Child Welfare
Pam Adams of the Journal Star reports on the lawsuit filed by Catholic Charities agencies in Peoria, Springfield and Joliet against the state’s child welfare system in Illinois. The agencies want to be exempted from licensing couples joined by civil union for foster care and adoption.
Education/Jobs
An advisor to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) proposed that workforce investment board funds be tied to a commitment on public school reform, reports John Schmid of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
New York Civil Rights Coalition Executive Director Michael Meyers, in an op-ed for the Huffington Post, excoriates leadership of the NAACP for the words they’ve used to defend teachers unions in New York City.
Juvenile Justice
Naomi Freundlich of the Century Foundation’s Health Beat Blog makes the case, partly based on Youth Today’s coverage, that atypical antipsychotics are misused as chemical restraints for juvenile offenders.
Joseph Spector of the Poughkeepsie Journal runs down the plan for downsizing New York’s juvenile justice system. The short version: four closures, four downsized facilities, total cut from 1,209 beds to 833.
Kansas City, Mo. Police are considering a 5-year-old girl a suspect in the drowning of an 18-month-old boy, reports the Associated Press. The leader of a major philanthropic juvenile justice reform said that if the police actually process her as a juvenile, it will be “beyond the pale.”
