National Coalition for Child Protection Reform

NCCPR in Tennessee Lookout:

The best way to reduce child abuse fatalities is to reduce poverty • Tennessee Lookout The best way to reduce child fatalities, writes Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, is to reduce poverty.

Well what do you know? Paris Hilton knows more about "residential treatment" than a certain self-proclaimed "child welfare scholar"

Who’s afraid of Paris Hilton? It turns out, Paris Hilton knows more about "residential treatment facilities" than at least one self-proclaimed "child welfare scholar." ...

While others try to exploit these tragedies, we present context to understand them - and real solutions:

NCCPR Issue Paper #17: Understanding Child Abuse Fatalities They are the cases that horrify us the most – as they should: children killed by their own families in cases that were, in some way, “known to the system.”  The knee-jerk response: Children kn…

NCCPR in The Imprint on the one big flaw in a US Senate report that focuses primarily on the horrors inflicted on children by the for-profit residential treatment industry:

Don’t Forget: Nonprofit Residential Treatment Also Stinks Richard Wexler writes that while for-profit McTreatment chains are relatively new, abusing institutionalized children is not.

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, weeks ending June 26, 2024 ● As noted last week, New York State again failed to pass “Family Miranda” legislation requiring the family police to tell families their ri...

NBC News ignores the real cause of West Virginia’s child welfare catastrophe – so their story may make the catastrophe even worse The journalists were so trapped in their own “master narrative” – their preconceived notions going in -- that of course they wouldn’t think ...

Four years ago, Sen. Tom Cotton´s appalling, extremist rant on the New York Times op-ed page prompted outrage inside and outside the newspaper, and ultimately led to the resignation of the editorial page editor. But apparently, as long as the topic of your fearmongering is child abuse, the Times will let you get away with anything.

The New York Times platforms the Tom Cotton of child welfare Four years ago, Sen. Cotton´s appalling, extremist rant on the Times op-ed page prompted outrage inside and outside the newspaper, and ulti...

NCCPR in the Arizona Capitol Times:

DCS is on probation; here’s how to fix it | Arizona Capitol Times The Arizona Legislature has, in effect, put the Department of Child Safety on probation, allowing it to continue to function for another four years instead of the customary eight The decision is a healthy recognition that DCS, both in its current form and when it was a division of the Department of....

A quick note about all those Minnesota county family police agencies now claiming they don't have enough money to stop being racist:

Yes Minnesota DOES have the money to implement the African-American Family Preservation Act “We don’t have enough money to stop being racist!” Well, no, county family police agencies in Minnesota (where counties run these systems)...

NCCPR in The Georgia Recorder: Sen. Jon Ossoff means well, but his recent report on GA child welfare may well leave state with the same lousy system only bigger

Ossoff’s report could leave Georgia with the same lousy child welfare system – only bigger • Georgia Recorder Guest opines that a recent report by Sen. Jon Ossoff's panel probing Georgia's foster child placement agency could make things worse.

NCCPR in West Virginia Watch on what's really behind all the family policing horrors in that state:

West Virginia: Child removal capital of America • West Virginia Watch In 2022, West Virginia took away proportionately more children than any other state — even when rates of child poverty are factored in.

Our weekly round-up of family preservation news and commentary:

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending April 9, 2024 ● Last week, in a column for The Imprint , I wrote about how, though the journalism of child welfare is improving, some places are stil...

NCCPR in the Louisiana Illuminator: "Faced with one revelation after another about tragedies involving children previously known to the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, that agency has come up with a knee-jerk response that is simple, obvious and wrong: a worst-in-the-nation mad rush to tear far more children away from their families.

As a result, in 2022, the most recent year for which comparative data are available, while almost everywhere else in America recognized the enormous harm of needlessly sundering families and reduced entries into , in Louisiana, they skyrocketed 23% over the previous year — the biggest percentage increase in the country."

Louisiana children pay the price of foster care panic • Louisiana Illuminator Foster care panic occurs when everyone from frontline workers to agency leaders is terrified of having the next horror story on their watch.

Our weekly roundup of family preservation journalism and commentary:

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending April 2, 2024 ● WABE Public Radio in Atlanta and ProPublica have another story about children kept from their families for months, sometimes years, only ...

NCCPR in The Imprint on how the failed of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News (among others) foments foster-care panic that makes all children less safe:

Foster Care Panic in Minnesota? Not So Fast Richard Wexler argues that a stronger presence of family and legal advocates has steeled Minnesota against a foster care panic

Our annual reminder ...

If it's April Fools, it must be Child Abuse Hype and Hysteria Month UPDATE, 2024: given that the child welfare establishment has no shame, expect the usual op-eds to have token boilerplate statements about ra...

As you read Sunday's superb New York Times story about a 5-year-old needlessly in foster care, consider: All of the harm was done by people employed by agencies. All the love, compassion and common decency came from people NOT employed by “child welfare” agencies.

