CAPTA Reauthorized

The Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) Reauthorization Act of 2010 (S.3817) was signed into law on December 20, 2010, as Public Law 111-320. The act leaves funding for discretionary grants (research, training, technical assistance, information collection, and program innovations) and for basic State grants at the old authorized level of $120 million in FY 2010 and at "such sums as may be necessary" for FY 2011 through 2015. A new funding section regarding allotments of the basic State grant funds for improving child protective services establishes a minimum State grant of $50,000, with additional distribution based on child ...

Six Million Children Maltreated in 2009?

In 2009, an estimated 3.3 million referrals involving the alleged maltreatment of approximately 6.0 million children were received by CPS agencies nationwide. Of these, CPS determined that at least one child was a unique victim of abuse and neglect in 702,000 cases. The rest were unsubstantiated or closed with no finding. These and other data appear in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Child Maltreatment 2009, the 20th in a series of reports designed to provide national statistics on child abuse and neglect. Most states recognize four major types of maltreatment: neglect, physical abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse. ...

Lawyer’s Guide to Representing Very Young Children

The American Bar Association (ABA) Center on Children and the Law recently published a Practice and Policy Brief designed for attorneys and those representing very young children in dependency proceedings. The brief outlines some of the ethical dilemmas faced by these representatives, and it outlines the four types of advocacy essential to achieving the best outcomes for young children in these cases: Child-centered Research-informed Permanency-driven Holistic Ethical guidance for attorneys who represent children of any age in child abuse and neglect cases comes from the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Recognizing that ...

Darkness of Child Sex Abuse Leads to Suicide

Bill Zeller, a Princeton Ph.D candidate and renowned internet programmer, died Wednesday from injuries sustained in a suicide attempt. He was 27. Zeller stunned everyone with a 4,000-word suicide note detailing a childhood of physical and sexual abuse which he had never before disclosed to anyone. Presumably, Zeller's sexual abuse was not captured on film for the entire pedophile world to share and celebrate repeatedly in perpetuity. Sadly, most child pornography defendants minimize the impact of their criminal behavior on victims who can never escape this constant reminder of their initial abuse and exploitation. Unfortunately, many judges agree ...

Life After Death: Survivor Benefits for Posthumously Conceived Kids

Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that children born though in virto fertilization long after their father died cannot be denied Social Security survivor benefits solely because they could not inherit under state law. "It goes without saying that these technologies were not within the imagination, much less the contemplation, of Congress when the relevant sections of the act came to be, and that they present a host of difficult legal and even moral questions . . . . We [] cannot help but observe that this is, indeed, a new world." U.S. Circuit Judge Maryanne Trump Barry said in Capato v. Commissioner of Social ...

Middle School Boobies

Once again, America's finest school administrators have decided to attack student speech by banning the wearing of pink bracelets to promote breast cancer awareness that are emblazoned with the phrase "I [heart] Boobies." And once again, these people seem to be concentrated in the great state of Pennsylvania. In the first case to challenge such a ban, two girls attending an Easton, Pennsylvania, middle school contend they have the right to engage in silent speech about breast cancer in a way that will be relevant and engaging to their peers. According to the Legal Intelligencer: the bracelets are distributed by the Keep A Breast Foundation, a ...

Tolerating Consensual Incest

No death penalty here folks. Last week, Columbia University professor and Huffington Post blogger David Epstein was charged with having a sexual relationship with his 24-year-old daughter. Joining such notable perverts as pedophile photographer Matthew Mancuso and child rapist Patrick Kennedy, Epstein was described by one of his students as a "very nice guy" who was recently placed on administrative leave. According to the New York Daily News, Epstein and his child had a three-year sexual relationship and often exchanged "twisted text messages." Too bad Epstein didn't commit his crime in Florida where Masha Allen's father, Matthew Mancuso, was ...

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