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• Foster Care Worker Pregnant with Teen's Baby

  In extremely depressing pregnancy news, an Ohio teacher named Carolyn Hatcher is pregnant with her student’s baby. While working as the house mother and teacher for six children in a foster care facility, Hatcher, who is 27, started having marital troubles and ended up getting a bit too close with a 16-year-old boy under her care. Read More... Posted Jul 16 2008, 01:41 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: foster care, ohio, teacher, Statutory rape, female sexual predators, sex scandals, double standard, teacher-student relationships, welfare children, sexual battery, carolyn hatcher

• "30 Days" Not Long Enough to Change One Woman's Mind About Gay Parenting

  As an old writing teacher of mine used to say, just because something really happened doesn't mean it's a good story.  This pretty much sums up my feelings about reality TV, and is at least half the reason that the "Same-Sex Parenting" installment of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days show sat on my DVR for nearly a week before I could bring myself to watch it.   I was also afraid of how upset it would make me.   Read More... Posted Jun 29 2008, 02:30 PM by Erin White with | with 14 comment(s) Filed under: morgan spurlock, adoption, foster care, reality TV, lesbian and gay families, sperm banks, "30 Days", gay dads

• Mothers Behind Bars

  People love to talk about how and where women should give birth.  Birth without drugs is barbaric!  Epidurals are evil!  Do it in the tub!  No, no, do it on the bed!  Do it at home!  Don't even think about doing it at home! But no one ever seems to talk about giving birth in shackles.  Read More... Posted Jun 27 2008, 12:42 PM by Erin White with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: jail, foster care, pregnant women, The Children's Defense Fund', Marion Wright Edelman

• Mentally Impaired Mom Loses Seventh Child To Foster Care

  How did a story about a kidnapping evolve into a raging debate about state-sponsored sterilization in the Philadelphia media? It started when two-month-old Shaniyah Grantby disappeared last Saturday.  Her mother, Tiesha Pitts, 26, had let another woman take Shaniyah to the store, and that woman - later identified as Clarissa Hanton, 23 - never brought her back.    When Shaniyah was found Monday, it seemed like a happy ending.  Until it came out that Tiesha entrusted her child to someone whose full name and address she didn't even know.  And that she waited more than 24 hours to report the baby missing. So the Department of Human Services placed Shaniyah in foster care temporarily while they investigate the family.  But maybe DHS already knows enough:  Shaniyah is Tiesha's seventh kid, and it turns out the other six are all in foster care.   Read More... Posted Jun 20 2008, 11:04 AM by asflutz with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: kidnapping, foster care, sterilization, mental illness, Tiesha Pitts, Shaniyah Grantby

• Mother and Kids Live With 90-Year-Old Corpse on Toilet

  Happy Post Mother's Day. Enough with the happy crap, let's get back to the weird, depraved and creepy.   A mother and her two children lived with the bloating corpse of a 90-year-old woman decaying on the toilet of their only bathroom for two months. It gets better. The mother left the corpse their because a religious “superior” told her it would come back to life... Read More... Posted May 12 2008, 03:00 PM by Cole Gamble with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: kids, mom, religion, foster care, death, Wisconsin, old woman, weekend at bernies, zombie, corpse

• Honey, We Need to Shrink the Kids

  Social workers in the UK have sparked controversy by threatening to take away a couple's six children if three of the kids don't lose some weight by June. The heaviest sibling is a 12-year-old boy who weighs 16 stone, otherwise known to us non-Brits as around 224 pounds. There is no denying that some of the children, whose names have not been released, could stand to shed some inches. But putting the entire brood in foster care seems beyond alarmist, which also makes me wonder if the Daily Mall might be exaggerating the situation a bit. Assuming this story represents the whole truth and nothing but, the move is indeed, as one member of Parliament describes it, "draconian."  The question is, how long until something like this happens in America? Read More... Posted Mar 25 2008, 09:03 AM by Jen Chaney with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: childhood obesity, foster care

• Fat Guy Gets Go-Ahead to Adopt

  A super overweight guy who was convinced that a judge denied him custody of his cousin’s son because of the man’s size has once again regained custody of the little boy. Now the wheels are in motion ... Read More... Posted Jan 08 2008, 04:27 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, foster parents, custody battles, obesity, foster care, overweight, adoptive parents, custody battle, adopted son, custody, forster child, adoptive family, custody disputes, foster parenting, foster family, adoption reversal

• Girl Returned To Birth Parents After Seven Year Custody Battle

  I'm sure I'm not the only one secretly obsessed with tales of Adoption Gone Wrong.  I don't know why - I'm not adopted myself, and I've neither adopted a child nor given one up for adoption.  Maybe it's because these kinds of stories represent the breakdown of the family at its most extreme.  Whenever I hear one, I have a good, cathartic cry, and go hug my kids, thanking God that no one can ever take them away from me. Read More... Posted Jan 02 2008, 06:12 PM by asflutz with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, custody battles, foster care, birth parents

