Saturday, August 13, 2016

Protection From Discrimination

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Protection from Discrimination in Child Welfare Activities

The child welfare system is a group of services designed to promote the well-being of children by ensuring safety, achieving permanency, and strengthening families to care for their children successfully. While the primary responsibility for child welfare services rests with the states, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) supports the delivery of child welfare services through funding of programs and legislative initiatives.   

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws that apply to state, local and federally funded child welfare agencies and some courts.These laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, sex, or age in the delivery of child welfare services:

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Title VI prohibits federally-funded state and local child welfare agencies and courts from discriminating against individuals on the basis of race, color, or national origin in the provision of benefits and services. This includes taking reasonable steps


to provide meaningful access to people with limited english proficiency (LEP).

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990

Title II and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Section 504 prohibit state, local, and federally funded child welfare agencies and courts from discriminating against qualified individuals on the basis of disability in the provision of child welfare services.

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972

Title IX prohibits federally funded state and local child welfare agencies from discriminating on the basis of sex (gender) in federally assisted education programs.

The Age Discrimination Act of 1975

This act prohibits state and local federally funded child welfare agencies and courts from discriminating against individuals on the basis of age.

The Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994 (MEPA)

Section 1808(c) of the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 amended MEPA, and prohibits state and local federally funded child welfare agencies from using a child’s or adoptive or foster parent’s race, color, or national origin to deny or delay a child’s placement. State agencies must also recruit and retain foster, adoptive, and kinship homes that reflect the diversity of children and youth in the child welfare system.

Provider Resources

HHS and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Issue Disability Rights Technical Assistance on Child Welfare

http://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/special-topics/adoption/index.html

Circumstances that are grounds for Termination of parental rights in Arizona

Arizona
Circumstances That Are Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights Rev. Stat. § 8-533
Grounds to terminate the parent-child relationship shall include any of the following, with due consideration for the best interests of the child:
• The parent has abandoned the child.
• The parent has neglected or willfully abused a child.
• The parent is unable to discharge parental responsibilities because of mental illness, mental deficiency, or a history of chronic abuse of dangerous drugs or alcohol, and there are reasonable grounds to believe that the condition will continue for a prolonged period.
• The parent has been convicted of a felony of such nature as to prove the unfitness of that parent, including murder or manslaughter of another child of the parent, or if the sentence of that parent is of such length that the child will be deprived of a normal home for a period of years.
• The potential father failed to file a paternity action within 30 days of completion of service of notice as prescribed
in § 8-106(G).
• The putative father failed to file a notice of claim of paternity.
• The parents have relinquished their rights to a child to an agency or have consented to the adoption.
• The identity of the parent is unknown and continues to be unknown following 3 months of diligent efforts to
identify and locate the parent.
• The parent has had parental rights to another child terminated within the preceding 2 years for the same cause and is currently unable to discharge parental responsibilities due to the same cause. The following may also be grounds for termination of parental rights: • The child is being cared for in an out-of-home placement, the agency responsible for the child’s care has made a diligent effort to provide appropriate reunification services, and one of the following circumstances exists:
» The child has been in an out-of-home placement for a cumulative total period of 9 months or longer, and the parent has substantially neglected or willfully refused to remedy the circumstances that cause the child to be in an out-of-home placement.
» The child who is under age 3 has been in an out-of-home placement for a cumulative total period of 6 months or longer, and the parent has substantially neglected or willfully refused to remedy the circumstances that cause the child to be in an out-of-home placement, including refusal to participate in reunification services offered by the department.
» The child has been in an out-of-home placement for a cumulative total period of 15 months, the parent has been unable to remedy the circumstances that cause the child to be in an out-of-home placement, and there is a substantial likelihood that the parent will not be capable of exercising proper and effective parental care and control in the near future.
• All of the following are true:
» The child was cared for in an out-of-home placement pursuant to court order.
» The agency responsible for the care of the child made diligent efforts to provide appropriate reunification
services.
» The child was returned to the legal custody of the parent from whom the child had been removed.
» Within 18 months after the child was returned, the child was removed from that parent’s legal custody, the child is being cared for in an out-of-home placement, and the parent is currently unable to discharge parental responsibilities.
The failure of an alleged parent who is not the child’s legal parent to take a test requested by the department or ordered by the court to determine if the person is the child’s natural parent is prima facie evidence of abandonment unless good cause is shown by the alleged parent for that failure.

