Foster Care and Child Welfare Week in Review – April 1, 2024
Here are some news items from last few weeks related to foster care, adoption, and child welfare that caught our eye:
The National Safe Haven Alliance (NSHA) helpline provides alternatives like open adoption, offering relief to parents considering surrendering their infants. Concerns arise regarding the implementation of drop boxes for surrendering infants, potentially providing false closure and overlooking crucial support options. Labels on baby drop boxes often omit information about available resources and the law’s requirements, leaving parents uninformed. Such laws may hinder adoptees’ ability to reconnect with birth parents and bypass Child Protective Services, raising oversight concerns. Informed decision-making and support for birth parents, adoptees, and families are crucial to navigate these complex situations.
Roxanna Asgarian’s “We Were Once a Family,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for non-fiction, delves into Texas’ flawed foster care system and exposes its racial biases. Triggered by the tragic deaths of six black children at the hands of their white foster parents, Asgarian’s investigation uncovers systemic failures and institutional racism. Her book sheds light on how race influences child welfare decisions and emphasizes the urgent need for reform. Through extensive research and personal accounts, Asgarian highlights the dire consequences of neglecting children’s rights within the foster care system.
A Rusk County court has ordered the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to release withheld evidence related to the case of Jessica Gasser, a Texas mom accused of medically abusing her 3-year-old daughter. Gasser’s attorney alleges that affidavits used to support the allegations were riddled with false statements. Additionally, DFPS has agreed to unsupervised visits for Gasser and her husband with their daughter, who experienced weight loss in foster care. Despite dismissal of criminal charges in Rusk County, charges remain in Tarrant County. A pretrial hearing in the DFPS family court case is scheduled for May.
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