Child Welfare
Some child welfare advocates in New Jersey are pushing for increased involvement in court proceedings for children whose path back home or to foster care is in the balance, reports Susan Livio of NJ.com.
Natasha Lennard of Salon.com ponders the question: What would federal foster care services be like under President Michele Bachmann?
Leah Hope of Chicago’s WLS-TV reports on a new Illinois law that would allow parents whose rights were once terminated to adopt their own children.
Education/Jobs
Heather Vogell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on the investigation report released by Gov. Nathan Deal this week, which documents rampant cheating by Atlanta Public School staff to bump up test scores.
The recent acceptance of performance-based evaluations by the nation’s largest teachers union is not a sign of a desire to reform, writes Dropout Nation Editor RiShawn Biddle; it just reflects a begrudging acceptance that the Democrats are still the only political friend teachers have.
The editorial board of North Carolina’s Fay Observer lauds the use of five social workers, funded through Race to the Top funding, to find dropouts and bring them back into the classrooms.
Another North Carolina editorial, from the Winston-Salem Journal, says the idea of merging community colleges to save money is a bad idea.
Juvenile Justice
TheIndyChannel.com reports on a scene that would make any person wince: an 11-year-old boy, accused of killing his 6-year-old brother, shackled and dressed in a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. The judge in the case has yet to decide whether the boy will be charged as an adult.
