Child Welfare
Emily Ranshaw of the Texas Tribune reports here on the inclusion of youth on the state’s central registry of abusers. There were a staggering 54,000 people added to the Texas registry of child abusers (some alleged, some convicted), there are 2,500 people under the age of 18.
Bob Collins of Minnesota Public Radio asks why nobody is asking about the deep cuts to child protective services in the first budget bill submitted put before the state senate.
Laura Carroll blogs about a successful effort in Missouri to find permanent homes for older youths and those with special needs who have been removed from their parents.
Education/Jobs
New federal data shows the loan default rate for students at for-profit colleges is 25 percent this past year, up from 21 percent in 2009, according to the Washington Post’s Nick Anderson.
The Charlotte Business Journal’s Jennifer Thomas reports on how a series of grants announced by the Department of Health and Human Services late last year could be used to support a community college’s information technology training in the health care sector.
Juvenile Justice
News Herald’s Ali Helgoth reports that another Florida county is challenging the bill given to it by the Department of Juvenile Justice for detention placements. Bay County is asking the state to prove that the $1 million tab it incurred for last year is actually based on the number of juveniles send from the county.
Meanwhile, Orange County is watching with interest as Marion County attempts to turn an unused part of its adult jail into a juvenile detention wing, reports David Damron of the Orlando Sentinel. Orange may do the same if the state allows Marion to break away from a detention relationship with DJJ.
Miscellaneous
Hawaii’s Department of Human Services, faced with a $116 million budget gap, had to make a painful decision, reports Kristen Consillio of the Star-Advertiser. In order to maintain its level of assistance payments to families through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, it needed to cut funding to 41 youth and family programs. The move will save $84 million over the next three years, Consillio reports.
