US District Judge Janis Graham Jack has been the presiding judge on a lawsuit filed by a children’s rights organization in 2011. The suit alleges that the state of Texas, which has around 30,000 children in foster care on any given day, has stretched its resources and caseworkers too thin, placing children in perilous situations.
Speaking on the foster care to prison pipeline, Executive Director Sandy Santana calls this troubling trend “the criminalization of the behavior of children who have been traumatized.”
A federal judge on Tuesday slapped $50,000 a day in fines on Texas’ protective services agency for flouting her orders on nighttime watches of foster children in group settings.
An exasperated U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack found the state in contempt of court for failing to comply with some of her earlier orders in the wide-ranging lawsuit filed on behalf of Texas foster children.
“At a time when we are already experiencing a severe shortage of foster homes across the country, our policies should encourage placing children with safe and loving families—period,” Sandy Santana, the executive director of Children’s Rights, said.
“This rule is a full force attack by the United States federal government enshrining discrimination into law,” Christina Wilson Remlin, an attorney with Children’s Rights, said. The rule, she added, would be “at the expense” of children in foster care.
In a move expected for months, the Trump administration has announced it will no longer enforce an Obama-era rule insisting that federally funded child welfare providers refrain from discrimination against adults and children based on religious values. Executive Director Sandy Santana is quoted: “At a time when we are already experiencing a severe shortage of foster homes across the country, our policies should encourage placing children with safe and loving families – period.”
On the first day of National Adoption Month, the administration published a new rule that would allow foster care and adoption agencies to discriminate against prospective parents on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and martial status — as well as other factors that could be used to refuse to place children with certain non-LGBTQ parents or couples.
Children’s Rights, the preeminent voice for children harmed by the nation’s immigration, healthcare, and child welfare systems, hosted its 14th annual Benefit & Inspiration Awards Gala at the Mandarin Oriental on Monday, raising over $1.6 million, a record. Jordan Roth served as the night’s emcee, helping to present awards to Vincent Mai, F. William McNabb, and Lexie Pèrez-Grüber for their work in service of children.
Rosario Dawson and the newest Sesame Street Muppet, Karli, pose at the Children’s Rights Inspiration Awards & Benefit Gala on Monday at the Mandarin Oriental in N.Y.C.
