● Eli Hager of The
Marshall Project looks at a
particular subset of foster care placements: Each year, an average of
17,000 children are torn from their homes – and then sent back within ten
days. But even these short stays can
traumatize children. And, of course,
they raise the question: If you can send the children back home in a few days
did they really need to be taken at all?
● Anna Claire Vollers of The
Birmingham News looks at the harm done to mothers and newborns by child
abuse investigations prompted
by false positive drug tests. It’s
another example of harm encouraged by
the so-called "plan of safe care" provision in the Child Abuse
Prevention and Treatment Act.
Fortunately, there are journalists such as Vollers reporting the side of
the story that the Boston
Globe / ProPublica “Spotlight Fellows” left out.
● Erik Gunn of the Wisconsin
Examiner looks
at the consequences of legislation that would help turn that state’s child
welfare system into the ultimate middle-class entitlement: Step right up and
take a poor person’s child for your very own.
● Also in Wisconsin, Mike
Hixenbaugh of NBC News reports that doctors at Children’s Hospital of
Wisconsin are rebelling against their own hospital administration, and the
behavior of the hospital’s “child abuse
pediatricians.” A series of meetings
were held in response to Hixenbaugh’s earlier, excellent reporting. According to the latest story:
At one internal meeting this week, some Children’s Wisconsin doctors told administrators from the Medical College of Wisconsin — which employs physicians who practice at the hospital — that without swift policy changes, they would hesitate to bring their own children to the hospital following accidental injuries, fearing that a medical mistake or overreaction could lead Child Protective Services to break their families apart.
● Sanne Blauw of the innovative news site The
Correspondent has a story that
has nothing to do with the American child welfare system – and everything to do
with the American child welfare system. It’s about how a Dutch court ruled that
an algorithm that targets poor people who might be committing public benefits
fraud is a violation of human rights. It’s a lot like the algorithm Pittsburgh
is using to target potential child abusers – and, soon, to try to slap
a risk score on every child in the county at birth.
● A new report from researchers affiliated with what should properly
be called the Penn State Penance Institute is a frightening attack on the
minimal due process protections afforded those accused of child abuse or
neglect in Pennsylvania. And that means
more children traumatized by unnecessary investigations and unnecessary foster
care. I
have two blog posts about it.
● Another NCCPR blog post asks if a New York City
foster-care panic in 2016 contributed
to a child abuse tragedy last month. (It sure looks like it.)
● And Marie
Claire Australia profiles an activist
fighting the racism in that countries child welfare system.
