Child Welfare
In New York City, reports Mosi Secret of the New York Times, some parents have lost their children temporarily to foster care because of low-level marijuana possession charges.
Indiana is lowering the state payments to foster care parents, reports NIki Kelly of the Journal Gazette. New rates will take effect on January 1, 2012.
Nebraska is leaning hard on the two private providers it has left for child welfare services, reports the Houston Chronicle.
Education/Jobs
In a tight economy, reports Doris Hajewski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Goodwill affiliates thrive on thrift.
Juvenile Justice
Black teen flash mobs (the bad kinds, at least) are society’s creation, writes Dr. Boyce Watkins in the Huffington Post: if we’d chosen to give these kids something to live for, many of them wouldn’t be out finding ways to self-destruct.
A Philadelphia judge lashed out in court against three juvenile defendants who faced him for charges connected to the recent “flash mob” downtown, reports Mike Newell and Allison Steele of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Muskogee Phoenix editorial board wonders why two similarly situated counties, right next to each other, would have significantly different juvenile crime statistics?
The California Assembly should pass the bill to let juvenile lifers request parole after 15 years, writes the editorial board of the LA Times. The idea, says the Times, is “both sensible and humane.”
