National CPS News Archive

Bethany Christian Services Co-Founder Dies at Age 93

by Joshua A.Goldberg

Mary Vanden Bosch, the co-founder of the nation's largest adoption agency, passed away Monday. She was 93.

Since starting humbly in Grand Rapids, Mich., as Bethany Christian Home, Bethany Christian Services has grown to include 81 offices in 31 states and international ministries in 17 countries. The Christ-centered adoption and orphan care agency, which last year placed 1,694 children with their adoptive families, provides pregnancy counseling, family counseling, foster care programs, and an infertility ministry.

The Christian Post

August 7, 2009

Foster parents set to win adoption rights

Proposed reforms to Queensland's adoption laws will offer some children in long-term foster care the opportunity to be part of a family of their own, says the state's minister for child safety.

The Adoption Bill 2009 is expected to be debated in state parliament soon. If passed it will take effect from February 2010. The reforms allow the government to give first consideration to a child's foster carers when selecting prospective adoptive parents.

Brisbane Times (Queensland)

August 2, 2009

Maine Agency Urges Support of Federal Child Welfare Bill

A Maine agency is calling attention to a bi-partisan bill before the US Senate that would create a high-level government office and refocus US programs, policies and funding on a singular goal: a permanent family for every child.

The Families For Orphans Act (Senate Bill 1458 and House Bill 3070), sponsored by Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and James Inhofe (R-OK) along with Representatives Diana Watson (D-CA) and John Boozman (R-AR), addresses the needs of millions of children living outside of permanent parental care throughout the world.

Maine Business

July 27, 2009

Florida Remakes Its Child-Welfare System

by Erik Eckholm

Officials in Florida shifted spending of federal foster care aid to focus on keeping families intact and to finance prevention and mental health treatment.

While the focus on preserving families has taken hold in several states, here it has been backed by a federal waiver that allows the state to use foster care financing for prevention and mental health, an approach that advocates of the program hope will become standard nationwide. In less than three years, Florida has reduced the number of children in foster care by 32 percent.

The New York Times

July 26, 2009

NJ woman loses custody of baby because she refused a cesarean

by Daniel Weaver

A New Jersey woman, known only as V. M. in court papers, refused to consent to a cesarean section on April 16, 2006 and gave birth the same day to a child, known only as J. M. G in court documents, by normal vaginal delivery.

Even though the child was delivered safely and had no problems due to the birth, Child Protective Services, known in New Jersey as the Division of Youth and Family Services, took baby J. M. G. because the mother had refused a cesarean section.

On July 16, 2009, the appellate division of the New Jersey Superior Court agreed with DYFS and a lower court's decision that Ms. V. M. had neglected and abused her child and the DYFS was correct in taking custody and terminating Ms. V. M.'s parental rights.

Albany CPS and Family Court Examiner

July 23, 2009

TX governor loyal to parental rights

by Charlie Butts

After a public uproar, Texas Governor Rick Perry rejected a bill that would have given Children's Protective Services unusual power.

"I like to call it a seize-and-ask-questions-later CPS bill, which would have expanded Child Protective Services' rights to violate the constitutional rights of parents and children, and allow CPS to come to your home and take your kids and examine them and question them regarding an anonymous tip," he explains.

One News Now

July 23, 2009

Adoption groups decry film with evil orphan

NEW YORK - Often divided over policy and practice, America's adoption community has unified in dismay over "Orphan," a horror movie opening next week that its critics say will fuel negative attitudes toward real-life orphans.

Some adoption advocates are urging a boycott of the movie, which opens July 24. A coalition of prominent national adoption and foster care groups, while not joining the boycott call, has asked for a meeting with Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer to discuss their concerns.

MSNBC

July 17, 2009

Very vulnerable, very fragile

by Kathy Sheridan

Ronnie McManus was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the manslaughter of Melissa Mahon, but the final hours of her life remain a mystery.

It was Melissa Mahon's tragedy to come under Ronnie McManus's influence in her most vulnerable years. She was "a great dancer" and loved country and western music, said her mother soon after she went missing. But she was also a child from a troubled background, uprooted from her native London at 13 to move to Ireland.

The Irish Times

July 11, 2009

Fighting for child welfare reform in Oklahoma while thousands of children remain at risk

by Chris Iseli

Ever since Children's Rights joined advocates from across the state of Oklahoma in taking legal action to reform the state's extremely dangerous child welfare system in February 2008, the state has fought back hard.

In May, the judge ruled that the case could proceed on behalf of all of the more than 10,000 children who depend on the state child welfare system for protection and care. Now they are appealing the judge's decision to a higher court, and they asked the judge to restrict our access to evidence about the system's practices and the harm it is causing kids until the higher court issues its decision. On Wednesday, the judge agreed to do so.

Children's Rights

July 10, 2009

'Jenny' (age 5) was torn from her parents after an RSPCA raid

by Paul Bracchi and Dennis Rice

The recording begins with the sound of a child's voice. It belongs to a little girl and she is clearly bewildered and distressed. At one point she begins to cry. At other times she is sobbing uncontrollably.

'Have you seen the judge yet?' she can be heard asking pitifully in between the tears before pleading: 'I want to go home with [you] Mummy and Daddy.' The recording was made during a supervised meeting between the youngster and her parents after their daughter was taken away from them by social workers. They are known as 'contact visits' in the soulless vernacular of the care system, and took place in a room with a table and chairs and a few toys.

Mail Online

July 10, 2009

Patent Rights and Civil Wrongs: The ACLU Lawsuit

by Andrew W. Torrance

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would seem an unlikely candidate to be interested in genetic tests for diagnostic mutations.

Last month (May 12, 2009), on behalf of several medical associations, advocacy organizations, physicians, researchers, and individuals, the ACLU filed a lawsuit naming the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Myriad Genetics among the defendants in a potentially historic patent case. The lawsuit seeks nothing less than the elimination of human genes as patentable subject matter.

Bio-IT World

July 6, 2009

Awards Honour Young People In Foster Care

Nominations are now open for the 2009 William Wallace Awards, which honour outstanding young people in foster care. Run by Child Youth and Family, the Awards are a result of a bequest made by William Wallace.

Anyone who knows a great young person who is, or has been, in foster care can make a nomination. A total of $20,000 is divided into the follow scholarships: $3000 awards for tertiary study, $3000 awards for vocational study and $2000 awards for leadership programmes. Nominations close on Friday, August 14, 2009.

Voxy News (NZ)

July 6, 2009