Child Welfare
Two stories on the chilling Florida abuse case involving 10-year-old twins Nubia and Victor Docter (both were covered with toxic chemicals; Nubia is dead, Victor is alive):
Diana Moskovitz of the Miami Herald reports that her paper is suing the Department of Children & Families for records that the agency has refused to release about a call made to its abuse hotline before the two children were found.
And, Palm Beach Post’s John Lantigua reports that a volunteer guardian for the two children claims he was pulled from the twins’ case with no explanation.
Rita Price of the Columbus Dispatch filed this excellent story on a devolving relationship between Franklin County’s child welfare agency and its foster parent association. A lot of factors appear to be in play: the increased role of private contractors in recruiting foster parents, the role of those recruits within the association, and what voices stand out at association meetings.
Ed/Jobs
The New York Times’ Economix blog includes a piece by Judith Scott-Clayton titled, “The Merits of For-Profit Colleges,” in which proprietary schools are identified as doing a good job providing financial assistance for needy students and being ahead of the curve on online classes.
Tennessee community college students will soon have a smoother process transferring to a four-year school, according to the Tennessean’s Jennifer Brooks.
Juvenile Justice
Ann Kelley and John Estus of The Oklahoman report that Oklahoma’s Office of Juvenile Affairs might review the state contract with Nevada-based Rite of Passage to build a new juvenile facility, which has for months been mired in controversy because of an affair between a state senator and a lobbyist involved in the bidding process.
A 14-year-old charged with killing a teacher at a Maryland juvenile facility when he was 13 will be tried as an adult, reports Gazette.Net’s Zoe Tillman. In a separate story, Tillman reports on the Maryland juvenile justice monitoring unit’s report that a year after the killing, Cheltenham Youth Facility remains crowded and understaffed.
A column from RiShawn Biddle’s Dropout Nation website on the unsuccessful relationship that exists in many counties and states between schools and juvenile justice systems.
