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. [...]
Read the rest of this article...

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. [...]
Read the rest of this article...

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 [...]

By Liz Kellar
Staff Writer
It’s called emancipation, but for many foster children who age out of the system at 18 or 19, that “freedom from slavery” is more like being thrown into the deep end.
Each year in California, approximately 4,200 young adults exit foster care when they turn 18. Deemed to be adults by the state, [...]

Ed Tibbetts
Proposed state budget cuts would slice state payments to foster and adoptive parents by 5 percent.
People who take in kids from the state’s child welfare system aren’t motivated by money, state officials and others say. Still, the reductions in maintenance payments could affect their willingness to continue.
“At some point, each individual family has to [...]

Written by SU-JIN YIM
, The Oregonian
OREGON CITY, Ore. (AP) – It’s easy to swoop past the fenced facility on tree-lined Clackamas River Road as the pavement bends and curves along the winding river.
Advocates hope it will be harder to miss the import of what Cedar Bough does for Native American youths in Oregon, and [...]

Second Edition State-By-State Report Card Shows Improving Grades in Some States; Most Leave Children’s Voices Muted in Legal Proceedings That Decide Their Fate
Stronger State/Federal Laws Needed
News Conference Today At 1pm (EDT), U.S. Capitol Building - Room H-137
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Most U.S. states do not adequately protect the rights of abused and neglected children, [...]

By Tim Evans
A Madison County judge thought it was best for a troubled teen to be sent to Arizona. Best for the teen because of the type of program being offered and best for taxpayers because it was going to cost half as much as the proposed in-state options.
But the Indiana Department of Child Services [...]

By GREG KELLER (AP)
PARIS — America has some of the industrial world’s worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates.
The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to [...]