The number of child abuse and neglect cases nationwide has been decreasing and that's also the case in West Virginia. While victims' advocates say this provides some hope, the problem is still prolific. In West Virginia, child abuse cases were increasing until four years ago. “There is just no way of denying that child abuse is decreasing, which is great and means a lot of things that we have done to try to prevent child abuse and intervene in child abuse has been making a difference and so that is a reason for hope,” said Emily Chittenden, state coordinator for the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network. [...]
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For Lena Smith, joblessness and living without basic necessities were not the catalysts for her to stop using methamphetamine. She did not hit rock bottom and realize she needed help until Sept. 17, 2007, when three of her four children were removed from her care by Bartow County Department of Family and Children Services officials. [...]
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Melissa Fay Greene woke up at night crying and wondering if she had "ruined our life." Long before her decision to adopt a boy from Bulgaria, she learned that raising an adopted child could be challenging. It wasn't going to be a fairy tale to raise a child who had spent most of his life in an orphanage. [...]
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Changes planned for the Iowa Department of Human Services could make reporting child abuse more efficient and more consistent and put it in line with recommendations made almost 10 years ago after a northwest Iowa girl was beaten to death. The department this week announced plans to streamline the way it receives reports of suspected abuse of children and dependent adults. Under the planned system, expected to launch in July, all such reports would go through a single office in Des Moines. Currently, eight different groups handle those reports statewide. [...]
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It's hard turning 18 — moving out, finding a job, going to college. But many foster children have to do it by themselves, without the lifeline to parents and home that helps many teens ease into independence. A major report out Wednesday says that many former foster kids have a tough time out on their own. When they age out of the system, they're more likely than their peers to end up in jail, homeless or pregnant. They're also less likely to have a job or go to college. [...]
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Only half the youths who had turned 18 and “aged out” of foster care were employed by their mid-20s. Six in 10 men had been convicted of a crime, and three in four women, many of them with children of their own, were receiving some form of public assistance. Only six in 100 had completed even a community college degree. The dismal outlook for youths who are thrust into a shaky adulthood from the foster care system — now numbering some 30,000 annually — has been documented with new precision by a long-term study released Wednesday, the largest to follow such children over many years. [...]
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Molly Montag Sioux City Journal The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday reversed a Woodbury County District Court decision that placed three children in tribal custody, ruling that parts of the Iowa Indian Child Welfare Act are unconstitutional. The appeals court said in its ruling those portions of the law are unconstitutional because they do not allow the children to object to the transfer of their welfare cases from the state of Iowa to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. [...]
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By ERIK ECKHOLM The New York Times ST. LOUIS — After a day of knocking on doors chasing fleeting leads, Carlos Lopez and his partner finally heard welcome words: Yes, a resident confirmed, the man they were seeking lived in this house and would be home that evening. [...]
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By DAVID KLEPPER
The Star’s Topeka correspondent
TOPEKA | Legislation to end Kansas’ privatized foster care system is the latest volley from lawmakers who say the state lacks oversight over the contractors managing such child welfare services.
Dozens of parents who lost custody of their children have complained to lawmakers in recent weeks that the state and its [...]

WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Grassley today announced the formation of a new Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, which he will co-chair with Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.
Three young Iowans who have been in and out of the foster care system and now are actively involved in helping other kids who’ve “aged out” participated in today’s [...]