Press Releases
New Report Reveals Alarming Safety Concerns in Michigan’s Child Welfare System
Contact: Daniel Kessel, 646-216-3343, dkessel@childrensrights.org (DETROIT) — A new report on the status of Michigan’s child welfare system reveals serious ongoing safety concerns for children in the state’s care. From mishandled reports of maltreatment to improperly licensed homes, the report shows a disturbing trend regarding the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) continued failure to […]
May 9, 2018Victory for Rhode Island’s Children: Fairness Hearing Brings Resolution to Long-Standing Foster Care Case
Court Approves Historic Agreement to Greatly Improve the Lives of Children in State Care Contact: Daniel Kessel, 646-216-3343, dkessel@childrensrights.org (Providence, RI) – Following a fairness hearing held on Wednesday, May 9th, a federal court in Providence has approved the settlement agreement in a longstanding class action to greatly improve practices and outcomes for children in state care. […]
April 18, 2018Florida Foster Care Suit Moves Forward, Federal Court Rejects State Agencies’ Attempt to Dismiss
Judge Says Complaint “Alleges in Unmistakable Clarity” that DCF Routinely Puts Children at Risk of Harm Contact: Daniel Kessel, 646-216-3343, dkessel@childrensrights.org A federal court in Tallahassee ruled on April 17, 2018 that a new class action civil rights lawsuit targeting specific failings in the Miami-Dade/Monroe Counties’ child welfare system should be allowed to proceed. Defendants had […]
April 13, 2018Report: Progress for Children in Milwaukee Foster Care
(New York, NY) – Today state reviewers issued a report tracking the progress of The Wisconsin Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW) covering January to December 2017. The report can be found here. Children’s Rights and co-counsel filed the federal class action known as Jeanine B. v. Walker in 1993, charging that the Milwaukee child […]
April 6, 2018“Too Little Has Changed” for Children and Families Served by South Carolina Child Welfare System, Latest Report Finds
A “system driven by crisis” requiring urgent work to meet improvements for children in the state’s care Contact: Daniel Kessel, 646-216-3343, dkessel@childrensrights.org (Charleston, S.C.) — Independent, court-appointed monitors filed their second report on South Carolina’s efforts to reform its foster care system, finding that the Department of Social Services (DSS) has not made sufficient progress in many […]
March 2, 2018Children’s Advocacy Organizations File Amicus Brief in Support of Asylum-Seeker Separated from Daughter
Groups Call the Separation ‘An Unconscionable Overreach of Government Power … and Threatens One of our Most Fundamental Social Constructs, the Family’ Contact: Daniel Kessel, 646-216-3333, dkessel@childrensrights.org (New York) – Fifteen advocacy organizations today submitted an amicus brief in support of a Congolese asylum seeker who has been detained and separated from her 7-year-old daughter for almost four […]
February 20, 2018Florida Department of Children and Families Puts Foster Youth at Risk of Physical, Psychological Harm in Miami-Dade/Monroe, New Suit Charges
Drastic Shortage of Foster Homes and Lack of Mental Health Services Re-Victimizing Children; Kids Frequently Moved 20 or More Times, Infants and Toddlers Warehoused in Group Care Contact: Wende Gozan Brown, 646-216-3329, wbrown@childrensrights.org; Mary Kate Martin, 312-861-8254, MaryKate.Martin@bakermckenzie.com (Tallahassee, FL) – An extreme shortage of foster homes in Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties leaves children adrift and at […]
February 9, 2018Children’s Rights Responds to Budget Deal
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 347-526-5520; wbrown@childrensrights.org In response to the budget deal that President Trump signed into law today, Sandy Santana, executive director for Children’s Rights, issued the following statement: “This deal is a step in the right direction for children. While it took tireless advocacy to add in key provisions at the […]
January 9, 2018Federal Court Allows Missouri Foster Care Suit to Proceed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Daniel Kessel at 646-216-3343, dkessel@childrensrights.org Maria Tsikalas at 314-977-3077, maria.tsikalas@slu.edu Lewis Cohen at 510-469-3007, lcohen@youthlaw.org ——- Plaintiffs’ Counsel ‘Gratified the Court Has Ruled in Favor of Youth,’ Notes Children ‘Continue to be Prescribed Powerful and Potentially Dangerous Drugs … Without Proper Oversight’ (Kansas City, MO) – For the first time, a […]
January 8, 2018Rhode Island, Plaintiffs Settle Long-Standing Foster Care Case
Contact: Wende Gozan Brown at 646-216-3329; wbrown@childrensrights.org In Resolving the Lawsuit, Officials Have Entered a Historic Agreement …With the Vital Purpose of Transforming Young Lives’ (Providence, RI) – Attorneys for plaintiff children in Rhode Island foster care, Governor Gina Raimondo and Dr. Trista Piccola of the Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF) have agreed to settle […]