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Marcia Lowry, with new secret funding source, resumes lawsuit against New York City foster care

Lowry new York better childhood Letitia JamesA nonprofit law firm representing a group of New York City foster youth has resumed long-running litigation against the city’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) and the state agency that oversees it.

A Better Childhood (ABC), along with its white-shoe litigation partner Cravath, Swaine & Moore, has delivered a nearly 300-page filing to a federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, with new evidence and allegations of money grabbing by nonprofit foster care agencies, frequent protocol violations, and too-frequent abuse of children, many of whom are staying too long in foster care in violation of federal law.

Cravath and ABC, led by the high-profile child welfare litigator Marcia Lowry, are seeking class certification in the lawsuit Elisa W. v The City of New York, so that remedies they seek for the 19 children named in the case would apply to the more than 8,000 children in the city’s foster care system.

Norwegian Nightmare: 'Barnevernet' Preys On Children and Parents

One of the first things you notice about Norway when you visit is how beautiful it is. But there is a very dark side of Norway that most of the world knows nothing about. It's called Barnevernet, and it can be as cold and brutal as the Norwegian winter. 

Barnevernet means "child welfare." It's Norway's network of local child protection service offices. But to its victims, Barnevernet means anything but protecting children. 

'Barnevernet' Takes American Children

After moving to Norway from Atlanta for her husband's employment, American mother Natalya Shutakova's three American-born children were taken by Barnevernet two months ago for alleged child mistreatment.
 
Shutakova and her Lithuanian husband were jailed for 24 hours and told they could get two years in prison for discussing the case. They're waiting to hear if they will lose custody of their children for good. All three are American citizens.

Horrifying outcomes for CYF kids warrant a 'whole new model' - Tolley

"Horrifying" statistics show children under the care of Child Youth and Family are struggling to break free from a cycle of continued abuse and re-victimisation, a major report has found.

A high-level interim report into the systems used by the state carer calls for a complete overhaul of the way it operates.

Children were not being put at the centre of care, and a "fragmented system" lacked common purpose or accountability.

That left a "concerning level of re-abuse for children who have been in care". 

Foster carers face abuse trial

A family accused of abusing foster children in their care by using a wire brush to scrub their bodies will go on trial later this year.

Andrew John Hemara, 53, and Jenny-Lee Hemara, 49 appeared at the Auckland District Court today where they were remanded on bail until their trial in August.

Foster carer charged with assaulting kids

 A northern NSW foster carer has been charged with indecently assaulting three children in his care. A 77-YEAR-OLD foster carer on the NSW north coast has been arrested and charged with indecently assaulting three children in his care.

The man was arrested at his home in Lennox Head on Wednesday and is accused of indecently assaulting three children previously in his care between 2009 and 2011.

Foster carer arrested and charged for physically abusing children - near Newcastle

Child Abuse Squad detectives have arrested and charged a woman for physically assaulting three children in her care.

Last Friday (10 January 2014), police were informed that three children housed in foster care in the Lake Macquarie area were suffering from a number of physical injuries.

The children – two boys, aged 6 and 7, and a girl aged 5 – had obvious bruising on various parts of their bodies.

A typology of online child pornography offending

Foreword | "The Internet has increased the range, volume and accessibility of sexually abusive imagery, including child pornography. Child pornography depicts the sexual or sexualised physical abuse of children under 16 years of age. Australia has joined many other nations in an international effort to combat this multi-faceted global menace that combines both heavily networked and highly individualised criminal behaviour. This paper examines the typology of online child pornography offending, as well as law enforcement responses to the problem. This work is a result of a collaborative program between the Australian Institute of Criminology and the Australian High Tech Crime Centre".  Toni Makkai - Acting Director

Child pornography existed before the creation of the Internet. It is not possible to say whether the advent of the Internet has fuelled the demand for child pornography and expanded an existing market, or whether it simply satisfies in new ways a market that would have existed in any event. It is clear, though, that the Internet provides an environment for the proliferation of child pornography and the creation of an expanding market for its consumption. This paper explores three important questions:

Child Pornography Sentencing in NSW - What Sentencing?

Introduction

This brief looks at sentences imposed in New South Wales for the offences of possessing child pornography under s 578B(2) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) and publishing child pornography under s 578C(2A) Crimes Act 1900 (NSW). The maximum penalty for the possession offence is the equivalent of $11,000 or two years imprisonment or both, and for the publishing offence it is $110,000 or five years imprisonment or both.

The Judicial Commission of New South Wales provided sentencing data for the three-year period from January 2000 to December 2003 (Judicial Commission of NSW 2004). In this three-year period, on 63 separate occasions sentences were imposed for the offence of possessing child pornography. Sentences were imposed for the offence of publishing child pornography on 14 occasions. Possession of child pornography is a summary offence that ordinarily is dealt with by a magistrate in the local court, and 62 cases were disposed of in that court. One case was dealt with in the district court as would occur where a possession charge is used as a back-up charge to other more serious offences brought to the district court. The publication charge can be dealt with either summarily or on indictment and 11 were dealt with summarily, while three cases were dealt with in the district court.

A little girl lost - EBONY

NONI Carter sat in East Maitland Supreme Court for many days over the past month and cried for a little girl she never knew.  "I was there for the child, and on many occasions I was the only one there," said Carter, of Thornton, about the seven-year-old, whose death by starvation at Hawks Nest in November 2007 shocked a nation and led to murder and manslaughter convictions against her parents this week.

Like many, Carter felt the child was a silent victim in this deep tragedy. Even the judge, Supreme Court Justice Robert Allan Hulme, felt moved to restore her dignity by going against NSW legal convention and allowing the child some manner of identification, ruling on Wednesday that the media could identify her in reports on the case by her middle name, Ebony.

AT least one child in state care dies every fortnight and another 20 are involved in assaults in Victoria.

[How Victoria let down 610 children who needed help the most].

AT least one child in state care dies every fortnight and another 20 are involved in assaults in Victoria.

A shock new report reveals 27 children died in the past year while in the care of child protection workers, or soon after leaving.

The deaths of another five children who were known to the Department of Human Services were also investigated last year.

Review of the Ability of Children in Out-Of-Home Care to Donate their Organs for Transplantation

In 2007-2008 Annette Gallard, Deputy Director-General led a review of the ability of children in out-of-home care to donate their organs for transplantation.  The public would like to know what this review entailed and what the outcomes and reports are of such a review, because I can tell you, this worlding scares the absolute bejeezur's off me!  I was sent this appendix, attached. 

To people associated with DOCs the words "carving up family" and "harvesting them out" have an extremely true meaning with what DOCs actually do to the children of these poor families, but until we see the associated documents that go with the abovementioned statements, we've just been given another new and horrifying one. 

I's sure theres a perfectly good explanation on this article, so where is it!  :-)

Source : http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/docswr/_assets/annual_report/documents/appendices.pdf

Baby in Alessandra Pacchieri forced caesarean case adopted

Judge announces adoption in UK of child born to Italian woman who was forced to undergo a C-section in 2012

The daughter of an Italian woman who had a forced caesarean section while in the UK has been adopted by "good and loving people", the country's top family judge has announced.

The case, which first unfolded in secrecy, was later reported and commented on around the world and led to Sir James Munby, president of the family division of the high court, calling for "radical changes" and greater transparency in the family courts.

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