American Bar Association: Too often child welfare systems across the country fail to meet the most basic obligations. We must do better. What can you, as a lawyer, do to make a difference?
1: Get Involved in ABA Efforts for Abused and Neglected Children
2: Volunteer for Pro Bono Work on This Issue
3: Assist in Training Your Judges and Lawyers Link to pdf Tip Sheet
Tag Archives: abuse
Michigan Title IV-E Waiver Child Welfare Demonstration Project
Submitted to: Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, July 2012
Goals and Hypothesis: Michigan’s waiver demonstration will test the hypothesis that an array of intensive and innovative home-based preservation services tailored to the needs of individual families will prevent child abuse and neglect and decrease entry of children into foster care, and increase positive outcomes for children and families in their homes and communities and improve the safety and wellbeing of children. Over the life of the waiver, we expect a reduction in foster care maintenance expenditures and a commensurate increase in spending for services to safely maintain children in their own homes. Link to Waiver proposal
The Therapeutic Preschool: An Intensive Intervention for Traumatized 3-6 Year Olds
Summer 2012, Infant Crier, pp 4-8, Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health: A certain number of children with significant challenges need continuing intervention past age 3. They and their parents have trouble making the transition from intensive home-based therapy to more limited or no services during the preschool years. For children, the difficulties of this transition show up as behavioral and emotional problems in childcare or Head Start programs that are not organized to provide therapeutic support. How might services be organized? Treatment would be organized to stress helping preschoolers master self-regulation difficulties by providing them with experiences of mutual regulation with parents and other adults. In addition, more intensive services would be available to preschoolers with significant histories of neglect, abuse, trauma, and loss. Discusses the Building Blocks Therapeutic Preschool program in Oakland, California. Many of the kids at Building Blocks, probably most at any given time, do not live with biological parents; they live instead with relatives and foster parents. Nearly all of the children have significant histories of early trauma and neglect. Link to pdf Infant Crier Issue
What You Need to Know about Child Well-Being and Serving Children in Family Drug Courts
July 11, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Parental substance use disorders are a factor in majority of CWS cases. Research linking the two issues is compelling. Substance use and child maltreatment are often multi-generational problems that can only be addressed through a coordinated approach across multiple systems working in conjunction to address the needs of both the parents and the children. Link to pdf Slides