by Elizabeth Gibbons Improvements to Child Welfare Services in Connecticut Every state child welfare agency faces challenges made worse by national immigration policies and the opioid crisis. Connecticut is no different; setbacks and tragedies plague the state’s Department of Children and Families. But despite this, Connecticut has been praised as a national model of child
by Elizabeth Gibbons Immigration Update Following the massive outcry about the separation of children and parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, the Trump Administration is looking to expand family detention centers to accommodate whole families. The Justice Department, under Jeff Sessions, is concerned that constraints on Homeland Security will make it “more likely that families will
by Elizabeth Gibbons Arizona The Arizona legislature has had a very busy session; a number of bills related to child welfare currently are on Governor Doug Ducey’s desk. Those bills include Parental Rights and Reunification (Senate Bill 1473), which moves to terminate parental rights within 10 days of removal under certain circumstances—often extreme substance abuse
by Elizabeth Gibbons Kansas The Kansas Department of Children and Families in Kansas is six months into a complete, top-to-bottom review and reform. In that time, more than 20 administrators managing child welfare and state services have been promoted, fired, or shifted to other positions. New director Gina Meier-Hummel has visited almost all of the
by Elizabeth Gibbons Michigan The Department of Health and Human Services child welfare agency in Michigan has been under federal investigation for almost a decade, and despite some advancements in their work, are still seeing an increased number of child deaths due to abuse or negligence while in state care. In fact, more children are
By Kirk O’Brien, Yvonne Humenay Roberts, Kristen Rudlang-Perman, Crystal Ward Allen, and Peter J. Pecora Nearly one in five children in foster care has been in care before. Reentry into care can lead to fractured families. Stable, nurturing families can bolster youth resilience and lessen negative long-term effects—but these protective factors can’t be nurtured if
By Kat Keenan and Bernadette Tavares Nestled in the heart of New England, Rhode Island is only 37 miles wide and 48 miles long, with 400 miles of coastline and a population of roughly one million people. We like to think of ourselves here in the Ocean State as being the biggest little state in
by Elizabeth Gibbons The U.S. Public School System's Failing Grades The last seven Secretaries of Education recently convened to assess the country’s K-12 and higher education systems to determine how schools need to adapt to prepare students for a changing world. This convening was held on the 35th anniversary of the 1983 report “A Nation at
by Elizabeth Gibbons Public Schools Over the past two weeks, teachers across the country have been walking out, striking, and demanding livable wages, better resources, and increased public school funding. The most publicized stories have come from West Virginia and Oklahoma, where protests and mass school closures have yielded positive results: a 5% pay increase
by Elizabeth Gibbons Ohio Mahoning County Children Services, in Ohio, is training its caseworkers to identify and respond to human trafficking. The training, led by Columbus police, was developed in 2003 to raise consciousness of the crimes and educate criminal justice and social service professionals, those with the most exposure to victims, in appropriate responses. Most