• Forming A Family, Their Own Way

  My family makes me laugh, drives me nuts, breaks my heart, and is fundamental to my sense of myself and my place in the world -- it's a relationship like no other. The idea of a kid having to go without that, of learning tragically early that they have only themselves to rely on, breaks my heart. So I triple dog dare you to read these stories from American Radio Works and not cry. They've done a series on adopting of teens from foster care, talking to a bunch of kids who faced aging out of foster homes and parents who found themselves opening their homes to those teens (incidentally, all of the parents they interviewed? Lesbian couples. Score one for real family values). While the incidence of kids in foster care being placed in permanent families is growing, if a kid makes it into their teens without being adopted, they are unlikely to ever be.   Read More... Posted Jan 02 2008, 03:49 PM by AmyinMotown with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, teens, families, foster care

• Woman is Mom to 100 Kids

  Once in awhile I whine inwardly about what to me is a rather astounding fact, that of having four kids. Sure, Chris over at Droolicious has SEVEN, but *cough* from time to time I allow myself a slight inward whininess about the hard hard life of a mother of four. Yeah. So you can imagine the laptop-coffee-spluttering that occurred when I read about Fran Jennings, foster mom to now one hundred different children since 1985.   Read More... Posted Dec 29 2007, 08:28 AM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: foster care, florida, ft myers, fran jennings

• Couple Who Adopted Girl Wants to Give Her Back

  Some decisions are irreversible: amputation, for example, or gambling away an entire paycheck. Oh, and adoption. But a Dutch family living in Hong Kong doesn’t seem to think so. They are working to give back the Korean-born daughter they adopted seven years ago when she was four months old. The reason?   Read More... Posted Dec 11 2007, 02:38 PM by Madeline Holler with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, foster care, Dutch, Hong Kong, adoption reversal

• November is National Adoption Month!

  I have huge respect and admiration for parents who choose parenthood via adoption. There was a time in my life when I was convinced I'd find parenthood through adoption myself, but it didn't turn out that way. However, for tons of parents, and kids, adoption creates families. And November has been designated National Adoption Month in the U.S., specifically honoring and raising awareness of adoption through the foster care system. Read More... Posted Nov 05 2007, 11:34 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 7 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, kids, adoption, families, foster care, National Adoption Month, national adoption day

• It Takes a Village to Foster a Child

  Currently, there are over 800,000 children in the U.S. in foster care. And as anyone who has ever read the news knows, the problems inherent in the system often lead to devastation, family ruin, and a generation of emotionally scarred children.  Despite a wealth of kindness in their hearts, most foster parents are simply not very well equipped to adopt children from the foster care system.  Even trained professionals and social welfare workers have buckled under the stresses of being a foster parent.  From the NY Times come the story of a fascinating experiment taking place in Northampton, Massachusetts... Read More... Posted Aug 20 2007, 06:37 PM by MetroDad with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: foster care, treehouse

• More Single Dads Adopting Foster Kids

  It's true, when you double a small number you still get a small number, but I can't help but be pleased at the apparent trend of more single men adopting kids from the foster system. After all, single women are adopting children right and left, but whoever seriously considers men as adoption material unless they're half of a couple? Foster-care adoptions comprise about 40% of adoptions annually, and more single men than ever are fostering kids in the system, so it only follows that more single men are completing the adoption process. Typically, single men are left out of the equation of consideration for adoption either domestically or internationally, leaving the most viable option currently as via the foster system. Which can only be good news for the 115,000 foster kids who are eligible for adoption. Of course, there is a downside. If you are a man and single, you can't foster a child if you live in Nebraska or Florida. And if you are able to foster a child and you're a man and single, you'll be presumed to be gay. And, gay or not, your parenting skills will be scrutinized because you're a man. But don't let that stop you: think about the 115,000 kids who need homes and step bravely into the forefront of a trend.  Posted Jun 15 2007, 09:54 AM by Karen Murphy with | with no comments Filed under: adoption, foster care, single dads, single men

• What is Everybody's Problem with Gay Foster Parents?

  According to The Morning News: The Christian conservative group that successfully led the drive for Arkansas’ constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will push for a ballot initiative to limit who can adopt or foster children in the state. Are you frigging kidding me? I guess these people didn't read this post. I don't get it. Kids that live in orphanages need foster parents. Who cares who they are sleeping with. Being gay does not make a person a pedophile. It doesn't make them morally corrupt. It does make it more difficult to have a child biologically. So what the hell? Same sex couples and adoption or foster care are a match made in heaven. These kids need parents and these parents need kids. You don't have to be in total agreement with a person's belief structure to know that they could provide a good home for a child who needs one. I think that putting plugs in your ears to make really big ear holes is crazy, but I don't have a problem with somebody who has those adopting a child. What I am trying to say is take it easy Arkansas. If you vote against GLBT parents being able to take in foster children or adopting you had better take in some yourself. Somebody needs to.  Posted Jun 13 2007, 04:03 PM by Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: adoption, Arkansas, foster care, GLBT parenting, gay parents

