Weekly Roundup
Abbott signs House Bill 3859 into law Governor Abbott recently signed a House bill that allows religious adoption agencies to reject applications from same-sex couples. Proponents of the bill argue that it will help to…
Category Archives: Abuse & Neglect
Adverse Childhood Experiences
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact an individual long-term. Dr. Vince Felitti from Kaiser Permanente and Dr. Bob Anda from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducted a research to study how childhood trauma impacts health outcomes. In their investigation, they tracked the number of ACEs of over seventeen thousand individuals and then compared […]
The Right to Counsel for Children in Dependency Cases
Dependency courts have the authority to make critical decisions that may greatly impact the life of an abused or neglected child, including where that child will live and what visitation rights, if any, her…
Kansas Legislation Aimed At Allowing Parents To Spank Harder Rejected
In Kansas currently spanking is allowed but it crosses the line and become child abuse when it leaves a mark. Kansas is one of a handful of states where corporal punishment is legal in schools. Democratic state representative, Gail Finney, aimed to expand that definition of corporal punishment by making it legal to spank and […]
ABA Resolution Seeks to Prevent Foster Kids Becoming Homeless
The ABA House of Delegates met last Monday, February 10, 2014, at the Midyear Meeting in Chicago, Illinois to debate and vote on a wide range of public policy issues. One Resolution on the table, which was submitted by the Commission on Youth at Risk, “urges governments to enact and implement legislation and policies which […]
Five Years to Serve, Justice Hardly Served
A Wisconsin man and his wife were sentenced to five years each for imprisoning their teenage daughter in their basement for six years. Apparently the father testified during trial that he tried to get his daughter to become a ward of the state because he could not care for her. The couple’s justification for imprisoning […]
10 Missing Children Cases Potentially Linked to Greek Mystery Girl
From Elinda Labropoulou and Laura Smith-Spark at CNN: About 10 cases of missing children are “being taken very seriously” in connection with the suspected abduction of a girl by a Roma couple in Greece, a spokesman for a Greek children’s charity said Tuesday. “They include children from the United States, Canada, Poland and France,” said […]
Courthouse Dogs Calm Testifying Juveniles
“Petting, scratching, and cuddling a dog could be as soothing to the mind and heart as deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer.” ― Dean Koontz, False Memory Several programs exist across the country in which prosecutors and defense counsel use professionally trained dogs to help ease the anxiety juveniles experience while […]
New Texas Law Gives CASA Electronic Access to DFPS Case Files
On September 1, 2013, HB 1227/SB 963 went into effect. This new law requires that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) allow the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) assigned to an individual case to have electronic access to that DFPS case file. In addition, CASA can upload documents to the DFPS case file. San Antonio CASA […]
Child Abuse Impacts Brain Development
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has published an extensive new report on child abuse and neglect. Below is a summarized version of some of the report’s findings… Elevated Risk Environments The study highlights factors that create an “elevated risk” for child abuse and neglect to occur. Factors with the strongest support in scientific research and literature include: […]
Kids for Sale? A Dangerous, New Alternative to Working Within the Child Custody System
ABA Journal picked up on a fascinatingly disturbing new trend some parents are taking advantage of when their foreign adoptions aren’t working out: put them up for sale. Adopting a child requires, at minimum, court approval and legal paperwork. Abandoning a child, biological or adopted, can result in civil liability or even criminal charges. Traditionally, […]
Texas Foster Care System Facing Reform
From Patricia Kilday Hart at the Houston Chronicle: In a 107-page opinion citing deficiencies in the Texas foster care system, a Corpus Christi federal judge this week paved the way forward for a classaction challenge to the state’s system of caring for abused and neglected children. Judge Janis Jack, of the U.S. Southern District, certified […]
