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News
Giving Abused, Neglected Kids a Fighting Chance: New Commission is working to unlock doors that shut foster children out of educational opportunity
Op-Ed by Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O'Neill, Chairwomen of The Children's Commission
Published in the Star-Telegram on Sunday, May 24, 2010
For two years, a special commission has been at work to transform the fragmented approach that Texas -- and most other states -- has employed in court supervision of children who are placed in foster care because they have been abused or neglected.
The Permanent Judicial Commission for Children, Youth and Families concentrates on helping courts make decisions that produce the best possible outcomes for this vulnerable population, whether adoption into a new family or return to parents who have learned better parenting skills. The law demands that courts consider what is in the child's best interest, but sometimes that assessment is obscured by a disjointed bureaucracy struggling with too few child-welfare workers, unavailable community resources and underresourced judges who must make life-altering decisions that carry long-term consequences.
The commission, established by the Texas Supreme Court in 2007, has made great progress in bringing together people from all corners of the child-protection field to talk, plan and act in the quest for better outcomes.
All corners, that is, but one. If we -- courts, child welfare advocates, state agencies, juvenile justice authorities, birth parents, adoptive parents, foster parents and society as a whole -- truly hope to give children in foster care a fighting chance, we must tackle an area that is too often ignored: a good education. Read more...
Recent recession has hit women particulary hard: A congressional committee will release its report outlining the recession's impact on women
By Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
Published in the Star-Telegram on Sunday, May 9, 2010
NEW YORK -- They've called it the "Mancession": a recession that has disproportionately affected men, because of its brutal impact on male-dominated sectors like construction and manufacturing.
But that term rings hollow to women like Sara Wade, an Illinois schoolteacher who became the sole supporter of two school-age children -- possibly for good, she fears -- when her ex-husband, a carpenter and contractor, stopped paying child support 15 months ago.
Or to Martha Gonzalez, a divorced mother of three in Brownsville who had to take a second, part-time job when her work in real estate became scarcer. She lost her benefits, too, and for the first time in her adult working life, has no health insurance.
Or to Angela Grice, the single mom of a 3-year-old son, who works two low-paying, part-time jobs while she tries to get an accounting degree that will lead to some stability for her and her son.
Concerned about women like these, a congressional committee has issued a report, timed for Mother's Day, outlining the adverse effect the recession has had on working women, especially single moms.
A copy was provided to The Associated Press ahead of its Monday release. Read more...