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On September 28, 2023, the U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a final rule that explicitly gives all Title IV-E child welfare agencies the option to use kin-specific foster care licensing or approval standards and encourages them to limit those standards to federal safety requirements. This change will allow more children to be cared for by those they know…
Legislation again passed by New York lawmakers would allow some people who have lost parental rights to contact their children in the future — even when kids have been adopted into other families.
Under the Preserving Family Bonds Act, S6720, such contact would have to be approved by a judge and determined to be in the child’s “best interest.”
Similar versions of the bill have been vetoed by two governors in recent years. Gov. Kathy…
The United States Supreme Court agreed last week to hear a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, a law that has protected American Indian and Alaska Native children, their families and their communities for nearly 50 years. In the interests of vulnerable children — and in light of the cruel history that this law was written to redress — it is vital that the Indian…
A day after the United States of America announced financial and visa restrictions against two Ugandan judges, the Judiciary came out with at least seven new guidelines that they think will address concerns surrounding child adoption.
The new guidelines were issued yesterday by the Principal Judge, Justice Flavian Zeija, pursuant to Section 20 of the Judicature Act and in consultation with the acting Chief Justice Alfonse Owiny-Dollo.
“The objective of the circular is to address the numerous concerns raised by key stakeholders on the manner in which some judicial officers have handled…
Spotlight: Child Welfare is a collaborative journalism project that aims to deepen and improve reporting on B.C.’s child-welfare system. The project was initiated by The Discourse and the team includes journalists reporting for APTN, Black Press, The Discourse, National Observer, The Runner, Star Vancouver, The Tyee and Vancouver Courier.
This is a public-service journalism project. Its aim is to serve children and families, particularly Indigenous families because they are grossly overrepresented in…
This radio segment from the program 'This American Life' tells the story of Shamyla, who grew up as the adoptive child of her aunt and uncle in the United States but whose biological parents in Pakistan wanted her back in their care. The family argued over this for years, Shamyla's adoptive mother saying "I'm not going to give her back. She's not a ball, I can't toss her back." When Shamyla was twelve years old while on a visit to Pakistan, her birth parents took her on a trip out to the countryside and did not return. Shamyla's adoption had been informal and, as such, her US parents had…
Sreyny Sorn, manager of the ABLE Project at Children in Families, gave a presentation at a side event at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 5 March, 2019. The event was titled “Promoting Quality Family and Community-Based Care for Children with Disabilities.” BCN nominated Sorn to speak about the ABLE program and how they work to place children with disabilities in suitable foster or kinship homes in Cambodia by supporting children and families.
Sorn described how she and the ABLE team recruit foster families to care for children with disabilites and how the…
This article by Ellen Livingood in Volume 13, Issue 9 of Postings describes the ways in which Christian churches and faith communities are moving away from orphanage volunteering to supporting other forms of care for children. "Often orphanage ministry is one of a church’s most-popular global missions efforts because there is such an emotional attachment to needy children," says Livingood. "Yet disturbing facts about the orphanage model, especially the impact of Western short-term ministries in Majority World orphanages, are causing many churches to rethink their…
In 2016, when the number of children removed from their families in the state of Arizona, USA peaked at more than 18,000, the Arizona Community Foundation gave The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com a three-year grant to support in-depth research on the topic. This report is part of that initiative and explores the racial and ethnic makeup of children in foster care, versus that of the advisory boards (Foster Care Review Boards) which are designed to "help decide the fates of children in foster care" and are meant to "mirror the races, ethnicities and income levels of…
Notes
America’s foster care population has swelled to 428,000 children — its largest size since 2008, according to the KIDS COUNT Data Center. More children in foster care means that more families are crossing paths with the country’s child welfare system.
It’s a system that Rafael López — the managing director of Accenture’s health and public services practice — knows extremely well. Prior to working at…