• Worst Mom Ever? U.K. Foster Mom Sick, Sick, Sick

  Every once in a while a story comes along about a horrible, abusive parent doing horrible, abusive crap. Kids locked in cages. Kids forced to poop themselves. Kids forced to watch "Dancing with the Stars" over and over and over again. This story takes the prize as the most horrible, the most abusive ever. Eunice Spry, 62, was convicted on a series of craziness that involved forcing her three foster kids to eat their own vomit, drink bleach and rat poop. That's only the beginning. Read More... Posted Mar 21 2007, 08:05 PM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: news, crime, criminals, child abuse, foster care, abuse, child endangerment, bad mommy

• Parents of Child Who Died in Foster Care Want $20 Million

  The parents of a toddler who died in a California foster home after eating baking soda are set to sue Contra Costa County for $20 million. Deonna Green, 2, died last December while in foster care. The county coroner ruled her death an accidental poisoning and no charges were filed. The girl's parents, Mikisa Boone and Marvin Green, claim that child welfare workers failed to monitor the situation in the home. Parents say that medical records show that their daughter was suffering from malnutrition and that their child lost five pounds in a one month period. If that is true, it is startling. If child welfare workers knew something was amiss and failed to act accordingly, then yeah, sue for the $20 million, parents. I've said it before, I think child welfare agencies should be held accountable for all children in their care. Posted Mar 19 2007, 09:04 AM by Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) with | with no comments Filed under: foster care, child welfare, contra costa county

• Foster Parents with Rap Sheets: Who Dropped the Ball on That One?

  Officials in Hamilton County, Ohio have been conducting backgrounds checks of foster parents and so far have discovered that 27 "parents" have arrest records on charges ranging from fraud to child endangerment. Officials say their review is only half-way done. Niiiiiiiiice. The review was prompted by the death of a three-year-old boy in foster care in a neighboring county. His foster parents were convicted of murder and abuse of a corpse. The foster father had previously been arrested on a domestic violence charge. Heart warming.  Seriously. How hard is it to do background checks on the people caring for the most fragile children in our society? And how hard is it to find out when these parents have been arrested? New rule: foster care officials should be held accountable every time a child is hurt or dies in foster care. Effing bureaucracy.         Posted Mar 05 2007, 07:31 AM by Stefania Pomponi Butler (CityMama) with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: foster care, ohio

• Minnesota Getting Tougher on Would-be Foster Parents

  Hey!  Want to help out one of the almost 15,000 Minnesota kids needing foster care?  Well, get your fingerprints ready...those wishing to become foster parents in Minnesota are about to have a much tougher time of it if the new requirements that are being proposed go through.  The changes, part of a $1.2 million-a-year overhaul of the foster parent system, are being proposed partly to comply with federal standards designed to keep sexual offenders from preying on children.  Lest you think that the Land of Garrison Keillor is rife with child molestors who become foster parents, apparently only 1/10th of one percent of Minnesota foster kids were found to have been sexually abused in 2005.  That's obviously 1/10th of one percent too many for the children tragically involved, but statistically is insignificant and certainly doesn't warrant the new changes which are said to not be enough to have flagged a warning in the recent case of Perry Wayne Pfitzer who has pleaded not guilty to molesting his two foster daughters, ages 4 and 6, last summer, and became a foster parent despite a 1982 indecent exposure conviction.  So why these sweeping changes, keeping a new team of about a dozen workers busy checking records and requiring fingerprints even from family members who wish to foster, while forcing kids into shelters while they await the results of this laborious process? Because anybody who's ever been sexually abused knows how helpless it makes you and everyone around you feel.  But throwing legislation at the problem isn't going to make it go away, and my fear is that good people who truly have the best interests of children at heart may be scared away by the new regulations, leaving children without homes. Posted Feb 19 2007, 01:04 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: children, minnesota, foster parents, foster care, background check

• Should Contact Between Adopted Children and Their Biological Families be Legislated?

  Contact between adopted children and their biological parents can be fraught with conflict.  The well-publicized case of Allison Quets who gave up her twins for adoption and then kidnapped them is case in point.  While open adoptions usually specify the type and frequency of contact between parents and children, the situation for relatives of biological children is sometimes less clear, especially when the situation involves older children, or  foster care followed by adoption. In states such as North Carolina, where adopted children are allowed to maintain contact with biological relatives, a recently convened panel recommended proposed legislation that would set out enforceable rules to forestall battles over continued contact. Organizations such as Origins Canada specialize in reuniting people separated by adoption and take the position that adoption is a big business and that some mothers are pressured into giving their children up for adoption.  If this is the case, the need for guidelines addressing these relationships seems increasingly important. Posted Jan 21 2007, 04:57 PM by Rachael Brownell (Redsy) with | with no comments Filed under: parents, adoption, grandparents, foster care, biological parents rights, parents rights, allison quets, North Carolina, Origins Canada