National CPS News Archive

Japan Quake: searching for the orphans

by The efforts of child welfare officials, however, may be hindered by the sheer scale of destruction that is still hampering local administrative services.

Japanese authorities have launched a massive search for hundreds of orphaned children in Iwate, one of the three northeastern prefectures that suffered maximum deaths in the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

The child welfare experts will initially work in groups of three and look for children without parents at evacuation shelters along with people in charge at the shelters. If there are any children who have no place to go, the specialists are planning to entrust them to temporary care homes at child consultation centres or host parents.

ibnlive.in.com

March 27, 2011

Mandatory DNA sampling proposed in some criminal cases in Maine

by Mal Leary

Persons charged with a serious crime or a sex crime against a child would have to submit to DNA sampling under a measure that would greatly expand the state DNA database, but it is drawing fire from civil libertarians and those worried about the cost.

"This is already the law in 24 states," said Rep. Maeghan Maloney, D-Augusta, sponsor of the measure. "This would do two things. One, it exonerates people who are innocent, and two it has been able to find people who are not innocent." The measure covers murder, any crime that has a penalty of at least five years in prison and sex crimes against a child ranging from sexual abuse of a minor to soliciting a child by computer to commit a prohibited act.

new.bangordailynews.com

March 27, 2011

Obama Looking For Ways Around Congress On Gun Policy

by Sam Stein

Faced with a Congress hostile to even slight restrictions of Second Amendment rights, the Obama administration is exploring potential changes to gun laws that can be secured strictly through executive action, administration officials say.

The NRA's response crystallized what administration officials and gun control advocates have long known to be a major potential roadblock in any reform effort: a policy approach that gives off even the hint of restricting access to firearms will be met with forceful opposition by the gun lobby and its allies. The extent to which Obama can change gun law without the hand of Congress is not, gun control activists say, wholly insignificant.

huffingtonpost.com

March 15, 2011

Juvenile Abuse

by RiShawn Biddle

Only in 2009, after a decade of complaints often ignored by Ciavarella and Conahan's fellow judges and Pennsylvania's Supreme Court, did federal investigators bring down the entire "Cash for Kids" scheme.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice shocked the nation when it revealed that one out of every three kids held in 13 juvenile jails and prisons were sexually abused by guards, other employees, or fellow inmates. This included 37 percent of kids imprisoned at the curiously named Backbone Mountain Youth Center, and Indiana's Pendleton juvenile prison, which has become nationally known thanks to the popular MSNBC reality show Lockup. Nationally, 12 percent of all juvenile prisoners reported molestation and other forms of sexual abuse.

The American Spectator

March 11, 2011

Finding the right balance

After receiving a tip that a 9-year-old girl had been sexually abused, a child protection investigator and a deputy sheriff in Bend, Ore., went to the girl's school to interview her. The first of its kind in 20 years, the case has drawn wide attention.

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the decision would have an adverse effect on child abuse investigations. The Supreme Court heard the case Tuesday, which pits the rights of families and children against the responsibility of states to investigate child abuse.

lasvegassun.com

March 5, 2011

Sexual abuse at Richmond foster home raises concerns

The B.C. NDP is demanding to know how a former male prostitute became an overnight careworker in a Richmond foster home and then ended up sexually abusing a disabled teen, without the government stepping in.

In October Kevin Fanning, 51, pleaded guilty to the 2009 sexual assault of the disabled teen in his care and eventually served a 60-day sentence for the crime. The foster parent who hired Fanning didn't even live at the foster home, but ran it as a business, showing up at 8 a.m. morning and departing at 5 p.m., leaving the disabled teen in Fanning's care overnight.

cbc.ca

March 3, 2011

Sacked teacher falsely accused of groping girls

by Claire Lewis

Sacked teacher falsely accused of groping girls - A TEACHER falsely accused of groping four schoolgirls has fought a seven-year battle to clear his name after being subjected to what he calls a "witch-hunt".

