DOJ Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence Presents Final Recommendations
The Attorney General's Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence has released its final recommendations for a national response to address children’s exposure to violence. The report emphasizes prevention and intervention and underscores the importance of trauma-informed care and victim-tailored services.
The task force calls on the federal government, states, tribes, and communities to ensure that all children exposed to violence are identified, screened, and assessed; to create multidisciplinary councils to facilitate systemwide collaboration; to involve men and ...
Preparing Children to Testify in Court
Court preparation is beneficial for the children required to testify in a courtroom. The purpose of a child-witness court preparation program is to assist the child witness in her or his ability to testify truthfully and effectively in a courtroom. This is important because children are required to testify about serious allegations that hold potentially significant outcomes for them or those accused. Having an unprepared child take the witness stand and offer poor testimony is not only regrettable, but preventable.
The National Child Protection Training Center has ...
Be Careful when “Making Healthy Choices”
Attorneys who represent youths, parents, and foster parents have reason to be concerned about a pamphlet recently published by the federal government’s Children’s Bureau. The pamphlet, “Making Healthy Choices,” is intended to advise youth in foster care about psychotropic medications and is being distributed nationwide in English and Spanish.
Unfortunately, the pamphlet encourages youths to fill out a checklist/questionnaire of crimes they may have committed and to list deficits in their personalities and character. The youths are encouraged to ...
Severe Abuse of Adopted Children
In response to troubling issues identified by the Office of the Family and Children’s Ombudsman (OFCO) concerning cases of severe child abuse and neglect of adopted children, Washington state Governor Gregoire requested that Children’s Administration (CA) and OFCO convene a workgroup to examine these issues and make recommendations to improve the adoption process and protect children.
Members of the workgroup represent various professions and organizations including: Children’s Administration; private child placing agencies who conduct domestic and ...
Youth in Foster Care and Psychotropic Medications
Making Healthy Choices: A Guide on Psychotropic Medications for Youth in Foster Care looks like a graphic novel, but its photo-heavy format and cartoon speech balloons carry a serious message. Designed to appeal to youth, the booklet walks the reader through the decisions that have to be made when mental health problems—short- or long-term—need to be addressed.
Often, the quick solution to dealing with behavior issues of youth in foster care has been to prescribe psychotropic medications. Recent publicity about the high numbers of medicated children and youth ...
Immigration and Child Welfare
The Applied Research Center (ARC) recently published a report on the obstacles that families encounter when they concurrently deal with immigration enforcement and the child welfare system. ARC's national investigation centered on the extent to which children living in foster care are prevented from reuniting with their parents who are detained or have been deported due to alleged immigration violations.
ARC used county-level survey data from child welfare caseworkers, attorneys, and judges from 19 jurisdictions in six States for computing the national estimates used in ...
Child Abuse Investigations: have a healthy suspicion of multiple “unsubstantiated” findings
Following a child abuse/neglect investigation, a child protective services (CPS) investigator, usually in consultation with his or her supervisor, determines if the report should be substantiated or unsubstantiated. If the report is substantiated it means that the information gathered supports a finding of child abuse or neglect. If the report is unsubstantiated it means that the information gathered does not support a finding of child abuse or neglect.
Each state has its own unique scheme governing the practical application of the term “unsubstantiated” or ...