This guest post was written by Emily Wesely. [Photo from www.adeca.alabama.gov] Published in the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, "Number of Kids Behinds Bars Reaches 35-Year Low", written by Kaukab Smith on February 27, 2013, discussed the recent reduction in youth incarceration rates across the country, reaching the lowest it has been for 35 years. Smith [...]
Northstar Care for Children is a proposed program in Minnesota that consolidates Adoption Assistance, Relative Custody Assistance, and family foster care into just one program that would equalize payments for these programs for children ages 6 and older. This program aims to increase permanency through adoption or legal guardianship by a relative, recognizing that current [...]
This guest blog post was written by Johanna Zabawa. Group pays drug addicts to get sterilized or receive long-term birth control, sparks criticism: Founder launched group after adopting four children from a crack addict. [Photo from the Project Prevention Facebook page] On May 9, 2012, Rheana Murray, with the New York Daily News published an [...]
This guest blog post was written by Ryan Lewsander. Right now the Minnesota Supreme Court is tasked with making a tragic choice: who will they rip two children away from, their prospective adoptive family, or their biological grandmother and extended family in Georgia? The sad drama of this case is documented compellingly in Olivia LaVecchia's [...]
We recently updated our first Child Welfare Policy Brief, which was a primer for Minnesota's 2011 legislative session, to reflect changes in statistics and funding between then and now. It is available on our child welfare policy section of our website. You can also click here for the PDF. More information CASCW publishes policy briefs [...]
This guest blog post, also about the Family Reunification Act, was written by Colleen Doescher-Train. On February 13th, 2013 five Minnesota State Senators introduced S.F.422; appropriately nicknames the Family Reunification Act of 2013. The Family Reunification Act, as currently written would allow parents who had their parental rights terminated at least 36 months ago to [...]
Today's guest post was written by Kris LaFleur. What to do with children reaching the age of majority has been an ageless problem since the inception of the foster care system. Many youth are considered difficult to place; older children, sibling groups, African American and American Indian children. These lost children are forced to leave, [...]
Starting next week, we will be posting posts from students enrolled in the Permanency in Child Welfare courses in the MSW program. Students were asked to choose an article, either in the current media or in a peer-review journal, or other related item, related to permanency and adoption. The purpose of this assignment is to [...]