Press Releases
Oklahoma Still Behind on Foster Home Recruitment, Cutting Shelter Use, Report Shows
State Also Struggling with Growing Backlog of Child Protection Investigations, According to DHS Data (New York, NY) –– The Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) is failing to make needed progress in crucial areas like recruiting more foster families, reducing shelter use for young children and keeping kids safe from abuse and neglect in foster care, according […]
June 2, 2014Tennessee’s Foster Care Reform Effort is ‘Back On Track,’ Report Finds
The new administration at the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS) has put the state’s recently-stalled child welfare reform effort “back on track” and has shown “focused and renewed attention” to the work that remains, according to a report filed by a team of court-appointed federal monitors.
May 22, 2014Report Shows Little Progress for Child Welfare Reform Effort; DFCS, Advocates Agree to 30 Days to Develop Remedial Plan
Representatives from Mississippi’s Division of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS), national advocacy group Children’s Rights and Jackson law firm Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP will take the next 30 days to develop a legally binding plan to address failures in the state’s child welfare reform effort. According to the most recent independent report charting DFCS progress, the pace of child welfare reform “must be accelerated.”
April 30, 2014Court Decision on DCYF ‘Allows a Dangerous Foster Care System to Operate Unchanged,’ Says Children’s Rights
(New York, NY) — Today U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi found in favor of the defendants in a class-action lawsuit prosecuted by national advocacy organization Children’s Rights, attorney John Dineen in Providence and the national firm of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, asserting that Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) is failing to ensure the […]
April 29, 2014Pinnacle Plan: DHS Fails to Make Significant Strides, Says New Report
Independent monitors charged with assessing Oklahoma’s child welfare reform effort found that the Department of Human Services (DHS) is unable to demonstrate positive change in any of seven agreed-upon performance areas–and has not made “good faith efforts to achieve substantial and sustained progress” in the key measure of increasing foster homes.
April 25, 2014In The Wake of Sexual Abuse Claim, Boys Home of the South and SCDSS Settle Lawsuit; Boys Home Announces Its Closing
(Abbeville, S.C.) — The South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS) and the Boys Home of the South, Inc. have settled, for an undisclosed sum, a lawsuit alleging that an 11-year-old boy was sexually abused at the facility in Belton, S.C.–then denied immediate psychological treatment for months after the assault. The suit was brought by South Carolina law firms Hite & Stone in Abbeville, S.C.; The Camden Law Firm in Camden, S.C.; and national advocacy organization Children’s Rights in New York.
April 9, 2014Voices of Foster Youth Amplified in Second Annual Campaign
NEW YORK, NY – On May 1, in recognition of National Foster Care Month, national advocacy organization Children’s Rights will launch its second annual Fostering the Future campaign to raise public awareness about life in state care. The campaign’s website, www.fosteringthefuture.com, will feature a blog post each day of May from someone affected by the […]
March 31, 2014Abuse Rate in Milwaukee Foster Care Drops to All-Time Low, but Kids Still Lack Stability, Report Finds
Eric Thompson, of counsel to Children’s Rights, released a statement in response to the latest progress report on the reform of the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare (BMCW) during 2013.
March 27, 2014Federal District Court Erred in Connor B. V. Patrick Ruling, Assert Children’s Rights, Boston Co-Counsel
‘Vulnerable children…were erroneously held to a standard of proof no less burdensome than the standard to be met by an incarcerated felon,’ declares legal brief.
March 26, 2014Report Gives Mixed Review on Michigan’s Foster Care Reform Effort
Independent federal court monitors released a report that reviews the progress of Michigan’s Department of Human Services (DHS) in reforming its child welfare system in the first half of 2013, an effort spurred by national advocacy organization Children’s Rights.
