child neglect

A new Texas law and a bill being considered would strengthen the rights of parents in the child protection courts, allowing them greater access to court-appointed attorneys and the ability to attend court hearings virtually, even after the pandemic recedes.

Legislation to reauthorize the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) is moving through Congress, with the U.S. House of Representatives passing a version out of committee and the U.S. Senate marking up their version last month. 

The New York State legislature passed a raft of historic child welfare bills this year. All of them aimed to strengthen birth family ties: one bill would open access to original birth certificates for adoptees; another increases the standard of evidence in child neglect cases, and decreases the consequences of such investigations for parents; four other bills boost support for relatives and family friends who care for someone else’s child.

On a recent Tuesday in New York City’s Hunts Point neighborhood, Emily Lopez directs a visitor to the “selfie chair,” a large plastic throne in this new family center’s sunny atrium, perfect for impromptu Instagramming.

In Alaska, a coalition of tribal governments has now begun to assume responsibility for offering some child welfare services to Alaska Native children. The Alaska Tribal Child Welfare Compact, which was signed into law in October 2017 by Alaska Gov.

When the President and Congress asked the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) to develop a national strategy to eliminate child maltreatment fatalities in 2014, we knew the task would not be easy.

A recent story from the nonprofit in-depth journalism site ProPublica quotes a warning issued in 2014 by then-Attorney General Eric Holder to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. His warning concerned a fad spreading through the criminal justice system.

After child protective services in California removes a child from his home for abuse or neglect, his care becomes the responsibility of the county that removed him. Every child entering the system is assigned a social worker, who bears the tremendous burden of...

Child Neglect accounts for the majority of referrals to child protective services. The prevalence of medical neglect, defined as the failure of a caregiver to provide appropriate health care to the child, is not easily estimated as the diagnosis is not straightforward as neglect occurs along a spectrum from grossly inadequate to optimal medical care.