Child Welfare
ABC News got an exclusive early look at the GAO report released today about foster youths and psychotropic drugs, and produced an excellent web piece on it. Click here for Youth Today’s coverage of the report and the Obama administration’s interest in the issue.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s promise “to make transparency the norm and not the exception” in child welfare is welcome, if overdue, writes the editorial board of Kentucky.com.
A Kansas legislative committee want Gov. Sam Brownback (R) to delay combining Kansas juvenile justice programs with the state’s social services agency, reports KansasCity.com. The committee isn’t convinced that the way things are now is failing the state
Juvenile Justice
Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice facilities aren’t protecting gay youths, says Laura Rena Murray, writing in the Philadelphia Weekly.
A court-appointed monitor in Ohio said use of pepper spray in juvenile facilities is unwarranted, even to prevent a gang outbreak, reports the Associated Press.
An Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant from 2005 was blasted in an inspector general’s report released yesterday, reports Charles Clark of GovExec.com
A Mississippi juvenile detention center begins to make changes mandated by a lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center, reports Jesse Bass of the Hattiesburg American. The changes include hiring six new full-time employees and six part-timers.
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Attorneys for the paper and two other newspapers will go before the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Jan. 10 to argue that the juvenile proceeding for a boy accused of killing his father’s pregnant fiancee should be open to the public.
A former Contra Costa County youth counselor pleaded guilty Wednesday to numerous child molestation charges in exchange for the assurance of a 30-year prison sentence, reports Malaika Fraley of the Contra Costa Times.
