By Laurel Chesky
Two Travis County judges are trying to achieve the impossible: Create a bureaucracy that will improve service to the public and save taxpayer dollars.
Travis Co. Civil Court Judges Darlene Byrne and Jeanne Meurer have proposed forming two new public defenders’ offices in Travis Co. One would represent parents involved in civil cases in [...]

Brian Burns
Aug 28, 2008 at 8:46 AM CDT

AUSTIN (AP) - A federal appeals court ruling will force the state’s child welfare agency to obtain court orders or parental consent prior to removing allegedly abused children from their homes.
The ruling last month by a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of [...]

Filed on August 26, 2008
Not designated for permanent publication
A-07-1231, A-07-1365
SUMMARY: The court violated the parents’ rights when it failed to adopt DHHS’ plan of reunification because there was no evidence to show that the plan of reunification was not in the children’s best interest. Failure to adopt the plan and denial of the parents’ visitation [...]

By JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star
Monday, Aug 25, 2008
The Legislature’s audit of the state’s personal services contracts, to determine compliance with state law, has found a number of issues with transportation service contracts that have caused concerns.
The Performance Audit Committee, which oversees the auditing process, has scheduled a public hearing [...]

By JEAN ORTIZ Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska’s new “safe-haven” law allowing parents to abandon unwanted children at hospitals with no questions asked is unique in a significant way: It goes beyond babies and potentially permits the abandonment of anyone under 19.
While lawmakers may not have intended it, [...]

By The Associate Press
Friday, Aug 15, 2008
PRINCETON, N.J. — A new, nationwide study says chronically ill children enrolled in state-subsidized insurance programs or Medicaid get about the same access to care as children with private insurance.
The study from New Jersey-based Robert Wood Johnson Foundation also says children without any type of [...]

August 7th, 2008
By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer
The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) - The first federal survey of both men and women on adoption challenges some stereotypes and offers some surprising findings:
- Minority women are trying to adopt at a higher rate than white women.
- Only 1 percent of single women put their [...]

BY CLARENCE MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008 - 12:06:39 am CDT
At first, adopting the little boy and his two younger sisters seemed like it would be easy.
Removed by police from a filthy, mice- and cockroach-infested Lincoln home in July 2005, the children, then 4, 2 and 11 [...]

BY CLARENCE MABIN / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Jul 27, 2008
The right of parents to custody of their children is a fundamental liberty protected by the U.S. Constitution. So says the nation’s highest court.
But children have rights, too, courts have held, and the challenge of the juvenile justice system often is to protect [...]