National CPS News Archive

Village people

by Janet Pearson

It's happened to all of us. You're at the grocery story or the drug store and you notice an exasperated parent trying to discipline a child. The exasperation level grows to the point you worry what might happen later.

Should you say something to the parent? Should you mind your own business? Or is the simmering problem your business? A national effort aimed at training people from all walks of life how to appropriately intervene in such circumstances is growing and recently took a step forward in Tulsa, where child-welfare advocates received training in how to implement the American Humane Association's Front Porch Project.

Tulsa World

September 20, 2009

Couple probed after third child dies at home

by Kashiefa Ajam

Police are investigating a Gauteng couple whose baby died after the child was returned to them from foster care.

This is the couple's third child to have died after authorities ordered that the children be returned to the birth parents after they had been in foster care.

Independent Online

September 19, 2009

How Much Should Government Regulate Home Schooling?

by Denis Cummings

Proposals to increase regulation of home schooling have been met by opposition. Governments in Europe and the U.S. have had difficulty finding the right balance that gives parents the freedom to educate their children as they see fit.

Home schooling advocates in England are prepared to challenge proposed regulations that require homeschooled children to be registered with local officials. The government is also considering regulations that would dictate what subjects parents must teach their children, and require an inspection of home schools.

Finding Dulcinea (UK)

September 17, 2009

Home schooling: Hey, teachers, leave us kids alone

by Penny Wark

As protesters gather in London today to campaign against tighter restrictions on home schooling, our writer, educated in a council house with her seven siblings, gives a learned riposte to those who doubt its benefits.

The Badman Report, published earlier this year, suggests the compulsory regulation of home-education -- an area of life where, previously, there had been none at all. Campaigners gather today in Central London to protest against the report. Well, of course they do. They don't have to keep their protesting to the weekend - like the Countryside Alliance, or the Poll Tax people, did. If you're home-educating, Tuesday is totally do-able. The whole thing about home education is that you can do any damn thing you please on a Tuesday.

Time Online (UK)

September 15, 2009

Tea partiers march on U.S. Capitol

by Chelsea Schilling

WASHINGTON - The capital was rocked today by a taxpayer march and rally that could be the biggest protest ever - potentially dwarfing the Million Man March and the Promise Keepers Rally.

Though crowd estimates vary from as low as 60,000 to 70,000 according to ABC News to a high of 2 million by London Daily Mail, photographs and videos of the march and rally demonstrate its enormity.

World Net Daily

September 13, 2009

U.N. Tackles Universal Problem for Women: Divorce

by Theresa Braine

Women the world over lose out financially in divorce, say custodians of the U.N. treaty on women's rights. That's why they are reviewing what CEDAW says on the matter, with a new general recommendation expected next year.

Guardians of the U.N.'s treaty on women's rights have begun to address the challenge for women the world over: financially surviving divorce. Setting international standards on this issue strikes at the core of cultural identity and even into people's personal sense of self, says Marsha Freeman, who is working with the committee currently reviewing the treaty's position on divorce.

Women's eNews

September 6, 2009

US Fares Poorly In Child Welfare Survey

by Greg Keller

PARIS -- America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates.

The U.S. spends an average of $140,000 per child, well over the OECD average of $125,000. But this spending is skewed heavily toward older children between 12 and 17, the OECD survey showed. U.S. spending on children under six, a period the OECD says is key to children's future well-being, lags far behind other countries, amounting to only $20,000 per child on average.

KCRA Sacramento

September 1, 2009

De Facto Parents

by William C. Duncan

Now children can have multiple legal parents without biology, adoption, or marriage.

In his 1988 book Silent Revolution, Herbert Jacob described how one of the most significant changes to family law in the 20th century, no-fault divorce, began in California and spread through the states with very little public debate or controversy. This remarkable transformation was presented, and largely accepted, as routine policymaking in the domain of legal experts.

National Review Online (NRO)

August 31, 2009

Parental Rights and The Health Care Bill

by Deborah Stevenson

Did you know? One of the proposals for health care revision may lead to increased accusations of parental abuse and neglect regarding the upbringing and education of your child.

The House version of the health care legislation, H.R. 3200, entitled, "America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009", sponsored by Congressmen John Dingell, Henry Waxman, and Charlie Rangel, among others, contains many provisions that are worthy of questioning, not the least of which is Section 440. That section is entitled, "Home Visitation Programs for Families with Young Children and Families Expecting Children."

NHELD

August 31, 2009

13 Year Old Blocked From Sailing Around the Globe

by Jasper Fakkert

AMSTERDAM -- Laura Dekker, a 13 year old Dutch girl who wishes to become the youngest person to sail around the globe was whistled back by a Dutch court on Friday.

The Council of Child Protection filed a lawsuit against Laura's parents, who support their daughter's plan. The Council sued to take away their parental rights. On Friday the court ruled that Laura is to be put under supervision of child care officials for two months, but that her parents retain parental rights.

The Epoch Times

August 29, 2009

Dutch Child Protective Services wants custody of 13 year-old who wants to sail solo around globe

Laura Dekker is forged of the kind of material that we say we want our children to have. She is a determined thirteen-year-old Dutch girl who was born on a yacht off the coast of New Zealnd and has been sailing solo since she was six years old.

She now wants to sail alone around the world. If she were eighteen and not as experienced as she is, she could do it and no one would say a word. Laura wants to be the youngest person to sail around the world. But the child protectors, too busy to catch people who abuse their children in horrendous ways, think the voyage is so dangerous they have asked for temporary custody of the girl.

Albany CPS and Family Court Examiner

August 26, 2009

The foster mother who killed a toddler

by Reon Suddaby

A Paengaroa foster caregiver will be sentenced in October for the manslaughter of a toddler she was supposed to be looking after.

Late last month, Karen Alice Robinson went on trial in the High Court at Rotorua for the murder of 14-month-old Melissa Sale. Melissa died on January 8, 2006, at Auckland's Starship Children's Hospital, after her life support was turned off.

Bay of Plenty Times

August 14, 2009