States routinely took the benefits checks of children in foster care who were orphans or disabled. After an NPR/Marshall Project investigation, there's reform.
A nationwide decline in foster home spots has led to dire situations around the country. In rural northeastern Nevada, officials resorted to housing children in casino hotels for short stints.
A newspaper finds that the insurance company that manages medical care for many Georgia children has denied or partially denied more than 6,500 requests for psychotherapy between 2019 and mid-2022.
Georgia lawmakers say they will rewrite a bill that would slow the flow of children into foster care. That's after concerns were raised by juvenile court judges and children's advocates.
More states are moving to specialized managed-care contracts solely to handle medical and behavioral services for foster kids. But child advocates, foster parents, and even state officials say these and other care arrangements are shortchanging foster kids’ health needs.
Some states allow children to be removed from their parents if they fail to pay the cost of foster care. But that can be hundreds of dollars a month, and it's often the poorest families who must pay.
After reading an investigation by NPR and the Marshall Project, former foster youth are asking what happened to their benefits — and the government isn't helping.
In every state, governments charge parents for the cost of foster care when children are taken away. When that happens, NPR found, poor parents can't make ends meet, so families are kept apart longer.
This past spring, the Turbevilles learned the juvenile court in Floyd County had terminated the parental rights of the biological mother and fathers for the six oldest siblings, allowing them to start the adoption process.
Los Angeles County plans to ensure foster youth who get Social Security can use the money later, going against the common practice of child welfare agencies nationwide to use benefits to pay for care.
Though this case is not set to have an immediate impact on couples looking to adopt a child in Georgia, it highlights the push and pull between elements of the state government eager to push religious liberty legislation and local governments seeking to enshrine LGBTQ protections in local ordinance.
Georgia is establishing a therapeutic foster care program to provide specialized treatment for children with an assortment of behavioral, mental and developmental challenges.
Adopting a child can be a complicated and even expensive process. But new laws are aimed at making it easier to adopt a child in Georgia, especially children in foster care.
