http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/200 ... ldlaw.html
here's a clip I found interesting...
The risk plays out in the foster care system. Clark said 680,000 American children now ages 12 to 17 have been in foster care at one time or another — and that they’re a third more likely to abuse drugs than children untouched by the foster care system.
Has there been progress in child welfare since the 1960s, when In re Gault revolutionized the legal landscape?
Stanford law professor Michael Wald allowed there were “real pockets of excellence,” but warned that representation for most abused and neglected children is still “woefully lacking.”
In the 1960s, an annual caseload of 100,000 would be typical, he said in an April 15 final conference panel. But today, 5.6 million cases are referred to agencies and courts every year: 8 percent of all U.S. children.
Only 1 percent of cases are substantiated, but as many as 15 percent are substantiated over time, said Wald — and all the cases, by the act of referral alone, “lead to trauma.”
Rates of abuse in high-poverty counties are three times the national average, and involve “heavily, heavily” large numbers of children 1 year old or younger, he said. “We can predict a child’s life by the ZIP code.”
Emerging from this population are youngsters with significant emotional, cognitive, and social deficits, said Wald — and the system misses many more. Fewer than 40 percent of abused children get the help they need, he said.
Meanwhile, prevention efforts are lagging; billions of dollars in social research “have not produced a lot of knowledge”; legislation is weak; and litigation does not work, with court cases often dragging on for years while children are in limbo, said Wald.
Not just welfare agencies and the courts are failing children, he said. So are schools and systems for juvenile health, job training, and mental health. “Child protective advocates have to become part of a larger social movement” of the kind that has coalesced around the environment, special education, and gay rights, said Wald, “pushing daily, daily, daily (to save) the worst-treated.”
there's a lot more interesting information
