The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "child welfare" ...
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Failed to Death: Protecting Colorado’s Children
In a joint investigation with the Denver Post, 9NEWS uncovered 72 of the 175 Colorado children who have died of child abuse over the past 5 years were known to the agency that is supposed to keep them safe--human services. The series revealed how those children were “Failed to Death” by each and every person they had ever known. Reporters fought for access to public documents, police reports, and court records, along with convincing key stakeholders to allow them unprecedented access to every step of the child welfare process. The reporters uncovered a system where accountability and transparency is nearly non-existent and caseworkers find it nearly impossible to assess which children will live and which will not. Since the series first aired, the Colorado Legislature has put a priority on fixing the child welfare system.
Tags: child welfare; FOIA
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Native Americans Tribues Shield Parents from Child Support
Many mothers in California, and around the country, can't get child support payments from Native American fathers or tribal casino employees. That's because tribes are sovereign nations and don't have to honor state or federal child support orders. Without the child support payments, many of the mothers survive on food stamps and welfare.
Tags: Native Americans; child support; welfare; tribes
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Welfare Waste
An ongoing KSTP-TV investigation, led by reporter Mark Albert, has examined waste and the potential for fraud in Minnesota's public assistance programs, including free-wheeling rules that allowed welfare to be used for tattoos and liquor, withdrawn at ATMs inside casinos and bingo halls and a systematic lack of oversight in state-funded child care that can lead to millions of dollars in payments every year to families and providers that do not qualify.
Tags: public assistance; welfare; oversight
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House of Horrors
This series follows the devastating facts of the death of a 10-year-old girl and the abuse of her twin brother and how child welfare workers failed to notice the warning signs until it was too late.
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Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families
NPR launched a three-part series investigating the placement of hundreds of Native American children in foster care and a troubling incentive behind the effort: money.
Tags: native Americans; foster care; Indian Child Welfare Act
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Sex offender, other felons ran camps for homeless kids
This investigation "found that Palm Beach County officials paid a convicted child molester, drug dealers, thieves and other people with criminal records nearly half a million dollars in public money to run summer camps for homeless, foster and impoverished children during the past three years."
Tags: child safety; sex offender; criminal records; child care; criminal background; camp; child welfare
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The Other Welfare
The series examines the $10 billion federal disability program for low income children in Massachusetts. The author found that the program gives incentives for parents to put their children on psychotropic drugs.
Tags: welfare; child welfare; ADHD; psychotropic drugs; Supplemental Security Income
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"Children Failed, Children Forsaken"
The deaths of 13 children could have been prevented, says the Colorado Department of Human Services. The child welfare system in Colorado is "fraught with incompetence" and mismanagement. Caseworkers are improperly trained, leaving the children "in peril." As of late 2009, new hires and improved caseworker training had not been enforced leaving the situation in the same poor state as it has been for years.
Tags: Colorado Department of Human Services; Denver Department of Human Services; Bill Ritter; child welfare system
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Children In Crisis
“Kentucky leads the nation in its rate of children who die from neglect or abuse”. Many people missed the warning signs of abuse and these include social workers, family members, health professionals, and day care workers. Another factor into the problem was budget cuts, which wear down a system meant to protect children.
Tags: kids; child welfare; authorities; maltreatment; violence; Health and Family Services; Child Protective Services; programs
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Fatal Care
“At least 22 children died from 2004 to 2008 despite clear warning signs from the Bureau of Child Welfare they were at risk”. A number of reasons were to blame for the deaths of these innocent children. The reasons include: workers making these “fatal mistakes” were reassigned instead of being fired, the parents mistreating their children were never punished, and secrecy in the Bureau persisted.
Tags: Milwaukee; county; kids; preventable; social service; social workers; turmoil; caseworkers; guardians