Circumstances That Are Exceptions to Termination of Parental Rights
This issue is not addressed in the statutes reviewed.
Circumstances Allowing Reinstatement of Parental Rights.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Polly Klaas Foundation

How to protect your child from sexual predators

Abuse can be inflicted by coaches, adult volunteers, staff members or teammates. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security because a coach is nice. Individuals who sexually abuse children often know they need to create a sense of safety and trust with the people around them, so that concerns are dismissed.

9 warning signs

Commenting on athletes’ or employees’ bodies or appearance in a sexual manner.Giving gifts, money, trips or special favors.Playing body contact games, tickling, giving back rubs or wrestling.Videotaping or photographing athletes or employees in revealing or suggestive poses.Coaches who seem to prefer certain ages or genders of children and who tend to have a “special” relationship with one child.Making sexual jokes, sexual gestures and innuendoes or engaging in inappropriate, sexually oriented banter (e.g., discussion of dating behavior).Sharing sexual exploits or marital difficulties.Intentionally invading an athlete’s or employee’s privacy during nonworking hours or outside of regularly scheduled practice and competition.Excessive communication through email, text messaging, instant messaging or other social media.

What parents can do to help prevent abuse

Ask the sports club or program whether all coaches, volunteers and staff undergo criminal background checks before they are hired. Does the organization also check references, conduct personal interviews and require written applications?Ask whether the club has written policies. Those policies should clearly define coach misconduct, prohibit romantic or other nonprofessional relationships between coaches and athletes, define and prohibit emotional, verbal and physical abuse, bullying, hazing, initiation rituals, harassment and physical punishment by staff or athletes.Ask how the club monitors interactions between its staff and athletes. It should ensure that a coach is not left alone with a child.Ask what the process is for reporting inappropriate behaviors. There should be a formal written policy.Ask whether coaches, staff and volunteers undergo training in professional behavior and in identifying behaviors that they must stop if they observe them.Ask whether the club has an independent athlete welfare advocate or athlete protection officer to whom athletes know they can go in complete confidence to help them address concerns.Ask the coach about his or her coaching history. Does the individual have a child on the team? If not, how did he or she get involved? Does the individual coach other sports, genders or age groups? If you sense hesitancy in answering the questions or you think the coach is uncomfortable with your interest, you might want to pay more attention.As children get older, show up unexpectedly early on occasion and observe how practice is going. Be comfortable setting boundaries, such as limiting one-on-one time with your child.Talk to your children regarding all inappropriate or abusive behaviors and what they should do if they observe or are subjected to such behaviors.Does the club have a policy for traveling to competitions? Athletes should not travel alone with coaches, nor should they share a room or be alone in a room with a coach. There should be a detailed itinerary.

Report suspected abuse

If you have reason to believe a child is being abused or neglected, call local law enforcement or the child welfare agency. If you aren’t sure where to report, contact the National Child Abuse Hotline at (800) 422-4453.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2016/08/04/how-protect-your-child-sexual-predators/87906268/

Monday, August 1, 2016

900 complaints about child protection made to Local Government Ombudsman in last year

Family Law Week2016-07-29 07:07

68% of complaints upheld

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has published its annual complaint statistics for local authorities for the 12 months to 31st March 2016. Overall there were 19,702 complaints and enquiries, and 4,464 detailed investigations of which 51% of complaints were upheld.

The review breaks down complaints according to individual service areas. For Education and Children's Services collectively complaints and enquiries were up by 13% to 3,438. 53% of those cases investigated were upheld.

In respect of children's services, in particular, the review comments on child protection, children's statutory complaints procedure and child sexual exploitation.

There were 903 registered complaints and enquiries concerning child protection. Where investigations were completed, 68% of cases resulted in complaints being upheld. This is considerably higher than the average for all complaints (51%).

Many complaints received were about or involved councils' application of the statutory children's social care complaints process. This is designed to ensure the rights and needs of the child are at the heart of the process and that young people's voices are heard. Once a complaint has been accepted via this procedure, complainants have a right to progress through each stage: local resolution; investigation; and independent review. LGO said that it regularly saw instances where councils fail to follow the process, or its guiding principles.

The LGO has received only a small number of complaints concerning child sexual exploitation. But, it has seen some instances where a council has taken a lack of consent from a young person to justify not investigating a complaint or for failing to take safeguarding action. This is of concern because young persons may not perceive themselves to be victims or vulnerable to potential exploitation and do not therefore recognise they may be in need of protection.

http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed162015