A restraining device called “the wrap” is gone. Staff at the Boys State Training School in Eldora are now using seclusion rooms only in cases when a boy is at risk of seriously harming himself or others. And the school has hired more mental health counselors.

An agreement intended to improve conditions for children in Arizona’s child-welfare system won final approval from a federal judge on Friday, capping a six-year legal battle. U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver blessed the agreement after hearing more than 2 ½ hours of public comment on the plan hammered out by attorneys for the Arizona Department of Child […]

A six-year drive to reform the state’s foster-care system could end Friday, when a federal judge will consider final approval of a class-action settlement. The settlement, reached in negotiations between the Arizona Department of Child Safety and child-welfare advocates, outlines four major areas of improvement. Attorneys for both sides say they expect the settlement, which […]

A legal settlement that governs the state’s child welfare work in Milwaukee County could be coming to a close because the state has met nearly all of its requirements when it comes to better protecting some of Milwaukee’s most vulnerable children. The state Department of Children and Families and Children’s Rights, which brought a lawsuit nearly three decades […]

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Thomas Thrash in Atlanta recently certified the lawsuit as a class action, meaning it will affect all those at the jail who qualify for special education services. “This decision allows us to represent not just our clients but the hundreds of other students like them who pass through the DeKalb […]

A federal judge approved on Thursday a settlement that aims to fix problems in the child welfare system in Kansas. U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree said in his ruling that the agreement provides “real value” to the more than 7,000 children in the foster care system. The judge said it addresses needs identified in the […]

Initially, Black families were excluded from child welfare systems entirely. It wasn’t until child welfare legislation was fully developed in the late 20th century that the focus shifted to families of color. Later, the welfare system became a means of separating Black families and facilitating unnecessary transracial adoptions. Black children are separated from their parents […]

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (WIBW) – The Kansas foster care system will soon see some dramatic changes regarding housing and mental health of children in state care. Kansas Appleseed says on Friday, a federal judge indicated that he plans to approve a settlement agreement between attorneys that represent almost 7,000 children in foster care and Kansas […]

As lifelong advocates for the health and protection of Maine’s children, we are stunned by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ difficulties addressing the issue of monitoring the prescription of psychotropic drugs among our state’s fostered population. According to a Jan. 7 article in the Portland Press Herald, children’s advocates have filed federal suit […]

“It is unconscionable that in its closing days, this administration is finalizing a rule change that would roll back non-discrimination provisions for programs funded with taxpayer dollars through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including child welfare agencies,” said Christina Remlin, lead counsel for Children’s Rights, which has spent the past year speaking […]