child welfare

The White House is expected to unveil a budget proposal that will, reportedly, aim to eliminate Head Start. The federally-funded program is designed to promote school readiness among young children from low-income families and serves more than 65,000 kids across Texas.

Texas reports drop in child abuse and neglect deaths but the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

A bill to reduce sentences for domestic abuse survivors who "fail to protect" their children failed in the Oklahoma legislature. Prosecutors say the state law targets enablers, not victims. Advocates argue it overwhelmingly punishes mothers trapped in abusive relationships.

Policy experts discussed a range of issues they hope legislators consider next year, including child care, early childhood education and chronic school absenteeism.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission will be fined $100,000 a day until it comes into compliance on two remedial court orders.

The reports, which range from September 2022 to little more than a month before her death, warned that the child wasn’t supervised, was living in a home without utilities and was around drugs, among other allegations. A 25-year-old man has since been charged with capital murder, first-degree murder and rape.

The study accounted for factors like economics, education, health and family and community. All of those categories were also ranked individually along with the overall ranking.

The number of child abuse and neglect cases reported in Lubbock County has decreased for the first time in a decade. This could be following a nationwide trend, but some say it’s only because of a definition change.

Gov. Laura Kelly created the Division of the Child Advocate after lawmakers failed to do so.

Kansas is looking to prod parents to catch up on their child support, arguing that doing so could chip away at the the cost of welfare.