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A new book unsettles assumptions about “child welfare” foster care and adoption

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

adoption child abuse child welfare family preservation foster care Roxanna Asgarian We Were Once a FamilyYou probably remember the story: White adoptive parents of six black children drive themselves and the children off a cliff, killing them all.

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“Child welfare” and the moral bankruptcy of social work

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

It crops up over and over when there’s any story about what family police agencies (a more accurate term than “child welfare” agencies) do to families. The comments are all pretty much the same: There is enormous accountability in child welfare, she says, we certainly don’t need more!

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Guess which child welfare “scholars” are in the group defending a “race realist” law professor beloved by Tucker Carlson

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

But I should explain at the top why this commentary is on a blog about the “child welfare” system. AFA’s members include some of the most strident supporters of tearing apart more families and some of those deepest in denial about racism in child welfare.

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The tattletale factor in “child welfare”

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

It seems like a week doesn’t go by without some “child welfare” agency announcing an initiative that supposedly will make family policing kinder and gentler. child abuse child welfare Connecticut DCF differential response family preservation family resource centers foster care Kelley Fong

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Another child welfare scholar with an agenda

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The same scholar who claims predictive analytics in child welfare isn’t biased also signs on to an extremist agenda calling for an automatic, mandatory extra level of family police surveillance of thousands of impoverished families.

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Lessons from two child welfare court decisions

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Vivek Sankaran, director of the Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic at the University Michigan Law School summed it up perfectly: In many ways, the decision was unexceptional. Yes, families DO have Fourth Amendment rights when the family police are at the door.

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End child welfare’s public celebration of family executions

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Termination of parental rights is child welfare's "death penalty." Except in child welfare. Termination of parental rights (or, as it should be called, termination of children’s rights to their parents) often is described as child welfare’s death penalty.

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Maine Child Welfare Advisory Panel charts a better way forward

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

At last: A group involved in oversight of Maine child welfare that shows a real understanding of the problems. The Maine Child Welfare Advisory Panel (MCWAP) Citizen Review Panel has produced a report with six recommendations. There's some good stuff in this report.

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How the journalism of child welfare fails

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

I single these stories out not because they are exceptionally awful - there’s far worse out there - but precisely because they are so typical of the journalism of child welfare. child abuse child welfare family preservation foster care GroundTruth Project journalism Mountain State Spotlight.

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Child Welfare Workers.Managing for Outcomes

Famcare

In child and family services, the mission no longer ends at removing an endangered child from a dysfunctional household but now extends to how a Child Welfare Agency might help the child grow into a productive member of society.

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A child welfare case leads to a stunning dissent from Michigan’s Chief Justice

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

More than just a dissent in an individual case, this opinion is a call to transform “child welfare” in Michigan – and everywhere else. is a brilliant dissection of the failings of both law and practice in “child welfare” in Michigan and pretty much everywhere else in America.

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Our annual reminder: End "child welfare"’s public celebration of family executions

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Termination of parental rights is child welfare's "death penalty." Except in "child welfare." Termination of parental rights (or, as it should be called, termination of children’s rights to their parents) often is described as child welfare’s death penalty.

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In California, “child welfare’s” ACEs evangelists are saying the quiet part out loud

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

For decades, that’s been the excuse for keeping the massive child welfare surveillance state going: Well we should do something different, of course, and we would do something different -- if government handed us everything we need on a silver platter!

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UPDATE:Arizona group home industry tries to take advantage of ouster of the first Black director of the state’s “child welfare” agency.

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Arizona child abuse child welfare DCS family preservation foster care Jake Hoffman Katie Hobbs Matthew Stewart Mike FaustArizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (Photo by Gage Skidmore) The recap: In a previous post to this blog , I wrote about a huge cave-in by Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

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Two stories about “shortages” in Massachusetts “child welfare.” One got it right.

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

And, concerning solutions: So child welfare experts that I've spoken to have pointed to a few changes. Other states are as bad or worse, but, as it happens, the history of “child welfare” failure in Massachusetts is particularly well-documented.

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Can we help a leader of the “child welfare” establishment master one of the grand challenges for social work?

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The life’s work of Barth and other well-meaning social workers who have done so much to build, maintain and expand the child welfare surveillance state has come under increasing scrutiny for the enormous harm it’s done to children.

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New child welfare data from NYC confirm: The “unintended abolition” worked!

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

But it still fell into some of the traps that characterize much of the journalism of child welfare – including a crucial misunderstanding of poverty and neglect and one inflammatory claim that, as originally published, was flat wrong. ?

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Some good, bad and ugly in new federal “child welfare” data

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The big national takeaway is that these data – once again – refute the racist myth about COVID-19 and “child welfare.” AFCARS child abuse child welfare family preservation foster care Iowa Kansas Missouri rate-of-removal

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In child welfare, where do ethics reviews come from?

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

A “scholar” who insists there is little or no racial bias in child welfare writes a “predictive analytics” algorithm for the State of California. KEY POINTS ?

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Maine’s child welfare ombudsman is dangerously wrong

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Maine's first child welfare ombudsman, Dean Crocker, understood the lessons from the tragic death of Logan Marr, who was taken when her family poverty was confused with "neglect" and killed in foster care. But one reason is the state’s child welfare “ombudsman,” Christine Alberi.

