Several stories in the news lately feature the experiences of fathers fighting for custody of children placed for adoption without their consent. Birth fathers are often left out in discussions about adoption and permanency. In one recent ruling, the Utah Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision that determined a Colorado man was not entitled [...]
A case in Norway involving the removal of two Indian children from their parents sparked controversy and allegations of racial and cultural bias. According to the articles, the children's grandparents expressed a desire to care fo the children and accused the Norwegian government of preferring to keep the children in foster care until their 18th [...]
Today (Wednesday, February 1) there will be a hearing in the Minnesota House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee at 10:15 AM in Room 10 State Office Building. The agenda includes several items, but the one most relevant to child welfare is Jacob's Law (HF 1899), whose short description is "Jacob's law [...]
On Friday, January 27, 2012 the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council on Foundations hosted the 2012 Session Line Up, speakers included Governor Mark Dayton, Representative Paul Thissen, Representative Kurt Zellers, Senator John Marty and Senator David Senjem. Although this is a bonding year and not a budget year there are a number [...]
The Child Welfare Information Gateway has published a report on the number of children adopted in 2007 and 2008. For those who study adoption, this is an important update, as the last major report by the Children's Bureau looked at the numbers of children adopted in 2000-2001. According to the report: There is no single [...]
Over the past few days, several articles have reported this story about an Indian family living in Norway whose children were placed in foster care, sparking accusations of racial and cultural prejudice. According to The Telegraph article that was published today, Norway has accused the parents of over-feeding their children and allowing them to co-sleep. [...]
Tomorrow at noon the Minnesota legislative session will begin. We will be providing regular updates on bills and committee hearings throughout the session, just like we did last year. In addition, we will be updating our webpage on child welfare policy to include separate pages on Policy Resources, Live Federal Bill Tracking, and Live Minnesota [...]
On December 16, 2011, Senator Thomas Harkins (D-IA) introduced Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020). This bill would protect all school children against harmful and life-threatening seclusion and restraint practices. The House has a companion bill H.R. 1381 introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA7). A similar bill was introduced in 2009 called Preventing Harmful [...]