Children and families caught in the state’s beleaguered child welfare system have significant good news to celebrate this week as the state, with millions of extra dollars just appropriated by legislators, launches a major restructuring of the system.
Lawmakers this year passed a half-dozen new laws and millions in funding to reform child welfare programs, support foster parents better, lower social worker caseloads, and help foster youth get drivers licenses and access to lawyers, among other efforts.
The most far-reaching of these bills, HB 1661, consolidates child protection, early learning and juvenile justice programs under a new Department of Children, Youth and Families. The new, more prevention-focused agency aims to help families before children are removed due to neglect or abuse, and before youth get into trouble with the law. The bill passed with broad bipartisan support on June 30 as the Legislature wound down most of its major work.
[For more of this story, written by Allegra Abramo, go to http://crosscut.com/2017/07/bi...-foster-care-crisis/]
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