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An ugly video illustrates that in “child welfare” health terrorism is still the go-to tactic

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The seeds of Q-Anon and Pizzagate were planted at the McMartin preschool, then grown and nurtured by a lot of “professionals” in "child welfare" who should have known better. And in the 1980s the mainstream child welfare establishment actively promoted satanic panic.

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Child welfare lessons from New York City’s “unintended abolition”

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

ACS Administration for Children's Services Anna Arons child abuse child welfare family preservation foster care unintended abolition

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When “child welfare” oppressors demand that the oppressed be nice to them, it’s just one more form of oppression

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Attention child welfare garden partiers: The skunks have arrived Every year, the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse holds a four-day virtual extravaganza featuring more than 100 panels and speakers from around the world.

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The Right Social Services Software Adds Protection in Child Welfare Cases

Famcare

Child Welfare Juvenile Justice caseworkers social services software social services social workers human services software FAMCare Team Blog'sHow we care for the most vulnerable among us is one of the great challenges of our time.

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The American Bar Association(!) just came damn close to calling for repeal of America’s three worst “child welfare” laws

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

They even acknowledged their own role in “contributing to racism in the legal field” in general and “within the child welfare legal field in particular…” Offhand, I can’t think of an organization that says “establishment” more than the American Bar Association.

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Maine’s child welfare providers produce a "framework" for false consensus

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Multiple organizations in Maine – but with the lead organizations dominated by private “providers” have put out a document they’re calling “A Framework for Child Welfare Reform” in that state. They’ve been led, or rather misled, by the state’s child welfare “ombudsman,” Christine Alberi.

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The $20 million boondoggle that perfectly illustrates the banality of child welfare thinking

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

But it’s hard to imagine anything that more perfectly captures the banality of child welfare thinking than this waste of $20 million: Five organizations will spend this federal grant money to create a “Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency.”

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A Pennsylvania case illustrates again why, for children, “best interests of the child” is among the most dangerous phrases in the “child welfare” lexicon

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The fundamental fact of American “child welfare” is that if you’re not white and affluent the system will discriminate against you. That’s not unique to “child welfare” of course, but the field seems to be “in denial” about it to an extraordinary degree.)

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Tips for Child Welfare Organizations to Improve Handling of Caseloads

Famcare

In the United States, there are around 328,120 child welfare employees. But, in the meanwhile, here's how child welfare agencies might better manage greater caseloads. Child Welfare human services software Family and Child Welfare

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Congress Works to Protect Indian Child Welfare Act

Beyond Advocacy

Capitol Visitor Center, First Street and East Capitol Street, Washington, DC 20515, to explore legislative remedies should the Supreme Court overturn the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

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Adding Futures Thinking and Foresight to Your Social Welfare Policy Class: An Assignment Overview for MSW/BSW Policy Classes

Social Work Futures

This past year, I taught a traditional social welfare policy class at my post as a social work professor at Portland State University. I incorporated a futures lens into the class and into the primary assignments.

Welfare 177
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Did child welfare fearmongering contribute to the increase in COVID among children?

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

He claimed “the shutdown decision arguably amounted to a prioritizing of the welfare of certain adults over the welfare of children." Even the head of New York City’s family policing agency (a more accurate term than child welfare agency) has confirmed that the fearmongers were wrong.

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The Los Angeles Times is getting child welfare wrong again – and that’s bad news for Los Angeles children

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

The former Times reporter and still their go-to guy for child welfare stories continues to soft-peddle racial bias. Perhaps Therolf fears that people are finally taking seriously the existence of systemic racial bias in child welfare.

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Is even a moment of self-reflection too much to ask? In child welfare – and journalism – apparently, yes.

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

child abuse child welfare family preservation foster care Greg Abbott Texas Texas Tribune transgender childrenTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (Photo by Gage Skidmore) Contrary to one caseworker’s claim, Texas Gov.

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The good news: A public radio station in Kansas City talked to the right people for a "child welfare" story. The bad news: They still missed the point

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Often, when I single out for criticism particular stories about “child welfare” – or as it should be called family policing, it’s because the reporter never bothered to even speak to parents who have had their children taken, or to lawyers for such parents.

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Social Services Software for Child and Family Welfare Agencies

Famcare

In 1998, a consortium of child welfare agencies in Missouri were researching the market for web based, social services case management software. FAMCare social services software Family and Child Welfare

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Celebrating women leaders in child welfare — a message from our CEO

National Casa Gal

The post Celebrating women leaders in child welfare — a message from our CEO appeared first on National CASA/GAL Association for Children. In March we celebrate Women’s History Month, and in this month, we honor the pioneering work of the late Carmen Ray-Bettineski. Read More.

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Power, privilege, and passing judgment in “child welfare”: The Massachusetts “Child Advocate” gets it wrong again

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog

Like most people in “child welfare” her intentions are good. Massachusetts "Child Advocate" Maria Mossaides Consider the relative positions and power of two women in Massachusetts.

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A Helpful Guide to KVC’s Mental Health and Child Welfare Services in Kansas and Missouri

KVC

If you are wondering what mental health and child welfare services KVC provides and in which areas, this guide is for you! The next subsidiary is KVC Kansas which provides child welfare and mental health services.

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Shelter Confronts Child Welfare Inequity

Shelter, Inc

The harsh reality is not all children are represented equally in the child welfare system, nor do they have equal outcomes. The implicit biases, which we aren’t even aware of, influence the child welfare system’s disparity.