Press Releases
Atlanta Foster Children at Risk as Georgia Fails to Make Court-Ordered Child Welfare Improvements
ATLANTA, GA — A court-ordered monitoring report of the Atlanta foster care system released today shows limited progress amidst serious problems, including failure to monitor children’s safety in foster care. The report is the second under a 2005 federal court settlement between Georgia and national watchdog group Children’s Rights. Today’s report shows Georgia has failed […]
May 17, 2007Scores of Mississippians Report Urgent Need for Foster Care Overhaul
Counsel for the approximately 3,500 foster children in Mississippi will present a settlement agreement for approval today at a hearing before Federal District Court Judge Tom S. Lee, in the child welfare reform lawsuit known as Olivia Y. v. Barbour. Faced with a liability trial scheduled for this month, the state of Mississippi reached a […]
April 18, 2007Class Action on Behalf of Michigan Foster Children to Move Forward
DETROIT, MI — Late yesterday in Detroit, federal Judge Nancy G. Edmunds rejected Michigan’s attempt to dismiss a class action lawsuit on behalf of 19,000 children in state foster care. The lawsuit, filed in August 2006 to reform the state’s foster care system, by national watchdog group Children’s Rights and Michigan-based law firm Dykema Gossett, […]
April 3, 2007Mississippi Does Not Contest Foster Care Failures, Settles Federal Class Action with Children’s Rights
Children’s Rights, a national advocacy organization, and local Mississippi counsel, along with lawyers for the state of Mississippi, are submitting today for preliminary court approval a settlement agreement reached to reform the state’s child welfare system and resolve a federal class action lawsuit, which was scheduled for trial beginning May 7. Children’s Rights and local […]
March 26, 2007Major Problems Still Plaguing Tennessee’s Foster Care System, Despite Progress
Tennessee’s child welfare system, operating under a federal court order, is making progress in some areas but serious problems remain, according to a recent monitoring report. Issued by a panel of child welfare experts, the report examined 2006 data from Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services (DCS), the agency that oversees more than 9,000 foster children […]
March 12, 2007New Action Plan Promises Better Services for Connecticut Foster Children
Connecticut and its Department of Children and Families (DCF) today reached an agreement with national watchdog group Children’s Rights on a new action plan to better meet the service needs of the state’s abused and neglected children. The plan is the latest development in an ongoing federal class action lawsuit, filed in 1989 by Children’s […]
February 26, 2007New Jersey Meeting Essential First Milestones in Child Welfare Reform
A court-ordered monitor, put in place under a 2006 federal court settlement between New Jersey and national watchdog group Children’s Rights, has issued its first report on the state’s child welfare system. The monitoring report credits New Jersey’s Department of Children and Families (DCF), Governor Corzine’s newly created cabinet-level agency that oversees approximately 60,000 abused […]
November 20, 2006Important Ruling Protects Milwaukee Foster Children
MILWAUKEE, WI — Federal arbitrator and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine P. Geske today ruled that the state Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW) must continue the caseworker retention efforts it initiated a year ago in the face of over 50% annual turnover rates. The ruling is binding and is in response to a […]
August 29, 2006Children’s Rights Wins Right to Trial On Behalf Of Mississippi’s Foster Children
JACKSON, MS — A federal court in Mississippi ruled today that Children’s Rights, a national children’s advocacy watchdog group, can proceed to trial against the state of Mississippi on behalf of the approximately 3,500 abused and neglected children in foster care who have sued the state for violations of their constitutional rights. Defendants in the […]
August 8, 2006Faced With Lawsuit on Abused and Neglected Foster Children, Michigan Agrees to Immediate Talks
DETROIT, MI — The advocacy group Children’s Rights filed suit today in federal court against Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and Director of the Department of Human Services (DHS) Marianne Udow on behalf of the nearly 19,000 foster children who continue to be harmed in the state’s child welfare system. The state immediately agreed to enter […]