,000 DHS grant will fund coaches to help former foster care students at 7 Michigan colleges

LANSING, MI - The Michigan Department of Human Services is allocating $800,000 to implement campus coaches, who will assist students entering college after exiting the foster care system, at seven college and universities across the state.

The Department of Human Services provides WMU with two state employees, who serve as caseworkers and life-skills point people for students in the program, which serves more than 150 students. The second caseworker was assigned to WMU this year.

mlive.com

December 3, 2012