News items related to foster care

Scapegoating the Poor: Lizzie Buchen, Jul 22, 2014; The story of a single working mother who faces a decade in prison for allowing her daughter to play in a park unsupervised demonstrates our foolish reliance on incarceration and punishment as a way to poverty.
AB 12: more placement options for juvenile courts: Emily Luhrs, Jan 20, 2012; Gov. Brown's proposal to phase-out DJF entirely starting with no new commitments as of January 1, 2013, has many California counties worried about what to do with their most high risk youth, especially the few counties whose juvenile facilities are nearing capacity. The perceived lack of alternatives has many counties' prosecutors thinking their only option will be to directly transfer this population to adult court. However, there are in fact many local options for handling youth that would…
Is California Failing its Youth?: Mar 19, 2010; The recent report titled "Proposition 63: Is the Mental Health Act Reaching California's Transitional Age Foster Youth? " from Children's Advocacy Institute estimates that about 4,000 California youth age out of the foster care system annually. Proposition 63 provides services to Transition Age Youth (TAY) and Transition Age Foster Youth (TAFY). The report indicates that California is failing to provide services to these youth, with most counties receiving a grade "F". Once a youth enters the…

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