Indiana is one of just six states that does not require counsel for children in child welfare cases in any situation, according to the National Association of Counsel for Children. Although Indiana Code § 31-32-4-2 does give state court judges the discretion to appoint counsel for children in child welfare cases, stakeholders say the Hoosier State could be forced to implement a direct representation program either through lawsuits filed by national children’s rights organization or federal legislation that Congress is considering.
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The importance of working for social change runs deep in the veins of adoption attorney Natalie Chavis, who’s advocating for foster awareness through a new documentary series.
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With in-person proceedings largely called off, adoptive families have had to adjust their plans. But as long as a case is uncontested, lawyers say judges have been willing to hold final hearings via Zoom or other platforms to give these families a sense of finality. And in some cases, adoptions in the age of COVID-19 have become a cause for community celebration.
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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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New data show Indiana’s entries into the state’s foster care system increased by 30%, from just over 6,000 children to nearly 7,900 children, between 2023 and 2024 even as the national average fell from 2%.
Taking a close examination of state statutes, the Court of Appeals of Indiana has rejected multiple arguments from two foster parents trying to get their foster children returned and found the trial court did not abuse its discretion.
The Court of Appeals of Indiana has upheld the murder conviction of a Gary woman who admitted that she fatally smothered her 1-year-old foster child in her crib in 2017.
A southwestern Indiana judge is facing a slew of judicial disciplinary charges for alleged misconduct in his handling of two child welfare cases.
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit pushing for better treatment of children in Indiana’s foster care system, finding it difficult to determine what options for relief are open to a federal court but closed to a CHINS court.
A 44-year-old federal law championed as a means of preserving Native American culture by preventing the removal of children from their homes and tribes is being challenged on constitutionality grounds — and the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear it.
The parents of a 5-year-old girl who drowned last summer in a southwest Indiana city’s swimming pool are suing the city and the child’s foster parent, accusing them of negligence in her death.
The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously sided with a Catholic foster care agency that says its religious views prevent it from working with same-sex couples as foster parents. The justices said the city of Philadelphia wrongly limited its relationship with the group as a result of the agency’s policy.
A sweeping bill that would extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people is a top priority of President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress. Yet as the Equality Act heads to the Senate after winning House approval, its prospects seem bleak — to a large extent because of opposition from conservative religious leaders.
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.
Proposed legislation that would extend financial support to parents who adopt Hoosier children from foster care advanced in the Indiana Senate on Monday, with the bill’s sponsor hoping the bill’s third time will be the charm.
The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to side with a Catholic social services agency in a dispute with Philadelphia over the agency’s refusal to work with same-sex couples as foster parents.
The Indiana Court of Appeals in a decision admonishing the Indiana Department of Child Services has reversed the termination of a mother’s parental rights to her son, while upholding the termination of his father’s parental rights in a separate case.
Indiana families celebrating the adoption of a new child into their families will now be able to capture the moments of that union in court via camera, no matter what time of year it is.
An Evansville man who was proven to be the father of a child adopted by foster parents, but whose paternity was never formally established by a court, lost his appeal Wednesday challenging the adoption.
Less than a month after a federal court denied a motion to dismiss, the Indiana Department of Child Services is asking the judge to reconsider the original motion as well as review a second motion to dismiss in an attempt to derail a lawsuit alleging the state violated the constitutional rights of children in its care.
A lawsuit alleging harm and constitutional violations by the Department of Child Services has survived a motion for summary judgment after a federal judge found the children plaintiffs have sufficiently claimed the state failed to protect them.
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a dispute over a Philadelphia Catholic agency that won’t place foster children with same-sex couples, a big test of religious rights on a more conservative court.