foster care system

Health & Safety

Crossnore Communities for Children to expand intensive family services to 11 more counties

12:59pm March 21, 2024

A local nonprofit child welfare agency is expanding a program that helps kids at high risk of entering foster care stay with their families of origin. A contract from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services will bring these efforts to 11 more counties.

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A rural road near Connelly Springs, N.C., where people who've come from the Marshall Islands — many to work in nearby poultry plants — have built a church community, the Marshallese New Beginnings Church.

National

In some states, an unpaid foster care bill could mean parents lose their kids forever

5:00am January 19, 2023

by Joseph Shapiro

Some states allow children to be removed from their parents if they fail to pay the cost of foster care. But that can be hundreds of dollars a month, and it's often the poorest families who must pay.

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion to make sure foster youth who receive Social Security benefits have access to those checks. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, co-sponsor of the motion, said the new directive is a "game changer."

Los Angeles County Moves To Get More Money Into The Hands Of Foster Youth

4:51pm July 16, 2021

by Joseph Shapiro

Los Angeles County plans to ensure foster youth who get Social Security can use the money later, going against the common practice of child welfare agencies nationwide to use benefits to pay for care.

An autopsy report released Wednesday by the medical examiner's office in Kalamazoo, Mich., ruled the suffocation death of Cornelius Fredericks a homicide.

National

3 Children's Home Staffers Charged In Death Of 16-Year-Old

12:08pm June 25, 2020

by Vanessa Romo

The former employees allegedly sat on Cornelius Fredericks' chest and legs for about 12 minutes. When he became unresponsive, employees at the home waited another 12 minutes to call for help.

Camdyn and Caydance Austin play together at their home in Windsor, Illinois.

Health & Safety

A Switch To Medicaid Managed Care Worries Some Illinois Foster Families

5:00am May 20, 2020

by Christine Herman

Illinois is switching thousands of children who rely on Medicaid to managed care plans. It's meant to save money, but in the past such moves have caused disruptions in treatment.