mississippi double exposure red wingThis page compiled by KARA volunteer Corey Wasser

NY: One More Problem Faced by Transgender New Yorkers: Food Insecurity
Slate – November 21, 2015
As health care access is clearly still a problem, the report requests that policymakers “Assure that all transgender people, including those in the foster care system, juvenile detention or criminal justice system, have access to the health care they need.”
http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/11/21/transgender_new_yorkers_poorer_more_food_insecure_than_non_trans_residents.html

NY: ‘Love has no grade, age, colors or borders’
Poughkeepsie Journal – November 19, 2015
November is National Adoption Month, with this year’s focus on the adoption of older children. AdoptUSKids, a project of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, reports each year 20,000 of the country’s 108,000-plus kids in foster care that are waiting for adoption, age out of care, making them more vulnerable to homelessness, underemployment and health challenges during their lives.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/life/2015/11/19/adoption-older-children-families/76084766/

NY: Focusing on the youth of incarcerated parents
Register-Star – November 19, 2015
“Can you imagine coming home and your parent isn’t there?” asked a voice in the film “Echoes of Incarceration.” The film was made by and about children of incarcerated parents.
http://www.registerstar.com/news/article_60f72ace-8e89-11e5-8fb9-1bf105b0a9f4.html

NY: Spence-Chapin Announces New Foster Care Agency Partnerships (Press release)
CSRwire – November 17, 2015
Spence-Chapin, a non-profit adoption and family services agency, announced today, two separate partnerships – Catholic Guardian Services and The New York Foundling – both aim to service the New York City foster care population.
http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/38479-Spence-Chapin-Announces-New-Foster-Care-Agency-Partnerships

NY: Child Advocacy Center celebrates its 20th anniversary
Buffalo News – November 15, 2015
In 20 years of operation the center has served 4,500 children and its family services component has served more than 1,200 adults. Thousands of people have participated in its education programs.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/niagara-falls/child-advocacy-center-celebrates-its-20th-anniversary-20151115

NY: North country children find loving homes during National Adoption Month
Watertown Daily Times – November 15, 2015
Through a partnership with the Departments of Social Services in each of the three counties, the Children’s Home of Jefferson County’s Foster Care Program has placed many children in loving, local homes.
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/news03/north-country-children-find-loving-homes-during-national-adoption-month-20151115

NY: Warren County supervisors to seek law change on social services secrecy
Glens Falls Post-Star – November 12, 2015
Warren County supervisors are angry over laws that hinder their ability to find out whether employees of the county Department of Social Services mishandled a case in which a child was allegedly sexually assaulted, and they plan to lobby for a change.
http://poststar.com/news/local/warren-county-supervisors-to-seek-law-change-on-social-services/article_9709c0a0-14d3-58b2-8abf-6590b76b1c13.html

NY: How the heroin epidemic could cost unwary parents custody of all their kids (Commentary)
Staten Island Advance – November 02, 2015
While the statistics regarding Staten Island’s heroin epidemic are not compiled in real time, people closest to its devastating consequences warn that it’s getting worse.
http://www.silive.com/opinion/danielleddy/index.ssf/2015/11/how_the_heroin_epidemic_could.html

NY: Local agency stresses need for more adoptive parents (Includes video)
WIVB – November 04, 2015
About 800 kids are in the foster care system in Erie County; 44 of them are overseen by Child and Family Services.
http://wivb.com/2015/11/04/local-agency-stresses-need-for-more-adoptive-parents/
NY: ‘Love has no grade, age, colors or borders’
Poughkeepsie Journal – November 19, 2015
November is National Adoption Month, with this year’s focus on the adoption of older children. AdoptUSKids, a project of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, reports each year 20,000 of the country’s 108,000-plus kids in foster care that are waiting for adoption, age out of care, making them more vulnerable to homelessness, underemployment and health challenges during their lives.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/story/life/2015/11/19/adoption-older-children-families/76084766/

NY: Focusing on the youth of incarcerated parents
Register-Star – November 19, 2015
“Can you imagine coming home and your parent isn’t there?” asked a voice in the film “Echoes of Incarceration.” The film was made by and about children of incarcerated parents.
http://www.registerstar.com/news/article_60f72ace-8e89-11e5-8fb9-1bf105b0a9f4.html

 

NY: Hearing Will Examine Pay for Workers Serving City’s Most Vulnerable
Gotham Gazette – October 30, 2015
For six years, a particular group of workers employed through contracts with the city, and filling important roles, saw their wages stagnate. In May of this year, however, Mayor de Blasio announced that his Executive Budget for the 2016 fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2015, would provide a 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment increase and an $11.50 per hour wage floor for some of New York City’s human services providers — workers who staff senior centers, homeless shelters, foster care agencies, and more.
http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5960-hearing-will-examine-pay-for-workers-serving-citys-most-vulnerable

NY: City foster care leader takes over amid problems, politics-inflected lawsuit 
Capital New York – October 29, 2015
Julie Farber is taking charge of New York City’s foster care system in unusually awkward cirumstances. Tasked with turning around a historically troubled system, she is now fighting a lawsuit filed against the city agency by her former employer, and joined by Public Advocate Letitia James–a lawsuit that seems to be caught up in the increasingly fraught political dynamic between Governor Andrew Cuomo and his erstwhile ally, Mayor Bill de Blasio.
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/10/8580965/city-foster-care-leader-takes-over-amid-problems-politics-inflecte

