NCYL in the News

Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform
Salt Lake Tribune, July 6, 2007
The biggest stunner of the Roska family's trial last week wasn't their jury award: $2 in damages.

• Long-Running  Foster Care Lawsuit Ends, KCPW News Salt Lake City, July 2, 2007 - A federal judge has declared the end to a 14-year lawsuit that cost Utah nearly seven million dollars and resulted in a major overhaul of the state's child welfare system.
• Utah foster care Child welfare system reform means end of 14-year lawsuit
  Salt Lake Tribune, June 29, 2007 - You'll have to forgive U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell's departure from routine Thursday.
• '93 suit credited for changes at DCFS:Settlement OK'd in fight between state and child-advocates, Deseret Morning News, June 29, 2007 - In her nine years at the state Division of Child and Family Services, Wendy Cole has seen positive changes in the state's child-welfare system, from the way caseworkers are trained to increased participation in individual cases.
• End in Sight to 14-year Lawsuit Against Utah Foster Care KSL-TV, May 16, 2007 - For 14 years Utah's child welfare system has operated under a looming lawsuit by the National Center for Youth Law.
• Child-welfare Suit Nears an End Deseret Morning News, May 15, 2007 - State officials and a California-based children's advocacy organization have agreed to formally end the 14-year-old lawsuit that is widely credited for reforming Utah's child-welfare system.
• DCFS points to progress, but group asks "where?"
  Deseret News, Jan. 22, 2002 - Suit filed by NCYL staff attorney Darryl Hamm resulted in court-ordered overhaul of Utah's child protection system, but progress is slow in coming.

Report on Children in Government Care a Surprise to Some
Las Vegas Review Journal, February 23, 2007
They showed up in a censored consultant's report as children left in potentially dangerous situations by Clark County Family Services.

Editorial: 'Everything's OK -- Just Trust Us'
State rightfully skeptical of secretive county Family Services
Las Vegas Review Journal, February 26, 2007
Some at Clark County Family Services may be wondering why they can never catch a break. But their current predicament is largely a result of their own predilection for secrecy, cover-ups and "happy face" reporting.

• Dead boy's father accused County investigated youngster's family Las Vegas Review Journal, July 19, 2007 - Zander Martino was left for dead. Authorities allege the toddler's father beat him -- possibly with a hammer -- and left the 33-month-old in bed at the family's downtown Las Vegas home.
• More lip service on child welfare system Las Vegas Reveiw Journal, May 8, 2007 - On May 1, six months after a panel of experts identified almost 500 children in Clark County's child welfare system whose safety could not be determined, the state gave its assurances that all but eight children were safe.
• Consultant Joins Activists Las Vegas Review Journal, February 23, 2007- Child welfare consultant Ed Cotton is switching teams.
  Cotton, whose independent case reviews in 2006 highlighted the inadequacies of Clark County Family Services, has agreed to be an expert witness for the National Center for Youth Law.
• I-Team: Concealed Report Related to Missing Foster Child
  Las Vegas NOW, February 6, 2007 - Eyewitness News was the first to make public documents censored by Clark County, eight pages of a report containing information about endangered children.
• Child welfare lawsuit filed, Las Vegas Review Journal, August 31, 2006 An Oakland-based nonprofit filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday in federal court on behalf of abused and neglected children in Clark County.
• Las Vegas Sun Editorial, Jan 17, 2006
• Officials Try to Explain Underreporting of Child Deaths, Las Vegas Review Journal, Jan 10, 2006
• Research on Child Fatalities Hampered by Law, Many Youths Who Died Had Contact with Child Welfare System, Las Vegas Sun, Jan 9, 2006
• Nevada Newsmakers, Jan 5, 2006, NCYL Senior Attorney Bill Grimm interviewed on the child death issue in Clark County, NV.
• An Investigative Series on Child Deaths in Clark County KLAS-TV, Channel 8 Eyewitness News, Las Vegas, Nov 21, 2005
• Lawsuit eyed in child services, Las Vegas Sun, April 8, 2005 - NCYL considers bringing legal action against the Clark County, Nevada Department of Family Services for allegedly failing to provide children in foster care adequate services and allowing foster children to languish in the foster care system too long.

Dying in silence
OC Register, July 22, 2007
A Juvenile Court judge sent 2-year-old Miranda Davila back to parents with a history of drug use who said they weren't ready for her. Critics say what happened next wasn't a surprise.

Shining a light on child abuse, neglect
Bill would speed release of case files when youngsters die
Sacramento Bee, May 13, 2007
Daelynn Foreman, a partially paralyzed Orangevale 12-year-old, died last July weighing only 23 pounds and covered with deep bedsores that reached to her bones.

Child Welfare/Foster Care Media Archive