A new federal lawsuit filed this month by foster families who take in relative children is claiming that the state of Ohio is withholding financial assistance that these families are owed under federal law. The same financial assistance monies that flow to licensed foster families are not being paid to relative foster families, despite an […]

People in Ohio who have taken custody of children they’re related to are being illegally denied state foster care payments to help cover their child-raising costs, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday. At issue are payments to relatives who aren’t licensed caregivers but are approved to care for children taken from their parents. The […]

For more than a decade, hundreds of disabled students locked up in a large Georgia jail have not been getting the special education services they’re entitled to under federal law, but that may soon start to change. As a result of the settlement, announced by the children’s attorneys Monday, the school district will begin to put […]

Christina Wilson Remlin, lead counsel of the New York City-based pro bono law firm Children’s Rights — which represents foster youth nationwide — said the Children’s Services survey “confirms the risks and the dangers that we expect to see and do see all over the country.” Children’s Rights, along with other advocacy groups, including Lambda […]

Michigan has made progress toward fixing its troubled child welfare system but problems with data tracking and poor oversight still endanger foster children, court monitors told a federal judge on Tuesday. Some of those shortcomings, primarily the state’s failure to say how many foster children were abused or neglected, show serious issues with the state’s ability to keep children […]

A 14-year legal battle over child welfare reform in Michigan still isn’t done. A monitoring report released Tuesday in federal court found the state only met 13 of the 52 performance standards it needs to meet before the child welfare system can be released from court oversight. “We know that a lot of work is […]

Erin McGuinness, senior policy analyst for Children’s Rights, was interviewed by the Troubled Podcast. Erin dives deep—covering what it means for children to have rights in the U.S., the overrepresentation of Black and LGBTQ youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, adverse childhood experiences (ACES), the overuse and misuse of psychotropic medications, congregate […]

A new report highlights the ways that the coronavirus pandemic has heightened the risk for LGBTQ youth in foster care. It then recommends steps that child welfare agencies, states and the federal government can take to curtail those risks. Children’s Rights, a New York-based nonprofit that seeks to improve America’s child welfare, juvenile justice, education and […]

Children in Arizona’s foster care system are in line for better access to a range of health care services and living situations after a federal judge on Wednesday tentatively approved a settlement with the state in a 5-year-old case that seems to have already forced major changes in the system. Under the agreement, the state […]

In the inaugural episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, Senior Editor John Kelly discussed the coronavirus relief package, a new state joining the Family First Act, and the looming end to California’s notorious state-run juvenile prisons. Guest interview: Christina Remlin of Children’s Rights discussed the legal and political battles being waged over faith-based child welfare […]