The Troy Anderson Reports
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October 24, 2004
Decision crucial to foster care
County seeks family reunions
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer Los Angeles Daily News
Reuniting
families turning into success story for county
Number of children living in foster homes drops nearly 10%
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer Los Angeles Daily News
Saturday, June 19, 2004 -
Study
finds foster-care finance key in abuses
Article Published: Monday, May 17, 2004 - 7:12:51 PM PST
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer, LA Daily News
Parents of foster boys
file lawsuit over deaths
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer
Article Published: Monday, April 26, 2004 - 4:30:25 PM PST
Foster
system probe sought by legislators
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer
Friday, March 05, 2004
Los Angeles Daily News
Article Published: Monday, February 16, 2004 -
6:44:41 PM PST
Foster
care shake-up weighed
Supervisors set to vote today on plan to keep families together.
By Troy Anderson
Staff writer
Long Beach Press-Telegram
Foster-kid
cash lure may fade
Governor wants to alter system
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer
LA Daily News
Monday, February 16, 2004
January 26, 2004
Panel
on foster schools?
Rate of student graduation from nonpublic facilities low
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer
LA Daily News
Concerned about the education that Los Angeles County's foster children receive
at nonpublic schools, the Board of Supervisors today will consider forming a
special panel to help improve student achievement.
The state spends $125 million a year to educate foster children in 400 nonpublic
schools, most of which cater to youngsters with disabilities or special needs.
Many of the nonpublic schools are operated by nonprofit foster family agencies
and group homes that contract with the county to care for foster children.
Others are operated by people who obtain licenses from the state.
The schools have captured the attention of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, who
is concerned that some of the schools have no qualified teachers, no standard
curriculum, no computers, no benchmarks or performance measures, no
extracurricular activities and no record of the number of children who graduate
or attend college. The homeless
shelters can tell you all about where these kids go after they age out and the
Federal Dollarz dry up.
"These schools are defrauding
the children, their futures and the taxpayers who have invested large sums of
money for the children's welfare," Antonovich said.
"The system has turned a blind eye toward that."
(Archived copy of this story here)
January 13, 2004
Public
hearings sought on foster care system
Troy's 12-27-2003 story goes AP
Posted on Sun, Dec. 28, 2003
Report:
L.A. foster care system one of most dangerous in nation
Associated Press
Article Published:
Saturday, December 27, 2003 - 7:18:34 PM PST
Children
committing suicide at younger age
9-year-old Kerry Brooks, hanged himself with a shoelace from the closet door at his Compton foster home, becoming the youngest child suicide in county history.
Article Published: Saturday,
December 27, 2003 - 7:09:11 PM PST
Foster
care in crisis
Study
finds L.A. system among most violent in U.S.
A related news story-
Article Published: Saturday, December 13, 2003 - 7:25:31 AM PST
Improve
foster care
Pasadena Star-News
A series of scathing audits that revealed horror stories coming out of the
Department of Children and Family Services has spurred steps to turn this
shameful situation around.
New director, David Sanders, doesn't sugarcoat the problems and recognizes the
need for overhaul of the system. Good. Now he has to put meaningful reform in
place.
Case tracking has to improve or we will see more deaths as the result of
children either placed in abusive foster care or returned to dangerous
environments.
Article Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 4:59:36 PM PST
Failing the children
County foster care system corrupted by profits
LA Daily News
A judge's call this week for a review of foster care cases in Los Angeles County should be the just the opening move in a long-overdue overhaul of a truly messed-up system.
The action came after the Daily News reported that as many as half of the kids removed from their families by the Department of Children and Family Services were placed in foster-care conditions that were often worse or more dangerous than home and that more than 660 kids had died while in county foster care since 1991.
This is a tragedy, and it's compounded by the fact that the county and foster agencies actually get large amounts of federal money by taking kids away from their families and placing them in foster care.
Foster care should be the measure of last resort, used only in severe cases to the ultimate benefit of the child. But it now seems clear that the system has become corrupted and in need of a top-to-bottom investigation to root out the Dickens-like culture that profits on the suffering of little children.
Article Published: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - 4:24:58 PM PST
Long Beach Press Telegram Opinion
The
foster care mess
Some children are put in harm's way for a buck.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003 - A wronged father called L.A. County's foster care
system "legalized kidnapping" for profit, and a pattern of disturbing
evidence shows that he isn't far from the truth.
A two-year investigation by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (an organization
that includes the Press-Telegram) found that the system has taken thousands of
children away from their parents in cases where it may not have been necessary
or advisable, sending them to homes that are sometimes more dangerous than the
ones they left.
The reason? It appears to be a twisted system of financial incentives that
rewards states and counties for placing additional children in foster care from
$30,000 to $150,000 for each child.
The system IS responding to the Troy
Anderson Reports
Judge
Calls For Case Reviews
Of 30,000 Foster Children
Most Urgent Need For 8,000 Teens Close To Being Released From System
POSTED: 1:05 PM PST December 10, 2003
UPDATED: 1:16 PM PST December 10, 2003
LOS ANGELES -- A judge wants an unprecedented review of the cases of half of the
30,000 children in Los Angeles County foster homes to determine if they could be
safely returned to their own families or relatives, it was reported Wednesday.
(Archived copy of this
story here)
12-8-2003 NBC channel 4
Picks up the story too
12-7-2003 ABC
channel 7 News picks up the story-
Up
to Half of Fostor Children Needlessly Placed in System
Foster
holocaust
Re "Foster care cash cow" (Dec. 7):
Troy Anderson's articles about the Department of Children and Family Services
and foster care have been very well done and were so desperately needed. Parents
have been banging on the doors of government, from city to federal, for many
years concerning the atrocities of the DCFS.
No one else has had the courage to expose the destruction this department has been visiting on American families. It has been no less than a holocaust.
--Marilyn Dalrymple, Lancaster
Article Published: Sunday, December 07, 2003 -
8:33:44 PM PST
Ways
to care for an ailing foster system
Federal funds could help keep more kids at home
By Troy Anderson
Staff Writer LA Daily News
Article Published:
Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 7:52:48 PM PST
Federal
plan aims at keeping families together
Reform in child welfare viewed
Article Published:
Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 7:47:16 PM PST
Critics
say bonuses for adoptions warp intention, sell out children
Sunday, December 07, 2003 - 7:30:35 PM PST
Foster care reform bring hope
New director, federal grant part of plans for $1.4B county system.
By Troy Anderson
Staff writer Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Published:
Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 11:18:29 PM PST
Private
agencies diverting millions
Audits find parties, vacations,
more
Staff Writer LA Daily News
Article Published:
Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 7:06:52 PM PST
Auditors
target $9 million in expense abuses since '98
Article Published:
Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 7:06:53 PM PST
Children
endangered in wasteful, overburdened L.A. County system
Article Published: Saturday, December 06, 2003 -
7:06:40 PM PST
Foster
care cash cow
'Perverse incentive factor'
rewards county for swelling system, critics say
Article Published: Saturday, December 06, 2003 - 4:22:16 PM PST
Money
motive in foster care
Children: Half of county placements unnecessary, often driven by desire for
funding.
By Troy Anderson
Staff writer Long Beach Press Telegram
Study:
Kids rushed into foster system
Staff Writer LA Daily News
Monday, September 29, 2003