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 "foster children" ...
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Failure to Protect
The two-day series “A Failure to Protect” examined what went wrong in the case of a Central Minnesota family that grew to 26 through a mix of biological, adopted and foster children, but eventually was torn apart by sexual abuse charges. Reporters David Unze and Kirsti Marohn uncovered how Minnesota’s child protection system allows either counties or nonprofits to license foster homes with little oversight.
Tags: Adoption; foster home; sexual abuse
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Down the Hatch
The story investigates whether a powerful drug manufacturing company lied to push an antipsychotic on foster children.
Tags: Johnson & Johnson; foster children; schizophrenia; Risperdal
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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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Forced to Fight
The original story documents how a remote facility for foster children with developmental disabilities forced to fight each other for the staff's entertainment, then rewarded the winners with snacks. The subsequent stories exposed a history of abuse and neglect at the facility.
Tags: neglect; foster care; developmental disabilities; Dystar Residential
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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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Behind the Label
This documentary exposes an unregulated system that financially rewards the overmedication of children with antipsychotic drugs. "Some states, doctors, agencies and even certain foster parents profit at the expense of children's health - driven by complicated state funding formulas and the influence of the pharmaceutical industry."
Tags: children; pharmaceuticals; antipsychotic drugs; prescriptions; adolescents; Medicaid;
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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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Failing the Children: Deadly Mistakes
"In May 2007, authorities found 7-year old Chandler Grafner starved to death in a closet. He showed signs of long-term abuse. His guardians, Jon Phillips and Sarah Berry, were convicted of murder. In covering the story, KMGH-TV investigative reporter John Ferrugia attempted to determine the extent of the the Denver Department of Human Services' involvement with the family... Ferrugia and the KMGH investigative team consistently obtained internal documents to expose a system fraught with incompetence, lack of oversight, poor management and ineffective training... In short, a system that left children at risk."
Tags: Department of Human Services; child welfare; child protective services; child abuse; neglect
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Broken Families, Broken Court
The series exposed systemic problems in the operation of California Juvenile Dependency Courts, the nation's largest court system overseeing children in foster care.
Tags: child welfare; California Juvenile Dependency Courts; foster care; court; juvenile; parent; children; reunification
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Potent Pills: Foster Children and Mood Altering drugs
"While Monroe Country NY has a foster care medical clinic that is considered a national model, our research showed an alarming increase in the prescription of psychotropic medications to foster children in the county."
Tags: foster care; medical; clinic; child protective services; psychotropic; modd-altering drugs