The Indiana Department of Child Services is spending $22 million on raises for staff as part of an effort to improve the agency that’s seen rising caseloads and internal battles. The raises will take effect Wednesday for more than 3,600 employees, or about 87 percent of the agency’s staff.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed two CHINS petitions when it ruled fact-finding hearings must be completed within 120 days of filing, regardless of any act or agreements of the parties involved.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reiterated harsh words at the Department of Child Services and Indiana trial courts after reversing another case involving a failure to afford due process protections to families in termination of parental rights cases.
While the firestorm over the Indiana Department of Child Services has died down, the Indiana General Assembly is preparing to begin its examination of the agency and possibly make recommendations for action during the 2019 legislative session. The Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Room 431 of the Statehouse to review a host of issues related to DCS.
Two Marion County children will no longer be considered children in need of services after the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed their CHINS adjudication, finding insufficient evidence to support the finding that their North Carolina-based father could not care for them.
The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that court-appointed special advocates have the statutory authority to prosecute a petition to terminate parental rights, even when the Department of Child Services opposes the termination.
A man who used the sovereign citizen tactic of filing phony liens against multiple Indiana federal judges lost his appeal Monday. The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Brent A. Swallers' conviction of filing a false lien and encumbrance against a federal judge
It’s not uncommon for the Indiana Department of Child Services to hear it doesn’t have enough evidence to support its child welfare cases. Children in need of services cases that enter the court often leave shredded by judges for lack of a sufficient reasoning as to why they came before the bench without enough evidence to back up the claims.
Five reviews of the Indiana Department of Child Services cost more than $1.3 million but yielded no state action to address the troubled agency’s increasing caseloads.
Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said Monday he was “disturbed” after finding out the state’s child welfare agency failed to take action after five different reviews conducted in recent years found problems at the agency. The revelation was included in a sixth report on the Department of Child Services, which was released in June by a consultant hired by Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.
The $25 million Gov. Eric Holcomb recently pledged in additional funding for the Department of Child Services is not the first infusion of extra money given to the agency in recent years. In fact, the sum is one of the smaller supplements to the department’s annual state appropriation, which is more than $600 million.
A review of Indiana’s troubled child welfare agency confirms what advocates have long said: Parental drug abuse has led to a surge in children removed from their homes.
Pledging this is the start of a new day for the Indiana Department of Child Services, Gov. Eric Holcomb on Monday outlined changes his administration is implementing to improve the troubled state agency and announced that he is dipping into the state surplus to provide another $25 million to boost salaries and transform the workplace culture.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed on interlocutory appeal a change the permanency plan for two children from reunification to termination of parental rights while also cautioning that such trial court rulings are “generally not suitable for interlocutory review.”
Key findings from an outside assessment of Indiana’s Department of Child Services will be released Monday, when representatives from the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group will present the results of the assessment requested by Gov. Eric Holcomb. Holcomb asked for the DCS study after former director Mary Beth Bonaventura abruptly resigned, accusing Holcomb of cutting funds and putting children’s lives at risk.
The Indiana Department of Child Services will begin using an online background check program next week, a change the department expects will expedite new employee processing by about two weeks.
A father is accusing the Indiana Department of Child Services of being complicit in the death of his 5-year-old son, who died in the care of his mother and her boyfriend. A lawsuit in Morgan Superior Court contends the agency received at least 11 reports of suspected abuse before the 2016 death of Brayson Price.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a trial court’s adjudication of children in need of services, finding the mother’s struggle for stable housing and her positive drug tests did not meet the Indiana Supreme Court’s standard that the children were seriously endangered. The mother told case workers she was an attorney.
Public defenders around Indiana say they need a life preserver made of money to stay afloat in the flood of child in need of services cases that has deluged state courts in recent years.
A medical malpractice suit filed against a doctor who reported his suspicions of child abuse to the Department of Child Services will proceed after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state’s anti-SLAPP laws do not apply to this case.