Back when cases involving missing children – many of them runaways from foster care – were making headlines in Washington, D.C., Marie Cohen rushed to try to shift responsibility from a failing foster care system. She told us to be sure to remember that a majority of missing children in the District of Columbia “are fleeing their own homes, not foster care.”
That’s a testament not to the success of foster care but rather to the immutable laws of mathematics. Despite the best efforts of those pushing endlessly for a take-the-child-and-run approach to child welfare, a majority of children still live in their own homes, so those will be the homes from which a majority of runaways run.
Medical board let serial sexual abuser off the hook, again and again
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Category: Psychiatrists
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Created: Friday, 09 February 2018 20:43
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Written by Nick McKenzie & Richard Baker - The Age
Izey Semovic remembers reeling with disbelief when he was told the Melbourne neurologist who he accused of sexually assaulting him would escape serious punishment.
It was 2007 and the now 53-year-old former truck driver had no idea that the doctor he had reported to the medical board would years later be exposed as one of the worst sexual predators in Australian medical history. All Semovic knew was that the handling of his own case stunk.
The Medical Practice Board had somehow concluded that Dr Andrew Churchyard had the laconic truckie’s "best interests at heart" when he fondled the 42-year-old’s genitals. Semovic had sought the neurologist's help to deal with upper body muscle pain and weakness.
LA County parents get $800K settlement after county officials remove their children without a warrant
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Category: Child Protection USA media and newspaper articles
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Created: Tuesday, 03 February 2015 23:08
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Written by Frank Stoltze - Wikimedia Commons
LA County agrees to pay $800,000 to parents of kids who were removed from home. LA County agrees to pay $800,000 to parents of kids who were removed from home.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday agreed to pay $800,000 to the parents of two children taken from their home by a Sheriff’s deputy and social workers.
I'm innocent': Perth mother separated from children for crime she didn't commit
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Category: Child Protection Western Australia media and newspaper articles
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Created: Tuesday, 23 January 2018 11:10
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Written by Renae Henry - Nine News
Mother fighting to get children back after wrongful conviction.
A Perth mother is fighting to regain custody of her four children, after she was wrongfully convicted of a serious assault against one of them. The 28-year-old, who can’t be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to assaulting her 16 month old daughter in 2010.
She claims that despite her innocence, her lawyer advised her to confess to the crime. “I was told if I didn't, I would probably never see my kids again and that I would probably go to jail for a very long time,” she said.
“I didn’t know what to do, I was 20.”
Paedophile's 'snuff' sex plot revealed
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Category: Paedophiles
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Created: Sunday, 06 March 2011 21:00
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Written by Yoni Bashan - The Sunday Telegraph
A NOTORIOUS paedophile who allegedly planned to set up a "snuff camp" on his release from jail was freed on a legal technicality that left him unsupervised in the community for almost six months.
The notorious sex offender, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was released from jail after his sentence expired in its entirety on April 23 last year.
He only reappeared on the prison radar after being re-arrested in October for a raft of fraud offences in the Wollongong area of NSW.
Six months before his release, prison intelligence uncovered a set of letters being sent by the inmate to another paedophile, a former scoutmaster, located in a separate wing of Goulburn jail.
The pair had planned to set up a "snuff camp" in country NSW upon their release.
The letters outlined the names, ages and addresses of the child victims they intended to abduct - all were living around the Mudgee and Rylestone areas of NSW.
The two men had secured funding to buy a secluded, rural property to film the videos, and vehicles to assist with transport.
They discussed procedures they would undertake if police ever cottoned on to their plans.
Prior to his release, prison authorities flagged the inmate as being a danger to the public, and applied to keep him behind bars under a Continuing Detention Order (CDO).
More than 100 police under suspicion in paedophilia crackdown
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Category: Paedophile protection by state government
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Created: Saturday, 03 January 2015 23:30
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Written by Martin Smith - Daily Mail Australia
A list of more than 2,400 Britons who the FBI believes have subscribed to paedophile websites contains the names of more than 100 police officers, including a detective chief superintendent, it was revealed last night.
But in what was developing into a major scandal, it was also disclosed that it could take under-funded British police up to five years to work their way through the list and bring the culprits to justice.
The list - which contained the names of the two Cambridgeshire police officers who worked on the Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells murder inquiry and who have since been charged with child pornography offences - was supplied to Britain's National Crime Squad after three people suspected of involvement in paedophile websites were arrested in Texas.
Best practice in the conduct of Care Proceedings in the NSW Children’s Court
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Category: Law Courts and Legal Matters
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Created: Thursday, 01 August 2013 23:36
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Written by Judge Peter Johnstone - NSW Children’s Court
Children’s Court of New South Wales
Community Services Division Legal Conference
Darling Harbour:
Introduction
1. This paper has been prepared for the 2013 Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) Legal Services Care and Protection Conference on Thursday 1 August 2013.
2. Attendees at the conference will include both public and private legal practitioners representing FaCS in care proceedings in the Children's Court of New South Wales.
3. The paper is presented in four parts: the first part will address model litigant requirements, the code of conduct obligations, and case management in care proceedings. The second part will deal with alternative dispute resolution. The third part will deal with the Children's Court Clinic, and the fourth part will address the way forward for care proceedings. I have added an Appendix dealing with some recent cases of importance.
