Family Rights and Child Abuse News

Report: Interim CFSA Director Sued Over Patient Relationship

WASHINGTON -- News4 has learned that the man named interim head of D.C.'s Child and Family Services Agency was at the center of a civil lawsuit 19 years ago.

Dr. Roque Gerald was named the agency's interim director this week, after Director Sherylnn Bobo resigned over controversy concerning the deaths of two children.

NBC News 4

July 19, 2008

Judge dismisses juvenile case prompting homeschool ban

by Bob Unruh

A judge in California has ended juvenile court jurisdiction over two children in a family case that prompted an appeals court at one point to declare that parents had no right to homeschool their children in the state.

The court's effectual ban on homeschooling in California later was dropped when the same panel agreed to rehear the case, and oral arguments on those issues were held last month, with parties ranging from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the state's fire marshals and superintendent of public instruction supporting homeschooling parents.

World Net Daily (CA)

July 11, 2008

Foulston meets angry mothers

by Roy Wenzl

The three mothers who showed up at Nola Foulston's office on Wednesday came to complain that their kids had been abused, falsely accused and neglected while in state custody.

Foulston, the Sedgwick County district attorney, had invited them so she could answer their questions, and because she's still angry about Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services director Don Jordan saying recently that her office "bullied" SRS workers into putting information into court documents that they don't believe.

The Wichita Eagle (KS)

July 03, 2008

California and Homeschool Liberty:A Companion Post

On Monday, June 23, the Court of Appeal in Los Angeles held oral arguments for the rehearing in the In re Rachel L homeschooling/abuse case in California.

The arguments were long (two and a half hours in a hot courtroom) and thorough. The judges asked lots of questions, with some consistent themes. As soon as you thought you had one judge pegged as to how he or she was thinking, he or she would ask another question that made you wonder about your prior conclusion. They were reasonably generous about letting people finish their presentations or points even if they ran over a little on time.

The Full-Quiver Homeschool House

July 01, 2008

Family Services: Three visits preceded boy's death

by Brian Haynes

Jason Rimer was no stranger to Clark County's child welfare agency. Three times during the disabled boy's four years of life, investigators from the Department of Family Services visited his home to look into abuse or neglect allegations.

Sixteen months after the last visit, the boy who could barely walk or speak was dead, forgotten in his family's sport utility vehicle for 17 hours. For critics of the county agency, the Rimer case is a glaring example of how those responsible for protecting Southern Nevada's most vulnerable children are failing, despite a wave of reforms following a similar child death in 2005.

Las Vegas Review-Journal

June 30, 2008