Cornelius Fredericks

Starting next month, New York will receive far less in federal funding for congregate care, or group care placements, and the courts will require greater justification for why a child cannot be placed with family.

More than a decade after a federal judge approved Michigan’s sweeping agreement to fix problems with its child welfare system, the court-appointed monitoring team reported multiple ongoing concerns about the safety of kids under state care.

The 16-year-old's killing by staffers at the for-profit group home where he lived has led to laws changing and similar facilities closing nationwide

Following the horrific death of a 16-year-old foster youth in a Michigan residential treatment facility – who died of cardiac arrest after staff pinned him on the ground and constricted his breathing – New York advocates are calling for the state to bar face-down restraints in facilities for the highest-needs children, calling the practice “dangerous” and “barbaric.”