Child Welfare
A federal judge is allowing the lawsuit against Oklahoma’s child welfare system to continue on with class-action status, reports the Associated Press. The case was expanded from nine foster children to 10,000 in 2009.
Richard Simon of the Los Angeles Times reports on congressmen submitting legislation in reaction to the Penn State scandal. So far the list includes Democrat Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Bob Casey (Pa.) and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (Texas).
Amid the furor over the Penn State sex abuse scandal, there is an easily overshadowed fact, reports David Crary of the Associated Press: The United States has made huge strides over the past 20 years in reducing the prevalence of child sex abuse.
Jay Kaplan, writing for Michigan website Pride Source, takes the state’s child welfare director to task for “manufacturing a prohibition against unmarried couples adopting” when she was a judge on the Michigan Supreme Court.
Juvenile Justice
The Ohio Supreme Court will review whether requiring a boy to register as a sex offender for touching girls’ breasts violated the constitutional protection against avoid cruel and unusual punishment, reports Jessie Balmert of the Newark Advocate.
The town of Warren, Ohio is struggling with a juvenile hangout in the middle of town that has residents frustrated and scared, reports WBKN.
Michael Conahan, one of the two juvenile judges involved in the Luzerne County juvenile court scandal, will serve his 17-and-a-half year sentence at a low-security prison in Florida, reports the Times Leader. Don’t worry: it’s not the low-security prison in Florida he requested.
Miscellaneous
The Tea Party Debt Commission submitted its report for cutting spending yesterday, and it includes elimination of AmeriCorps, reports Kate Zernike of the New York Times.
