● The Austin American-Statesman
has a good story about that giant study of Texas CASA that shows CASA makes
things worse for kids. CASA’s response
is depressingly familiar: They crank up the excuse machine. I
discuss CASA’s response, and include a link to the full American-Statesman story, here.
● Also from Texas: The latest installment in the joint Houston Chronicle / NBC News
investigation of children harmed when doctors rush to conclude that illnesses
or accidental injuries are child abuse. Here’s
the print version; here’s a link
to the full series, and this excerpt ran on NBC Nightly News:
● The observation that the “child protection” system is
really a parent punishment system is nothing new. But when someone who has worked closely with
that system for decades effectively admits as much – that is new. That admission is one of many revelations in an excellent
story form the Arizona Republic. I
have a discussion of the story, with a link to the full story.
● When family defenders get so beaten down they don’t fight
enough for their clients, writes Vivek Sankaran, it becomes “Injustice
Without Objection.” “Systems don’t
automatically bend toward justice,” he writes. “They only do so when lawyers
say the magic phrase: ‘I object.’”
● In several posts to this blog, I’ve highlighted the
problem of “hidden foster care.” CPS agencies coerce parents into “voluntarily”
surrendering their children to foster care with relatives – but they come up
with some euphemism or other so they don’t count it as foster care in official
statistics – and deny parents even the minimal due process protections of the
formal foster care system. Most recently, I discussed this in
connection with Nebraska. Other
states known to be plagued with this problem include North Carolina, Texas and
Virginia. Now,
add Missouri to the list.
● And in Kansas, which long has taken away children at
obscene rates, families once again are fighting back. And for once, at
least some Kansas media are taking notice.
