Filings for child in need of services and termination of parental rights cases have swung in opposite directions in the past few years, according to statistics released recently by the Indiana Supreme Court.
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With a pending move to a new courthouse, Marion County Courts are launching a new family division that aims to follow a one family, one judge model.
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Although many may be skeptical of parents whose children are removed from their care, statistics show that nearly 67% of Hoosier youths exit foster care and are successfully reunited with their moms and dads. Those stories of resilience inspired the Marion Superior Court Juvenile Division and the Marion County Public Defender Agency to celebrate National Reunification Month for the first time in Indiana.
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Christina Kovats and Kristina Byers previously served time at the Indiana Women’s Prison, and this year they became advocates who worked to draft Indiana legislation aimed at dismantling the black-and-white mentality regarding termination of parental rights for incarcerated mothers. A new law now gives judges discretion in TPR cases involving parents behind bars.
Read MoreThe Indiana Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from a tax trade publication that sought disclosure of tax dollars and incentives Indianapolis and the state offered Amazon in the city’s failed attempt to lure the online retail giant’s coveted second headquarters project known as HQ2.
Kids’ Voice of Indiana has signed a contract with the city of Indianapolis to provide guardian ad litem and court appointed special advocate services to Marion Superior Courts through the end of 2023, with the nonprofit set to receive $5.4 million for the remainder of 2021.
A CHINS finding against a Hendricks County girl was reversed Thursday after the Indiana Court of Appeals found determined the underlying evidence had been “exaggerated.”
Like a couple deciding not to marry, Kids’ Voice of Indiana and Child Advocates were unable to work out a prenuptial agreement after weeks of negotiations and are now focused on who will take care of the children.
Kids’ Voice of Indiana will be the sole operator of the guardian ad litem and court appointed special advocate programs for Marion County juvenile courts after Child Advocates, which had provided those services for decades, rejected the subcontract agreement the two organizations had been negotiating.
Kids’ Voice of Indiana and Child Advocates are close to inking a deal after the city of Indianapolis announced it would be switching providers of the Guardian Ad Litem and CASA services for the Marion County juvenile court May 1.
Two Indianapolis nonprofits that serve youngsters in the child welfare system, Child Advocates and Kids’ Voice of Indiana, have been at the center of an argument that many families have had: Who can better care for the youngest members?
Described as a “model of the nation,” an Indiana juvenile justice reform bill passed the Indiana House of Representatives with Democrats and Republicans all voting in support of the measure.
Calls to Indiana’s child abuse and neglect hotline fell by more than 10% last year compared to the previous two years, and an expert said that may reflect the isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With just three weeks before its contract with the city of Indianapolis ends, Child Advocates is trying to negotiate a subcontract with Kids’ Voice so it can continue providing volunteers and staff to advocate for youngsters in Indiana’s child welfare system. Meanwhile, a report questioned longtime contractor Child Advocates’ cost overruns.
Ruling in a case presenting “somewhat unusual circumstances,” the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a petition for grandparent visitation, finding the trial court had erred in determining the visitation would not be in the granddaughter’s best interests. The appeals court remanded for proceedings to establish a grandparent visitation order in the case.
Child Advocates is asking the city of Indianapolis to delay plans to switch CASA providers until the end of year, citing questions about the transition, the ability of Kids’ Voice to handle the work and concerns over the risk to children.
Tipton County parents who alleged their children were unconstitutionally treated by doctors while in a grandmother’s care failed to convince the Indiana Court of Appeals that summary judgment for the doctors was inappropriate.
Kids’ Voice of Indiana, a nonprofit serving children and families, will take over the training and operation of the court-appointed special advocate program in Marion County courts May 1 after the city of Indianapolis switched the contract for the services from Child Advocates.
A mother’s argument that her children were not in need of services because they were being cared for by their maternal grandmother was insufficient to halt the CHINS proceedings, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
The question of whether children in CHINS proceedings should be appointed counsel is best left for state court resolution, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, finding no “civil Gideon” principle requiring counsel in child welfare cases.
The Indiana Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case brought by a woman who was incorrectly told a hepatitis test was negative when the test revealed she was, in fact, hepatitis positive.
Three adults who claim they were abused as children have filed a lawsuit against their adoptive parents as well as the Indiana Department of Child Services and the department’s county director and caseworkers, claiming the state agency and its employees were the “proximate cause of the shocking abuse” that the plaintiffs suffered.
A request by grandparents to adopt a grandson found to be a child in need of services was properly denied, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday, upholding a trial court’s determination that adoption was not in the child’s best interests.
An out-of-state father whose children were placed in foster care after one of them was injured during a domestic dispute between their mother and her boyfriend was wrongly denied an opportunity to parent his children, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.