NY: New book illuminates LGBT youth homelessness
Tribune Star – October 27, 2015
In a new book about working in the trenches among youths who have been dealt the worst in life — poverty, abuse, racism, homophobia — Berg writes, “I saw this bald, white guy in a dilapidated house in Queens surrounded by kids of color and wondered, ‘What am I doing here?’ ” His fish-out-of-water experience, as well as the transformative and sometimes heart-wrenching relationships that grew between him and the youths he worked with, are the focus of “No House to Call My Home: Love, Family and Other Transgressions.”
http://www.startribune.com/new-book-illuminates-lgbt-youth-homelessness/337598451/

 

NY: Children Of Promise, NYC Aims To Restore Relationships Between Children And Their Incarcerated Parents
VIBE – October 28, 2015
The backstory surrounding these homecomings isn’t as tidy as when a father comes home from a tour of duty, or when a mother returns from a long business trip, and while Children Of Promise, NYC helps to bridge the communication between the child and their incarcerated parent, founder and CEO Sharon Content understands there are some who believe these parents unfortunately made a bad choice. But family is family, no matter how ugly things may sometimes get.
http://www.vibe.com/2015/10/children-of-promise-nyc/

NY: State Shortchanging Pre-Kindergarten Outside of New York City (Includes audio)
Public News Service – October 27, 2015
Last year the state spent $340 million dollars on pre-K, and all but $40 million went to the city. According to Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, this year New York City is getting 42 times as much funding as Nassau County, while having only six times as many four-year-olds.
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-10-27/early-childhood-education/state-shortchanging-pre-kindergarten-outside-of-new-york-city/a48676-2
NY: Group pushes for traction on issue of child sex abuse
Buffalo News – October 05, 2015
Fourteen people gathered in the early evening around a conference table in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park neighborhood last week — victims, advocates, educators. Some spoke with calm conviction. Some spoke in frustration. And some spoke from deep-seated pain. The challenge before them: How to ensure that sexual crimes against children stop being the subject of whispers and shame, and start being an openly confronted community issue tackled in pulpits, schools and legislative chambers.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/east-side/group-pushes-for-traction-on-issue-of-child-sex-abuse-20151005

NY: New Moms on SI Graduate from Guiding Program (Includes video)
NY1 – October 09, 2015
New moms on Staten Island graduated from a program that helps give their children a brighter future. NY1’s Aaron Dickens filed the following report.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/staten-island/news/2015/10/9/new-moms-on-si-graduate-from-guiding-program.html

NY: Program Pairs “Grannies” With Children Growing Up in Institutions (Includes audio)
Public News Service – October 09, 2015
After previously only offering the service overseas, a New York City-based nonprofit launches it’s first domestic volunteer “Granny” program, which aims to provide consistent care for children in institutions.
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-10-09/childrens-issues/program-pairs/a48469-1

NY: Erie County social workers headed into Springville-GI
Springville Journal – October 09, 2015
Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz has announced an initiative to increase collaboration between the Erie County Department of Social Services and local suburban school districts. Under the new partnerships, Child Protective Services employees will be assigned to many local schools several days per week, providing district staff faster access to child welfare expertise while streamlining and expediting the investigation process.
http://springvillejournal.com/erie-county-social-workers-headed-into-springville-gi/

NY: Family Court hosts annual Teen Day event to help kids in foster care
Brooklyn Daily Eagle – October 09, 2015
The Kings County Family Court hosted its annual Teen Day event on Wednesday, where the court shuts down the eighth floor and invites a group of Brooklyn teenagers in the foster care system to come in for advice, resources, lunch and even clothes.
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/2015/10/9/family-court-hosts-annual-teen-day-event-help-kids-foster-care
NY: Paladino urges charges for parents if kids miss too much school
The Buffalo News – October 13, 2015
Board Member Carl Paladino is recommending that the district tighten up its attendance policy, including going after parents for failing to ensure their children attend school.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/buffalo-public-schools/paladino-urges-charges-for-parents-if-kids-miss-too-much-school-20151013

NY: Helping Homeless Parents Help Their Children Gets Results (Includes audio)
Public News Service – October 20, 2015
Advocates say helping parents in distress help their kids can make a huge difference in the academic performance of those children in school.
http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-10-20/early-childhood-education/helping-homeless-parents-help-their-children-gets-results/a48596-1

NY: Child Protective Services is volatile issue in campaign for Erie County executive
Buffalo News – October 19, 2015
Assemblyman Raymond W. Walter, the Republican candidate for Erie County executive, thinks the Democratic incumbent hasn’t done enough to protect children who come under the care of Child Protective Services. County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz disagrees.
http://www.buffalonews.com/city-region/erie-county-politics/child-protective-services-is-volatile-issue-in-campaign-for-erie-county-executive-20151019
NY: EXCLUSIVE: NYC foster care system to see big reforms
New York Daily News – October 20, 2015
The state agreed to a series of reforms aimed at improving the lives of thousands of kids stuck in the city’s dysfunctional foster care system in a new legal settlement announced Tuesday.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-city-foster-care-system-big-reforms-article-1.2404320

NY: Why New York City’s Foster Care System Is Getting a Watchdog (Opinion)
New York Times – October 20, 2015
New York State has agreed to hire a monitor and a research expert to serve as watchdogs of the New York City foster care system to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that alleges foster children are enduring irreparable harm after lingering too long without permanent families. Also: Legal Providers Critical of Foster Care Pact with State (Requires registration): http://www.newyorklawjournal.com/id=1202740410648/Legal-Providers-Critical-of-Foster-Care-Pact-with-State
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/nyregion/new-york-state-hires-monitor-for-citys-foster-care-system.html?_r=0

NY: Gov. Cuomo Plans NYC Foster Care System Reform
Longview News-Journal – October 24, 2015
A lawsuit filed against the New York City foster care system has been settled, paving the way for reforms and changes in the system’s inner workings.
http://www.allmediany.com/news/56387-gov-cuomo-plans-nyc-foster-care-system-reform