Child Welfare
Michigan caseworkers don’t get to take children into foster care without a judge’s say-so, writes state child welfare director Maura Corrigan, in an op-ed meant to defend her caseworkers. Corrigan gets ripped pretty severely by some commenters on her piece, who suggested that other avenues of removal are more frequently used than she suggests.
Following a lukewarm progress report from a court-appointed monitor, reports Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post, D.C.’s child welfare director announced his resignation yesterday.
Education/Jobs
As federal funding disappears, a rural Texas summer jobs program struggles desperately to survive, reports Robert Guaderrama of CBS7.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), in an op-ed for The Hill, said the DREAM Act – which seeks to connect illegal immigrant students with educational opportunities and citizenship – is causing, not solving, a problem.
David Hill of the Washington Times reports that Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley is going to sign his state’s version of the DREAM Act. Meanwhile, in a column for the Baltimore Sun, sociologist Fred Millar questions the role of community colleges in this legislation and their overall ability to deliver meaningful education to minority students.
In a column for the National League of Cities, Michael Karpman laments the disastrous slide in teen employment rates.
Juvenile Justice
The Crime Report’s Julia Dahl interviews John Jay College Professor Karen J. Terry about the Adam Walsh Act. Terry believes the act is too far down the road to get repealed, but that there is still time to cut back on what she sees as its overly punitive aspects.
NBC 2 in Florida reports that the closure of a juvenile facility in rural DeSoto County, Fla.. will mean the loss of 432 jobs. “Unless the governor line item vetoes this, it’s going to happen,” said County Commissioner James Selph, who was irate that the county was notified of the closure on the final day of the state legislature’s budget deliberations.
Miscellaneous
Ruth King interviewed Gerald Walpin, former inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, for a website called Family Security Matters. Walpin was fired early on in the Obama administration, and believes it happened because he pursued civil and criminal charges against Kevin Johnson, who is now the mayor of Sacramento.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America President Roxanne Spillett visited a Massachusetts club set to expand, and used the opportunity to lay out the national organization’s three-point strategic goal, reports Ted LaBorde of The Republican.
