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Legislative News and Views

Covering Legislative news of concern to homeschooling families. Check back often for news and action items. Stay informed, be a part of the solution.

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 Title   Date   Author   Host 

Fire Mary Peters

News With Views

by Tom DeWeese

May 11, 2008

The Bush Administration has directly defied, not only the will and intent of Congress, but it is now openly ignoring legislation that the President himself signed into law.

As a result a Constitutional crisis is rapidly developing over a project to let Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. As a result, many are now calling for the firing of U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

States to Homeland Security on REAL ID: No Thanks

News With Views

by Steven Yates

May 11, 2008

Today-May 11, 2008-is not just Mother's Day but REAL ID D-Day, so to speak: the day citizens of states not granted extensions to comply with the REAL ID Act of 2005 would find themselves unable to board planes, enter federal buildings, etc.

By the end of last year, seven states had passed laws prohibiting implementation of REAL ID in their state: Maine, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington, New Hampshire, and Georgia. That number became eight on April 9 of this year when Idaho joined up. Ten states had laws...

State settles with disabled mother

Helena Independent Record

by Matt Gouras

May 10, 2008

The state said Friday that it has settled accusations that child protective services workers unfairly discriminated against a disabled Livingston woman. The settlement will cost the state $330,000.

Geri Glass, bound to a wheelchair following a car accident, said the workers put onerous and unfair conditions on her. Glass said that when her son Gage was a newborn, state Child and Family Services workers told her they would take her son if they learned she had been left alone with him.

State foster care could get boost

Detroit Free Press (MI)

by Tim Martin

May 08, 2008

LANSING -- Michigan's strained foster care system might get some support from the private sector under a plan soon to be introduced in the state Legislature.

The state has 6,611 licensed foster homes, and agencies are looking to recruit more foster parents. But there are other ways for the public to help the system, lawmakers said. The state typically has had between 18,000 and 19,000 children in the foster care system at any one time in the past decade.

Part III: Big stakes, but little voice for kids

The Mercury News (CA)

by Karen de Sa'

February 12, 2008

The day an Alameda County Superior Court judge became his stand-in parent, 14-year-old Zairon Frazier felt more like a criminal than a survivor of child abuse.

His mother had whacked him with a belt. But inside Juvenile Dependency Court, it seemed like a different sort of punishment. A bank of attorneys argued his fate at a rapid clip. "Obviously, whatever they were saying wasn't for my benefit," Zairon said. "I knew they were talking about me, but I didn't think anything I said or cared about mattered. If it was about me, why didn't they ask me?"

Part II: A timid advocate for parents' rights

The Mercury News (CA)

by Karen de Sa'

February 11, 2008

Parents of children under 3 years old have just six months from the time a child is taken into foster care to prove they can safely parent. Parents of older children have one year.

As a result, Proctor said, the most effective thing lawyers can do for parents is to persuade them to admit to the problems and work on solving them. "You could litigate every piece of the (social worker's) report, but what is that going to accomplish?" Proctor asked. "My feeling is you've got a better chance getting them out of denial."

Part I: How rushed justice fails our kids

The Mercury News (CA)

by Karen de Sa'

February 11, 2008

A yearlong Mercury News examination found widespread evidence of a system riddled with problems that open the door to poor judgment:

Judges and lawyers representing children and parents juggle caseloads in some counties that at any given time are far higher than even the maximum recommended standards. On a recent weekday, a San Joaquin County judge ruled on 135 families in a single day. Dependency lawyers in San Bernardino County represent 464 children each - almost five times what many experts recommend.

Texas officials drafting plans for FLDS children

Deseret News

by Ben Winslow

May 08, 2008

Texas child welfare authorities have begun drafting service plans for the children taken from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

"It's the plan that has to address the permanency," said Mary Walker, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. "Whether or not children will be unified with their parents or whether or not they will remain in foster care."

CPS files still closed as more queries raised

The Arizona Republic

May 07, 2008

Need another reason why the Arizona Legislature needs to pry open a few of those lead-lined windows that allow Child Protective Services to protect itself from the prying eyes of outsiders? Two words: Dave Wigton.

For nearly 30 years, Wigton has worked at the agency whose only job is to protect children. Then last week, he was accused of turning a little girl into his own personal sex toy and, as a bonus, sharing kiddie porn with a teenage boy.

Testing Bill Defeated

HSLDA (TN)

April 25, 2008

After weeks of intense grassroots lobbying by energized homeschooling families, on March 19, 2008, the Special Initiatives Subcommittee of the Tennessee House Education Committee voted to kill a testing bill threatening home educators.

House Bill 2795 would have subjected non-public school students, including homeschool students, to additional state testing. It would have required them to take subject matter tests based upon state-approved textbooks. It would also have required them to pass the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests before receiving a high school diploma.

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