Child Welfare
The Oklahoman’s Randy Ellis reports that attorneys assisting Children’s Rights say they are investigating whether officials with the state Department of Human Services are endangering Oklahoma children by cutting back on child abuse investigations to make the state’s child welfare statistics look better.
The directors of two shelters scheduled to be closed in Rhode Island take issue, in an opinion piece in the Providence Journal, with an earlier opinion article by Richard Wexler praising the closing of the facilities.
Education/Jobs
How California Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed community college budget cuts – adding $10 per credit hour to tuition prices – would affect students at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is examined in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin by Wendy Leung.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Joyce Gannon presents this Q&A with the CEO of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, who discusses the unemployment situation in her community and how her board works to engage locals – particularly youth – in job training.
On Thursday, Jan. 13 the Children’s Defense Fund will release two studies about the struggles facing black children at a National Press Club event in Washington. The 9:30 a.m. press event will include talks from Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman and Harlem Children’s Zone President and CEO Geoffrey Canada and can be viewed online here.
Juvenile Justice
It looked like the 144-bed facility that would replace Oklahoma’s L.E. Rader Center had a green light; it turned yellow yesterday. The Oklahoman’s John Estus and Ann Kelley have more here.
Adriene Hill with the Illinois station WBEZ followed one girl coming out of a state facility and the resources she seeks to stay out of jail.