Science teacher Robert King, 45, was acquitted of sexually assaulting four girls by a jury - but was still sacked by Handsworth Grange Community Sports College and has been effectively barred from teaching ever since.

thestar.co.uk

January 15, 2011

Foster kids to get donated laptops

by Ashton Goodell

Alaska foster kids will soon get laptops to help them stay on track for high school graduation.

A small group of foster parents and former-foster kids came up with the idea to make it easier for teens to get their homework done without going to a library or community center every day. A lot of foster kids bounce between homes and change schools frequently, which can make it tough to keep up with class work.

ktuu.com

December 23, 2010

Dead four-year-old girl Marchella Pierce was victim of 'grossly inadaquate' social care

by Daily Mail Reporter

New York's child welfare department missed a series of opportunities to save a beaten and emaciated four-year-old girl who may have starved to death.

Marchella Pierce was found dead in a bed in a 'filthy' New York apartment on September 2, weighing less than a six-month-old baby. Her mother Carlotta Pierce, 30, faces charges of second degree assault having admitted she tied Marchella to a bed at night to stop her taking food from the fridge.

dailymail.co.uk

December 14, 2010

Canadian Judge Rules Vaccinations Not Essential in Family Court Case

by Kevin Martin

Vaccinations aren't "essential" medical treatments, a family court judge has ruled in refusing a Child Welfare request to order inoculations for four kids. Judge Stephen Lipton, in a written decision released Thursday.

Child Welfare had applied for a ruling to have the siblings immunized despite their parents' decision not to allow the treatment. But Lipton said the four children, ranging in age from one to 12, weren't at any present risk so no court intervention was warranted.

ageofautism.com

December 9, 2010

Elitism at the Department of Ed

by Mark Hyman

The fact of the matter is a sizable percentage of students in bachelor degree programs do not graduate in four years. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education.

Nearly 43% of students who enroll full-time in a 4-year bachelor degree program fail to graduate in six years. The graduation rate also varies by race and gender. The Ed Dept does not make available data break-down based on socio-economic status. In general, the demographic of the typical career college student is more prone to defaulting on loans, much like the high loan default rate of students attending historically black colleges and universities.

spectator.org

December 1, 2010

Woman says she was bullied to admit child abuse

by Sarah Deeth

PETERBOROUGH, Ont. -- A woman who confessed to child abuse 11 years ago in exchange for the withdrawal of a murder charge laid based on the faulty evidence of disgraced pathologist Charles Smith says authorities bullied her into falsely confessing.

In a sworn affidavit filed in Superior Court, Brenda Waudby says she was bullied into the false confession, and is seeking an appeal extension to have her conviction thrown out. Waudby was first charged with murder in the 1997 death of her 21-month-old daughter, Jenna Mellor, based on Smith's erroneous findings.

torontosun.com -- Canada

November 26, 2010

Good news: State seizes newborn baby after mom eats poppy seed bagel

by Allah Pundit

If you're pregnant and happen to live in Pennsylvania, avoid Dunkin Donuts at all costs.

The birth of a couple's first child is supposed to be a joyous occasion -- and for the first three days, it was for Elizabeth Mort and her partner Alex Rodriguez. But then the commonwealth of Pennsylvania took their young daughter away after the hospital where she was born reported the mother for testing positive on a drug test. Her drug of choice? An "everything" bagel from Dunkin' Donuts. Mort and Rodriguez's daughter was taken by the state a mere day after they returned from the hospital. Despite a test of the child failing to uncover any trace of illicit drugs, a pair of LCCYS caseworkers and two police officers showed up at their door bearing a court order legally entitling them to seize her. And that never would have happened were it not for Jameson Hospital's written policy of subjecting mothers-to-be to urine drug tests — and to then report them to the state for testing positive if they exceed an exceptionally low threshold that is far more stringent than the one the federal government applies to its own workers.

Hot Air

November 9, 2010