- Teens often repeat in Nebraska foster care, By Martha Stoddard, September 14, 2012, Omaha World-Herald: “Toddlers and teenagers are equally likely to become foster children in Nebraska, but it’s mostly troubled teens who enter the system repeatedly. Linda Cox, interim director of the Foster Care Review Office, told state lawmakers Thursday there are distinct differences between children who are removed from home for the first time and those who are removed additional times. She described some of the differences at an interim study hearing looking at why the Nebraska rate of children in foster care is among the nation’s worst. Nebraska had the nation’s second-highest rate of removing children from home in 2009, according to federal data. The rate was more than double the national average of 3.4 removals per 1,000 children…”
- Experts address numbers of children in child welfare system, By JoAnne Young, September 14, 2012, Lincoln Journal Star: “As the Legislature continues to work on child welfare reform, its Health and Human Services Committee heard testimony Thursday at the first of two hearings on preventing unnecessary placement of children in out-of-home care. The high per-capita numbers of children in the child welfare system, compared with other states, is the next problem the Legislature wants to tackle. The relationship between poverty and entry into the child welfare system is complex and often overlooked, said Becky Gould, Nebraska Appleseed executive director. And that relationship is key to keeping children with their families, rather than unnecessarily in the system…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty