| Overview of Malpractice Actions Against Child Welfare Agencies or Caseworkers |
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| There are major problems with respect to the way in which child welfare agencies and caseworkers operate in the child welfare system. The agency or caseworker may neglect the child, not provide adequate avenues for the child, or may even in extreme cases lose the child in the welfare system. There has been a large increase of malpractice actions filed by children and their parents against both agencies and caseworkers.
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| Personal Protection Orders and Family Violence Issues |
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| A personal protection order, or PPO, is an order issued by the court precluding another individual, a respondent, from contact with the petitioner. A petitioner may file an application for a PPO after providing information that would support the grant of the order. More... |
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| Misuse of Adoption Affecting Economic Rights |
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| Courts generally prohibit parties from using the adoption process to achieve purposes that would have a detrimental economic effect on the children involved. An attempt by a birth parent to adopt his or her own children for the purpose of terminating the other birth parent's relationship with the children is a misuse of adoption. Also, an agreement to release birth parents from support obligations in exchange for their consent to an adoption is a misuse of adoption. More... |
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| Adoption Assistance & Child Welfare Act |
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| The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (Act) was passed by Congress in 1980. Lawmakers were concerned that many children were being removed from their homes unnecessarily and that, once they entered foster care, inadequate efforts were made to either reunify them with their biological families or place them with adoptive families. The Act was passed to correct or alleviate problems in the foster care system and to promote permanency rather than multiple foster placements. An additional goal of the Act was to encourage social workers to work toward reunification of the family and to avoid long-term foster care for the children if possible. If the child could not be returned to the family, another plan was to be sought such as adoption, long-term foster care, or some other resolution. More... |
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| Constitutional Rights of Children |
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| The concept of ''children's rights'' is relatively new. For most of history, children were considered chattel and had no rights separate and apart from their parents.
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