NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending June 9, 2026

● In a case involving what is alleged to be rampant lying by both foster parents and a family police agency supervisor in Alaska, a judge sanctioned the entire agency for needlessly tearing a newborn from her mother, who was herself a foster child. According to the Anchorage Daily News:

In a scathing 23-page order, the judge said the in-court testimony of an unnamed [child welfare agency] supervisor was “anything but truthful to this Court and either attempted to deceive or trick this Court and the parties,” suggesting the person may have lied under oath. 

● Gothamist reports on some of the nine – yes nine – separate lawsuits, including a major class-action, challenging how the New York City family police agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, routinely abuses its power to remove children in so-called emergencies without so much as asking a judge first. From the story: 

Melissa Friedman, an attorney in charge at the Legal Aid Society who represents children in family court, said emergency removals often traumatize the children she and her colleagues represent. Younger children may experience more bedwetting, nightmares, tantrums and self harm, she said, while older kids often act out. At least one child compared the experience to being kidnapped, she said. 

As for why there are so many such suits in New York City: It’s not because the city’s family police agency is worse than others across the country, it's because the city’s network of legal representation for children and families is better. 

● Nebraska has long torn apart families at one of the highest rates in the nation. Compounding the problem, KETV reports, the state is vastly increasing the number of those children it institutionalizes. 

● The Colorado Sun reports that Colorado’s child abuse hotline accepts for investigation 26% of calls – unless the call involves abuse in a residential treatment center. Then, over the past five years, only 8% were accepted for investigation. 

Some better news in two other states, where some good legislation is progressing: 

● In Illinois, WGLT Public Radio reports: 

Illinois lawmakers unanimously passed a bill during the spring legislative session that gives more transparency and tools to parents to defend themselves in child abuse cases. 

The bill requires child abuse pediatricians — investigators at the hospital who look at medical records to determine if there is potential child abuse — to state who they are to parents as they start an investigation. It also allows parents to get a second opinion and use that during court hearings. 

● And in Pennsylvania, CapitolWire reports 

The House Children and Youth Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved two bipartisan measures designed to reform child welfare and strengthen protections for parental rights. … 

House Bill 133 allows Pennsylvania courts to restore parental rights in certain cases when a parent has successfully rehabilitated and a child has not been adopted, giving families a second chance. … 

House Bill 138 also protects the rights of incarcerated parents by ensuring incarceration alone cannot be used to terminate parental rights. It requires courts to consider a parent’s efforts to stay involved in their child’s life while incarcerated. 

● Writing for the Center for New York City Affairs, Angela Burton and Joyce McMillan note that 

Mayor Zohran Mamdani's create[ed]… the Office of Community Safety – based on the idea that early interventions can increase safety before policing becomes the only available strategy. 

They call for doing the same to curb family policing by creating an Office of Family Well-Being. 

● And in Kentucky, a judge has ordered the arrest of former Gov. Matt Bevin for allegedly failing to produce documents the court demanded in connection with a child support case pursued by the son he adopted from Ethiopia. But, as WKYT reports, that’s only the latest twist in a story of an adoption gone horribly wrong. There’s more about the case here and here.