For more than 30 years, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) has been operating under the watchful eye of a court monitor. Now, there is a big change for the state agency. State officials and a national children’s rights group celebrated a landmark settlement Thursday that frees the state from court oversight. “Today […]
Gov. Ned Lamont was joined by Attorney General William Tong and Department of Children and Families Commissioner Vanessa Dorantes Thursday afternoon to discuss the end to the consent decree imposed on DCF for more than three decades. The Juan F. Consent Decree stems from a 1991 settlement between the state and plaintiffs who alleged dangerous […]
After over three decades of federal court oversight, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families may see an end to the judicial arrangement. It was announced this week that the state and plaintiffs in the Juan F. consent decree filed a joint motion to end the oversight. “This is a big deal and a tremendous […]
About 20,000 children age out of the foster care system every year without a permanent family or home, forcing youth into instability and even homelessness. Many adults want to open their homes and hearts, but a state’s contracts may inadvertently stand in the way. This reality was brought into stark focus last month when Michigan […]
A Texas state judge has blocked Texas’ child protection agency from investigating the parents of a transgender teenager for “child abuse” after they allowed her to receive gender-affirming medical care. The advocacy group Children’s Rights applauded the plaintiffs for bringing the lawsuit challenging Abbott’s “blatantly political” directive. “The Governor’s executive order risks causing irreparable harm […]
Parents and youth advocates have long watched as Texas politicians used vulnerable transgender children to deflect from scandals and score political points. But recent days and weeks have stunned even the most hardened among them. As Tuesday’s election night drew nearer, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — who has won his party’s nomination to seek a […]
Children’s Rights Childrens Rights Are Never Wrong campaign, in partnership with Matter Unlimited, received a Bronze in the Human & Civil Rights Non-Profit Campaign category at the inaugural Webby’s Anthem Awards. The Anthem Awards celebrate and honor purpose and mission-driven work by individuals, companies, and organizations worldwide.
Despite announcing plans to resume doing business with faith-based foster care agencies that don’t work with same-sex couples, Michigan recently reiterated its commitment to ensuring LGBTQ families feel welcome and valued as foster and adoptive parents. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced late last month that it would fall in line with […]
Children’s Rights chief program officer Ira Lustbader joins Dave Scriven-Young from ABA’s Litigation Radio alongside Anne Geraghty Helms and Julie Gryce of DLA Piper to talk about the incredible need for pro bono legal work and how lawyers and their firms can get involved. Learn more about our work, our case in Ohio, and the importance […]
A couple in Knoxville, Tennessee filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services this week alleging that they were denied services by a state-funded foster care agency because they are Jewish. Elizabeth and Gabriel Rutan-Ram told TODAY that they first connected with the Holston United Methodist Home for Children in January of 2021, […]
