According to a report from Chlid Trends released on December 9, 2011, youth in foster care have an increased risk of having a child as teen parent. These young parents experience many challenges and often, outcomes for these youth and their children are poor. Teen Parents in Foster Care: Risk Factors and Outcomes for Teens [...]
Each Monday on the Stability, Permanency and Adoption blog we will provide a selection of news from the past week that you may have missed. Today's news round up: A Home for the Holidays, the annual televised special sponsored by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption highlighting foster care adoption is schdeduled to air December [...]
All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration.--UN Declaration of Human Rights As one reflects on Human Rights Month it is important to think of those who may have the smallest [...]
Last Friday night, Diane Sawyer and ABC World News reported on a year-long investigation by the Government Accounting Office that found that children and youth in foster care - even infants as young as a year old - were over-prescribed psychiatric medications or inappropriately receiving psychiatric medication for conditions that did not exist. In addition, [...]
On November 22nd, Michigan became the seventh state to opt into extending foster care from 18 to 21 since the Fostering Connections Act was signed into law in 2008. Over the last three years, 25 states have submitted program design plans for approval, 11 of which included plans to extend foster care through age 21. [...]
UPDATE: Check out Child Welfare Information Gateway's webpage providing resources on the use of psychotropic medicines for children and youth in fostercare. With the newly-released Government Accountability Office report, "Foster Children: HHS Guidance Could Help States Improve Oversight of Psychotropic Prescriptions," there has been a flurry of activity recently on the issue of over-medicating youth [...]
The Foster Children Opportunity Act, H.R. 3333, which was introduced on November 3rd, 2011, would protect abused and neglected immigrant children in foster care and ensure they are given ample opportunity to gain legal status before they leave care. Under current immigration law, many immigrant foster children are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) [...]
At the end of October, National Public Radio aired a three-part series on Native American children in South Dakota's foster care system, which was the result of a year-long investigation. NPR's report highlighted the fact that in South Dakota:700 Native children are removed from their home every year.They represent over 50% of the foster care [...]