Child Protection Law Report articles from January 2005

Child Protection Law Report archives from January 2005

A family court judge in New York.(child bearing case)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A FAMILY COURT JUDGE IN NEW YORK--who created a furor last year by ordering a homeless mother of four to refrain from bearing children--has done it again. This time, Judge Marilyn O'Connor has ordered a drug-addicted mother to stop having...

Abstinence programs give teens misleading information, report says.
January 1, 2005... Teenagers in programs that promote abstinence from sex until marriage are receiving false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health, a congressional report has found. One curriculum even erroneously states that touching...

Michigan teen to face charges in baseball bat abortion.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony where, in an effort to terminate a pregnancy, he hit his girlfriend in the stomach with a miniature baseball bat several times over a three-week period. The teenagers buried the baby in the boy's...

Coalition encourages lawmakers to consider community-based programs.
January 1, 2005... A group of children's advocates wants the state of Mississippi to improve its juvenile justice system by using community-based programs for young offenders instead of incarcerating them. Sheila Bedi, a member of the Mississippi Coalition...

Schools and communities looking for ways to prevent bullying.
January 1, 2005... A recent study has found that nearly 30 percent of all students say they have been bullied or they acted as a bully. Despite these high numbers, bullying prevention is not part of the training given to most teachers. More resources are...

Report recommends overhaul of Texas Foster Care System.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... A recent report issued by the Texas Legislature recommends the complete restructure of the state's child welfare system. The Select Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care calls for the transition plan to begin immediately and completed...

Department of Education officials unveil student technology plan.
January 1, 2005... On January 7, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige presented the agency's National Education Technology Plan. The document, "Toward a New Golden Age in American Education: How the Internet, the Law, and Today's Students Are Revolutionizing...

Mental health.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... MENTAL HEALTH. Children in the child welfare system have low rates of mental health services use, according to an article in the December issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry. The article states that children in the system are at high...

State ban on gay foster parents overturned by Arkansas Court.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Howard v. Child Welfare Agency Review Board, No. CV 1999-9881 Circuit Court of Pulaski County December 29, 2004 An Arkansas state court judge has struck down a 1999 regulation that prohibited homosexuals from becoming foster parents. The...

Florida adoption ban stands.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Florida allows gays to be foster parents, but does not allow them to adopt. On January 10, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a case challenging Florida's law prohibiting gay adoption. Thus, the High Court let stand a decision from the...

Robbery conviction based on parental spying cannot stand.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)
January 1, 2005... State of Washington v. Christensen, No. 74839-0 Washington State Supreme Court December 9, 2004 Washington's highest state court reversed a 17-year-old's robbery conviction that was based partly on testimony from his girlfriend's mother,...

Brazilian detention.(child abuse in detention centers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... BRAZILIAN DETENTION. According to Human Rights Watch, youths in Rio de Janeiro's detention centers are abused and live in inhumane conditions. The organization visited five of Rio's facilities and found some of the inmates and staff infected...

Ruling protects physicians who make incorrect child abuse determinations.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Manifold v. Ragaglia, 272 Conn 410 Connecticut Supreme Court December 28, 2004 Connecticut's highest court held that when a child welfare agency asks physicians to examine children and determine if they have been abused, the physicians...

Indian family termination proceedings lacked expert required by statute.(child protection law)
January 1, 2005... In the Interest of M.H., 2005 SD 4 South Dakota Supreme Court January 5, 2005 The South Dakota Supreme Court reversed a decision terminating the parental rights of two American Indian parents where the expert witness offered by the state...

Convictions for drowning kids reversed by appeals court.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... Yates v. State of Texas, No. 01-02-00462-CR Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas January 6, 2005 An appeals court reversed the capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates, a Texas mom accused of drowning three of her five kids....

Teenage son and daughter must testify against father.(Child Protection Law Abstracts)
January 1, 2005... In the Matter of a Grand Jury Investigation, No. SJC-09343 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court December 14, 2004 The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that two minor children could be required to testify against their father in...

Tsunami orphans.
January 1, 2005... TSUNAMI ORPHANS. Adoption experts are cautioning people against rushing to try to adopt children who lost their parents in December's tsunami disaster in south Asia. Government officials stress that the priority is to find new homes for the...

Impaired drivers.(ban on marijuana smoking drivers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... IMPAIRED DRIVERS. The Bush Administration is trying to stop teens from driving after they smoke marijuana. The administration launched a $10 million television ad campaign to warn teens that pot can affect concentration and reaction time up to...

Pell cuts.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... PELL CUTS. Federal rules that will take effect in the fall of 2005 might reduce the amount of Pell Grant money college students receive. According to an analysis conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE), approximately 1.3 million...

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation awarded a $575,000 grant designed to reduce teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay Area.(Funding News)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... * The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation awarded a $575,000 grant designed to reduce teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay Area. The grant, awarded to Education Training and Research...

The Department of Justice is seeking applications for the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grant Program.(Funding News)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2005... * The Department of Justice is seeking applications for the Rural Domestic Violence and Child Victimization Enforcement Grant Program. The purpose of the Rural Program is to enhance the safety of victims of child abuse, dating violence and...

New calendar items.(Calendar)
January 1, 2005... * Mar. 20-23 The 32nd National Conference on Juvenile Justice will be held in Orlando, Fla. The conference is co-sponsored by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges and the National District Attorneys Association. Issues to be...