- Many Arizona foster children living far from home, By Mary K. Reinhart, September 1, 2012, Arizona Republic: “A steady decline in foster homes combined with a record number of Arizona children in foster care means hundreds of kids taken from their families every month are being sent to live dozens, sometimes hundreds, of miles away from home. And nearly 1,900 of the state’s 13,500 foster children, including babies and toddlers, are living in crisis shelters and group homes because there are no family foster homes for them. Despite policies that require Arizona’s Child Protective Services to place kids as close to their homes as possible when they are removed from their parents because of suspected abuse or neglect, the state often fails to make that happen, to the detriment of the children and their families…”
- U.S. finds W.Va. not in compliance on foster care, By Lori Kersey, September 3, 2012, Charleston Gazette: “While West Virginia officials cut child-care assistance to hundreds of low-income working parents, federal reviews show the state could do better at accessing other federal resources for children. West Virginia receives federal money to care for some children in state custody, often called Title IV-E money after the section of law that defines the program. In three out of the last four federal reviews of the state’s foster care program over a 10-year period, officials found that the state did not substantially comply with eligibility requirements to receive federal assistance. Most recently, in 2011, the state was not in compliance with eligibility requirements and paid over $200,000 back to the federal government…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty