Child Welfare
Judges, services providers and community members in Tippecanoe County, Ind., gathered this week for their sixth summit on stopping child abuse and neglect, reports Sophia Voravong of JC Online.com.
In the quest to explain what happened in the horrific death of Nubia Barahona, a child in Florida’s system, the answer lies in the state’s failed past, not its more recent progress, writes family preservation advocate Richard Wexler in the Palm Beach Post.
Meanwhile, Barahona’s case worker said she didn’t drop the ball, and wants her job back, reports NBC Miami’s Sharon Lawson.
Colorado badly needs more Hispanic foster parents, but cultural factors that clash with abuse and neglect rules make it a difficult sell, reports Fox News Latino.
The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a ballot initiative barring gay couples and unmarried people from adopting or serving as foster parents, reports the Associated Press.
Writing in reaction to the indictment of two New York caseworkers for homicide charges, former Washington child welfare director Olivia Golden said blame and sweeping changes are never enough to fix what is really wrong with a system.
Education/Jobs
The Detroit News is reporting protests by the Detroit Federation of Teachers in response to a proposal to close or turn 45 Detroit Public Schools into charter schools. DFT claims the transition to charter schools will result in a second-rate education for the city’s children while the District claims they are seeking experienced operators to ensure academic excellence.
Dennis M. Walcott has been announced as the nominee for the recently vacated New York City schools chancellor, according to Fernada Santos with The New York Times. The announcement comes after Cathleen P. Black resigned, Thursday, after a brief but tumultuous stint as chancellor.
Juvenile Justice
An Alabama county has found itself as a defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit for allegedly conducting a “scared straight” program that put juveniles into direct contact with prison inmates, reports Cameron Steele of The Anniston Star.
The American Civil Liberties Union said Wyoming needs to create a unified juvenile court and set up a formal data collection process, reports Joshua Wolfson of the Casper Star-Tribune.
Miscellaneous
The impact of AmeriCorps in Detroit is unmistakable, writes former City Year volunteer Sarah Crane for the Detroit Free Press. She quotes an elementary school principal who attributes his school’s ability to make adequate yearly progress to the presence of City Year.
