Press Releases
Tennessee Judges Oppose Law Interfering with Children’s Juvenile Court Hearings
NASHVILLE, TN — Judges presiding over life-altering juvenile and family court hearings in Tennessee say a new state law aimed at pressuring them to reduce the number of children they commit to foster care violates children’s constitutional rights and will erode public confidence in the integrity of the judicial process if a federal judge now […]
September 30, 2009Kids Seeing Benefits One Year into Michigan Reforms, But Strong Leadership Needed to Ensure Continued Progress
DETROIT, MI — One year into a massive effort to reform the troubled Michigan child welfare system under a federal court order secured by Children’s Rights, a new progress report shows that the state has begun to break a logjam that has kept nearly 10,000 children in foster care waiting years to return home — […]
September 9, 2009Children’s Rights Challenges Tennessee Law Unconstitutionally Interfering with Children’s Juvenile Court Hearings
NASHVILLE, TN — Challenging the constitutionality of a new Tennessee law aimed at pressuring local judges to reduce the number of children they commit to foster care — and asserting that the law endangers the safety of abused and neglected kids — the national advocacy organization Children’s Rights today asked a federal judge to issue […]
August 19, 2009American Civil Liberties Union Urges Federal Court to Reinstate Rhode Island Foster Care Reform Class Action
BOSTON, MA — Writing that a Rhode Island district court “slammed the courthouse doors” on thousands of abused and neglected children in foster care by dismissing a class action brought on their behalf in federal court to reform the state’s failing child welfare system, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today became the latest children’s […]
August 14, 2009Broad National Coalition of Child Welfare Advocates & Experts Lines Up in Support of Rhode Island Reform Class Action
BOSTON, MA — A Rhode Island district court’s decision to dismiss a class action seeking the reform of the state’s child welfare system is “at odds with 30 years of progress in the field of child welfare law,” says a brief (PDF) filed today in a federal appeals court by 15 children’s legal aid organizations, […]
August 12, 2009Milwaukee Foster Parent Recruitment Plan Calls for Better Support & Treatment — and 250 New Families Per Year
MILWAUKEE, WI — Child welfare reform advocates from Children’s Rights today called upon the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW) to move quickly in implementing a new plan developed by independent experts for recruiting 610 additional foster homes needed to address a severe, ongoing shortage. The new “Recruitment and Retention Plan for Milwaukee County” (PDF), […]
August 10, 2009Advocates Appeal Rhode Island Decision Barring Children from Seeking Child Welfare Reform in Federal Court
BOSTON, MA — Asserting that a federal court in Rhode Island erroneously blocked abused and neglected children’s access to the court in dismissing a class action brought on their behalf to reform the state’s failing child welfare system, Rhode Island Child Advocate Jametta Alston, the national advocacy organization Children’s Rights, and local and national co-counsel […]
June 20, 2009Experts in Michigan Reforms Call For $4M Investment in Strengthening Families and Helping Kids out of Foster Care
DETROIT, MI — New recommendations by the independent national experts monitoring sweeping court-ordered child welfare reforms in Michigan call for the state to devote $4 million in new funding to programs aimed at keeping vulnerable families together, moving children out of foster care institutions and into permanent families, and providing transitional services and housing for […]
June 19, 2009Atlanta Child Welfare System Posts Best Results to Date in Court-Ordered Reform Effort
ATLANTA, GA — The Atlanta child welfare system performed better in the second half of 2008 than ever before in implementing widespread reforms required under a federal court order secured by Children’s Rights, according to a new progress report, keeping abused and neglected children safer in foster care and acting faster to return children who […]
June 8, 2009After Slow Start, Court-Ordered Child Welfare Reforms Underway in Mississippi
JACKSON, MS — The Mississippi Department of Family and Children’s Services ended the first period of a massive court-ordered effort to reform its child welfare system having reached few of the required first-year benchmarks for improvement, according to a new report issued late Friday by a court-appointed monitor — but the agency is now well-positioned […]