Governments are paying out billions to settle thousands of claims. There is no substitute for justice, but keeping the abuse from happening in the first place would be far more cost-effective.
At least 92 children have died or narrowly escaped death since the reform raised thresholds for removal from parents. Legislators are weighing policy changes to prevent further tragedies.
State data reveals that 70 percent of infants live in areas without sufficient licensed care.
With around $45,000 per branch, libraries are offering family education and stress management workshops in counties where 70 percent of child welfare cases stem from economic hardship.
The city’s movement toward free care for kids up to age 2 could be a gamechanger with national implications. And it’s a sign of the growing political strength of working parents.
An agreement with federal agencies shields early-childhood programs from immigration status screening, avoiding potential closures and preserving services for more than 4,700 vulnerable children.
States are taking a look at tax credits, cost-sharing, regulation reductions and more as they look to support families and their economies.
The 2023-24 school year saw the highest percentage of kindergarteners exempted from vaccinations, with increases in 40 states and Washington, D.C. In some localities, the so-called health freedom message has led to nonmedical exemption rates as high as 50 percent.
Human services officials say more treatment options are needed to place children, but lawmakers are concerned lighter regulations will create more problems.
Hurricane Helene put rural Western North Carolina’s home-based child-care providers under an existential threat. The natural disaster exacerbated problems caused by years of insufficient funding and lack of support, causing many child-care providers to fear they won’t be able to start over.
Far too often, family courts award shared custody to fathers accused of domestic violence. Hundreds of children have been murdered. There’s much that policymakers could do to prevent some of these tragic outcomes.
Child care involves a mix of public, private and nonprofit providers. Mayors are trying to make systems easier for parents to navigate and afford.
Louisiana’s criminal justice system now treats all 17-year-olds as adults. Lawmakers lowered the age from 18 to curb teen violence, but nearly 70 percent of the 17-year-olds arrested in the state’s three largest parishes aren’t accused of violent crimes.
With reductions in federal aid, Texas ended Medicaid coverage for more than 2 million residents, mostly children. State officials acknowledge some errors but people looking to get back on the rolls must now join a backlog of more than 200,000 applicants.
A new bill asks Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislators to overhaul New York’s broken guardianship system. It cites a ProPublica investigation that found the elderly and infirm living in dire conditions while under court-mandated oversight.
Nine schools on the city’s Upper West Side are installing laundry machines for students in need; in 2022, 119 schools across the city had washer-dryers. A lack of clean clothes often hurts students’ attendance.
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