Child Welfare
A federal judge ended four years of litigation between a national child advocacy group and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services on Wednesday, reports Rochelle Hines of the Associated Press.
It’s getting testy between a veteran family court judge in Florida and the state’s child welfare agency, reports Carol Marbin Miller of the Miami Herald. Judge Cindy Lederman is skeptical of the department’s request to return a child to his parents who she said in court looked like a survivor of a concentration camp.
North Dakota human services officials have given a Native American tribe until the end of March to correct problems in foster care administration, reports the Associated Press.
Education/Jobs
Former Justice Department counsel James Walsh says the DREAM Act is a scam, writing in NewsMax.com.
California school officials are not big fans of new proposed rules that reform the way community colleges are financed, reports Claudia Melendez Salinas of the Mercury News.
Juvenile Justice
Christina Villacorte of the Contra Costa Times reports on a new report finding that
even under the watchful eyes of federal monitors, Los Angeles County probation officers are still being accused of using excessive force on hundreds of juveniles in their care.
An Ohio judge released the juvenile records of the teen that opened fire on his classmates earlier this week, reports the Associated Press. T.J. Lane had an assault case at age 15 for choking and punching another male, and received a suspended sentence of 30 days in jail.
Connecticut’s sex offender registry is unnecessarily punitive to lower-level offenders and needs rethinking, opines Hartford Courant columnist Tom Condon.
