There will be no Top Headlines on Friday Dec. 24th because the YT offices will be closed for the holidays.
Child Welfare
The federal monitor for Connecticut’s child welfare system found that the state has not done enough to recruit and retain foster homes, causing too many children to be placed out of state or in group care. You can click here to read the most recent monitor’s report.
In this politics blog of the St. Petersburg Times, there is news that Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon will remain on the job for Gov.-elect Rick Scott (R).
Juvenile Justice
Katie Anderson of the Chicago Sun-Times reports on one county’s slow but steady adaptation to the state’s recent inclusion of 17-year-olds in the juvenile justice system. Within nine months of the legislative change, she reports, up to 30 percent of Kane County’s secure commitments were 17-year-olds.
Russ Buettner of The New York Times reports on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to the state: hand over control of the juvenile facilities to counties and cities. Bloomberg sued the state for what the city views as exorbitant per diems for juveniles in those facilities now.
There may be consensus building in Florida to keep more juveniles out of locked facilities and in community programs, writes John Kennedy of Florida’s Ledger.com.
Education
President Barack Obama said his biggest disappointment of the lame-duck Congress was its failure to pass the DREAM Act. Shankar Vedantam of The Washington Post writes that passage of an immigration bill that might include DREAM Act provisions is a non-starter for the new Republican-controlled House.
