Kansas foster children will no longer sleep overnight in offices or be shuttled from home to home and, for the first time, will receive mental health screening when they enter care. Those mandates are key components of a settlement filed late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in a class action lawsuit aimed at fixing the […]
A watchdog for children’s welfare claims that children are being abused by workers in psychiatric treatment facilities in Courtland, Owens Cross Roads, Tuskegee, and Montgomery. In a public letter, the Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program wrote they have “grave concerns about the immediate safety and welfare” of the nearly 100 children, aged 12 to 18, currently in […]
Children’s Rights authored a report Fostering Inequity: How COVID-19 Amplifies Dangers for LGBTQ+ Youth in Care. Christina Wilson Remlin was quoted in The Hill: “It’s important to have a very urgent reminder that our child welfare systems need to become safer places for LGBTQ young people. This population is already exposed to a great deal of danger.”
The Trump administration on Friday finalized a rule axing Obama-era health protections for transgender people, moving to strip guards against discrimination in the heart of Pride Month and in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Christina Wilson Remlin was quoted in the New York Daily News, “yet another move by the Trump administration to deny […]
Donald Williams fought for custody of his daughter across 600-miles for 5 years while she was under the care of a loving foster parent. Our senior policy analyst, Elissa Hyne, spoke with @azcentral regarding the case and others like this: “It’s a hard balancing act. There’s no ‘if this, then that.’ “
Frederick’s death – and the realities of trying to social distance in a facility packed with teenagers – highlights one of the many problems facing America’s foster care system amid the pandemic, writes USA Today. “We are really worried that an already-strained system is going to buckle under the weight of the coronavirus,” says Sandy Santana, […]
Representatives of Children’s Rights, an organization dedicated to children swept up in the immigration, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems, were just as outraged after the rule was announced. The legal team at Children’s Rights was in contact with the administration and had begged the White House to reconsider the rule. “Stripping sexual orientation data […]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a final rule change that will end data collection regarding the sexual orientation of foster children and foster and adoptive parents in the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS). Christina Wilson Remlin, lead counsel for Children’s Rights, blasted the change, which came despite […]
NY City Lens covers the challenges foster parents are seeing with virtual visits, court hearings, and school. “This coronavirus and then obviously by extension, the shelter in place mandates, have affected almost every aspect of child welfare and juvenile justice,” said Erin McGuinness, senior policy analyst at Children’s Rights.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been emotionally traumatic for us adults, but its impact on our nation’s youth is arguably far greater. Even young people with loving and present parents and kin are experiencing an emotional and financial toll of unforeseen magnitude as families are forced to navigate what this crisis means for their education and their future.
