Kidsarewaiting.orgMary Boo
On Capitol Hill today, an event “titled ‘Promote Permanent Families: Reform Foster Care Now’” was sponsored by “the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) and the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI).”  Promote Permanent Families “featured individuals from across the nation whose experiences underscore the need to fix foster care now – youth [...]

Newswise.comUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A study published in the “May 15, 2007 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology,” concluded that “rates of abuse and neglect among young children in military families in Texas [have] doubled since October 2002.”
According to the “lead author of the study,” Danielle Rentz, Ph.D., “the rate of [...]

The Courier-Journal, KYDeborah Yetter
In Kentucky, a “new statewide computer system” designed to report and track violent threats against foster parents and social workers is “resulting in swifter action against people who make threats.”  This “Critical Incident Reporting System…allows “workers to report threats, attacks or other security concerns…using a Web site that immediately e-mails the report [...]

Freedom Raleigh Bureau, NCBarry Smith
North Carolina may soon offer lower taxes “as a means of helping defray adoption-related expenses.”  North Carolina “State House budget writers have agreed to Gov. Mike Easley’s proposal to give adoptive parents a credit on their state income taxes equal to half of the federal tax credit they receive.”
The measure, [...]

National Public RadioKathy Lohr
There are “10,000 documented reports of abuse and neglect every year” in Mississippi, according to “Children’s Rights, a child advocacy group in New York.”  Child’s Rights “filed suit [against the state of Mississippi] 3 years ago” and on “Thursday, a partial settlement with Mississippi was approved – the first step in trying [...]

Kansas City infoZine, MOShertease Wheeler
In a discussion at the “U.S. Capitol on federal issues regarding the health and well being of foster care children,” experts stated that “children in foster care are at a higher risk for developing mental and physical health problems, but it is much harder for these children to receive proper medical [...]

Kids Are WaitingGina Russo
A new report by Kids Are Waiting and the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative “found that although the total number of children in foster care has decreased, the number who ‘age out’ of the system has grown by 41% since 1998.”
In 2005, “nearly 25,000” foster youth aged out of the system, [...]

The Cincinnati Enquirer, OHRichard Wexler
Guest columnist Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, supports the Public Children Services Association of Ohio’s (PCSAO) suggestion to increase state spending on foster care, but only so long as Ohio “spends smarter.”
In Mr. Wexler’s view, spending smarter means, supporting “safe, proven programs to [...]

The Daily Democrat, CAEdwin Garcia
In a press conference at the California Capitol, foster parents joined a “San Jose lawmaker” to demand an increase to the monthly payments they receive from the state to provide necessities for their foster children.  Assemblyman Jim Beall cites a sobering statistic, “the average kennel charges you $620 a month for [...]

The Times Argus, VTSusan Allen, Times Argus Staff
Next week, Vermont’s governor is set to sign a bill into law that would extend “the age limit of Vermonters in foster care from 18 to 21;” a change that would affect the approximately “1,200 young people under state supervision.”  Vermont is currently “the only New England state” [...]