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 "division of family services" ...
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A Child Removed
In this extensive three-day series, Jeff Lehr of the Joplin Globe examined the Missouri Division of Family Services, and found a system riddled with problems -- from mothers fighting to get their children back after baseless accusations to children being removed from their parents only to be placed in dangerous and abusive foster care where they were injured or killed. The Globe found that Jasper County had one of the highest rates of removal of children from their homes by the state than any other county in Missouri, while at the same time it was more difficult for parents to reunite with their children. Innocent parents caught in the gears of DFS could spend years trying to clear their names and regain custody of their children. The series takes a hard look at DFS, the courts, and those who are supposedly responsible for removing children from the home. Statistics and tables, as well as the personal stories of people affected, potential reforms to Missouri's laws, and the problem of a "revolving door" of underpaid, under-trained social workers are discussed in detail.
Tags: DFS; division of family services; family court; children; foster care; social work; social workers; death; parents; law
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The Dominic File
duplicate of story #19587
Tags: child abuse; child services; social services; DFS; division of family services; FOI
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Childhood Lost: Problems at DYFS
An Asbury Park Press series is "an investigation into systematic failures at tine New Jersey child protection agency, called the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS)." The investigation finds "how the agency fails to protect children , puts them in harm's way and has been unable to overhaul itself despite a two-year, $128 million "reform" effort." The series reveals that 39 children under the supervision of the agency have died for two years. The key findings also include that "children were found to be staying in foster care longer, minority children were being placed in group homes at an alarming rate, and there was no legislative or public oversight of the agency, which one state senator deemed "out of control."
Tags: foster homes; adoption; sexual abuse; neglect; minority; mismanagement; Division of Youth and Family Services; AFCARS; Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System
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Uncivil Action - A Town Left to Die, Asbestos: Forgotten Killer
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that "From 1924 until 1990, miners extracted a large percentage of the world's vermiculite from a mountainside near Libby (Montana). As they mined and milled the ore, millions of tons of tremolite asbestos were released into the air... 192 people from Libby had died, and 375 were currently diagnosed with fatal asbestos-related disease, directly traceable to the mining operation. ... The W.R. Grace Co., which owned the mine for three decades, was well aware of the deadly asbestos being inhaled by the miners and their families, but for years did not tell its workers of the hazards... And doctors say the people of Libby will keep dying for decades..."
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Our fine folks in the field
The bureaucrats who run the Division of Family Services are pleased as punch with recent progress, but the front-line employees are miserable. Welfare forms are changing faster than its substance, Riverfront Times reports, and caseworkers are trapped in the middle.
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DFS: 'Needs Total Revamping'
The issue of grandparents' rights to a child is discussed. The Division of Family Services policies on this issue and the legal status of grandparents' rights are also described.
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No title (id: 12602)
The Record dissected a little understood agency empowered by the state to assume broad responsiblity for guarding the welfare of children at risk of abuse and neglect. The investigation revealed an antiquated system ill-equipped to deal with the harsh realities of today's most dysfunctional families. (June 11, 12, 13, 25, 26, 27, 28, Aug. 4, Sept. 8, 26 & Dec. 17, 1995)
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No title (id: 9352)
Gloucester County (N.J.) Times reports on an 8 - year - old boy who was beaten to death by his mother, a supervisor with the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services; investigates the mother's short sentence and the failure of the DYFS to investigate reports of abuse, Dec. 13, 1992. * NJ Weston
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