This Week's News: 19 Mar 2006

Foster Care

Foster care reform requires flexibility
San Jose Mercury News, USA – Mar 19, 2006
... a normal childhood. As a result, it is not surprising that foster youth often experience difficulties as adults. More than a third ...

Alberty: Joining a national movement to improve child welfare
Indian Country Today, NY - Mar 17, 2006
Editors' note: The first installment of this series looked at the current, mainstream foster care system and some of the complications of making it work for ...

Additional News:
Child Welfare League of America Calls on White House to Reject ...
U.S. Newswire (press release)


Juvenile Justice

Juvenile tax needs study, education
Shreveport Times, LA - Mar 19, 2006
... and Youth Planning Board. The group is a new entity created by the Legislature to help oversee and coordinate juvenile services -- ranging from foster care to ...

Martin sheriff takes lawmakers to task on juvenile justice
Fort Pierce Tribune (subscription), FL - Mar 15, 2006
... Lawmakers, agency officials and governor office have failed to communicate, leaving needed juvenile justice programs to languish. ...


Education

High School Dropouts: The Silent Epidemic
Louisiana Weekly - Mar 20, 2006
If you listen carefully, you still can't hear it. It's the sound of a third of high school students dropping out before receiving their diploma. For people of color, the figure is almost 50 percent and that has profound implications not only for the students, but for the society that failed them.

Raising drop-out age puts cart before horse
Portsmouth Herald News, NH – Mar 19, 2006
... that about 15 percent of high school students in ... will happen is that teachers and school systems will ... proposing keeping those would-be drop-outs in traditional ...

States Look to Reduce Dropout Rates
Associated Press – Mar 19, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS - Stephan Howell got in a lot of fights in high school and was suspended so often he couldn't get credit for some of his classes. By his senior year, he was told he would have to stay an extra year and a half if he wanted to graduate.

Lynch wants kids in school until 18
Portsmouth Herald News, NH - Mar 17, 2006
... "Eighty percent of prison inmates are high school drop-outs," the governor noted, "and it costs about $27,000 a year to incarcerate a prisoner.". ...

Quilcene students succeed at Crossroads
Port Townsend Leader, WA - Mar 15, 2006
... class had been or were nearly drop-outs, some only ... The school is a win-win situation: The district ... Barton said she has high expectations for classroom behavior ...