Profiles in cowardice: Terrified of demagogic politicians, family police agencies in two states prolong the agony of a five-year-old and his mother. All of the love, compassion and common decency in this case came from people not employed by family police agencies. Massachusetts "Child ...

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending March 19, 2024 It’s stories like this, from ProPublica, that make me glad someone invented the word “gobsmacked.” If you drop everything and read it righ...

Drop everything and read this one! It’s stories like this that make me glad someone invented the word “gobsmacked.” https://www.propublica.org/article/expert-in-foster-care-cases-admits-her-method-is-unscientific No one excerpt does it justice, but here’s one that gives at least a hint:
"Had she considered or was she even aware of the cultural background of the birth family and child whom she was recommending permanently separating? (The case involved a baby girl of multiracial heritage.) Baird answered that babies have 'never possessed' a cultural identity, and therefore are 'not losing anything,' at their age, by being adopted. Although when such children grow up, she acknowledged, they might say to their now-adoptive parents, 'Oh, I didn’t know we were related to the, you know, Pima tribe in northern California, or whatever the circumstances are.'
"The Pima tribe is located in the Phoenix metropolitan area."

There’s also a fascinating discussion of the internal disputes roiling the Kempe Center.

An Expert Who Has Testified in Foster Care Cases Across Colorado Admits Her Evaluations Are Unscientific Diane Baird labeled her method for assessing families the “Kempe Protocol” after the renowned University of Colorado institute where she worked for decades. The school has yet to publicly disavow it.

Our weekly round-up of family preservation news and commentary

NCCPR News and commentary round-up, week ending March 12, 2024 ● Last week, we noted a fascinating study by the NYC Family Policy Project revealing that New York State’s child abuse hotline screens out ...

Over and over again, the head of NYC's family police agency offers the same excuse: It’s not my fault! That mean old state government makes us do it! And yet, he ignores the obvious solution. That should make us wonder if he really just wants to keep things as they are.

Is this guy the most helpless “child welfare” leader in America? His own comments suggest the answer is yes. New York City Administration for Children's Services Commissioner Jess Dannhauser Poor Jess Dannhauser. The head of New York City’s family ...

Our weekly round-up of family preservation journalism and commentary

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending March 5, 2024 ● Every once in a while I’ve gently childed the group known as “Children’s Rights” for its approach to litigation. But this week, their lit...

Last week I posed a snarky question to Ira Lustbader and his colleagues at Children's Rights. Turns out, they've got a pretty good answer!

“Child welfare” and racism: Children’s Rights steps up For the first time in its history, the group uses litigation to take on racism, needless surveillance and wrongful removal. It’s not a full...

Remember how Mass. "Child Advocate" Maria Mossaides' own commission on mandatory reporting rebelled when they realized she'd misled them? Remember how commission members said they were "shocked" "surprised" and "taken aback" when they heard what Mossaides didn't want them to hear? Well, Mossaides is at it again - which begs the question: Why is anyone still paying attention to her? My column in CommonWealth Beacon:

Mass. on wrong track with child protection policy In 2021, Massachusetts took children from their families at a rate 70 percent above the national average, when rates of child poverty are factored in.

Our weekly round-up of family preservation news and commentary

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending February 27, 2024 ● Last week’s round-up began with the New York Times story about a landmark lawsuit against the New York City family police agency, the Adm...

Two blog posts on a landmark lawsuit against the New York City family police agency:

NCCPR Child Welfare Blog News and commentary from the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform concerning child abuse, child welfare, foster care, and family preservation.

Lots of news this week, including revelations about hidden foster care in Philadelphia, and a review of Prof. Kelley Fong’s book, Investigating Families. And see especially the first item about the landmark lawsuit in New York City.

NCCPR news and commentary roundup, week ending February 20, 2024 ● We begin with this from The New York Times : A sweeping class-action lawsuit filed against New York City on Tuesday argues that the age...

The child never needed to be taken awat. The Philadelphia family police agency had to know that even a Philadelphia Juvenile Court Judge wouldn't have rubber-stamped the removal. So they used a blackmail placement – aka hidden In The Philadephia Inquirer, Steve Volk of Resolve Philly
reports on the tragic result

Philly DHS took a 1-year-old from her mother but the girl was then kicked to death Two recent cases involve claims that the city Department of Human Services failed to properly protect kids who’d been taken from their parents.

Our weekly round-up of family preservation journalism and commentary:

NCCPR news and commentary round-up, week ending February 13, 2024 ● There was excellent reporting this week on two states that destroy astounding numbers of Native American families every year, and the stat...

South Dakota tears apart families at a rate well above the national average. Native American children are 13% of the child population and 74% of the foster child population. But the head of their family police agency says, apparently with a straight face, they comply with ICWA and make "active efforts" to keep Native families together. And then there's the matter of Montana ...

Officials in two states that routinely destroy Native American families make their position clear: We don’t care, we don’t have to. South Dakota tears apart families at a rate well above the national average. Native American children are 13% of the child population and 74...