NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending April 1, 2026

● You know what the take-the-child-and-run crowd says about the rampant confusion of poverty with neglect, right? Well, it’s not poverty alone; thry say, there’s something else, like domestic violence. Often that’s not true. But it certainly was true in the Georgia case described in this column for The Imprint. But as you read the story, consider how things would have played out if the domestic violence that started it all took place in, say, a McMansion in Berkeley Lake, instead of a homeless shelter. And consider what it was that kept the family apart for three years – because it wasn’t domestic violence. Or, just compare the handling of the case to this other, actual case from Georgia. It all illustrates why the “it’s not poverty alone” argument is a red herring.

● The first time California’s private foster care agencies sought a $30 million taxpayer bailout, they said the sky would fall if they had to close. They got the bailout. Twenty-four agencies closed anyway. As I write in Cal Matters, before giving them another bailout, perhaps lawmakers should step outside and look up. 

● The Imprint reports on a new study finding that, when it comes to tearing apart indigenous families, the United States has a record that is, of course, awful. Other countries are even worse. From the story: 

Discussing the study with The Imprint, [one of the authors] said he was most struck by the study’s findings that despite disparities in these “very different societies, we see these continuous patterns.’’ 

● Sometimes in other countries, as in the United States, to have your children taken, you just have to be different. Fox News reports on what happened to a deeply religious Romanian family living in Sweden. From the story: 

[The father] shared videos with Fox News Digital of his daughters pleading to be reunited with their family and of his eldest daughter describing her suicide attempts while in state care. 

That should come as no surprise, given that a Swedish study found that children in that nation’s foster care system were four times more likely to die by age 20 even than comparably-maltreated children left in their own homes (and in this case, there appears to have been no maltreatment at all). The most common cause of death for the foster children: suicide. 

● And finally, NCCPR’s annual reminder: If it’s April Fools’, it must be Child Abuse Hype and Hysteria Month.