Child Welfare
An Illinois state senator has introduced legislation that would permit faith-based foster care and adoption service providers to pass on licensing couples who were joined in a civil union instead of a marriage, reports Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Education/Jobs
A Washington teacher’s union is not happy about the state’s decision to declare a financial state of emergency for state community colleges, which will enable the schools to more easily lay off faculty, reports Donna Gordon Blankinship of the Associated Press.
When it comes to tutoring students after school, says Baltimore Sun reader Stephanie Monroe, lack of oversight should be taken seriously but not confused with lack of effectiveness. Monroe wrote in response to a Sun editorial Tuesday entitled, “Is Tutoring Effective?”
Police dropped charges of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl against a Florida Upward Bound mentor, reports MyFoxTampaBay.com.
Juvenile Justice
Author Tina Rosenberg profiles the Washington, D.C. Youth Court, one of the longest running and most successful diversion peer courts in the nation. Great first sentence, referring to locking up low-level offenders: “Juvenile justice is a field where the cure aggravates the disease. “
The American Civil Liberties Union is mounting a challenge to some Florida counties that have decided to house pre-adjudicated juveniles in their adult jail complexes, reports Ernst Peters of The Ledger.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced a $9.7 million state initiative to fund youth violence prevention programs, reports Brian Ballou of the Boston Globe. The target will be 14- to 24-year-old males, and Boston will be the focus with a $2.3 million allocation.
