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 "Adoption legislation" ...
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The Accused; To-Do-List
Westword reports on a badly managed database containing more than 100,000 names of people who have supposedly committed child neglect or abuse. The Central Registry of Child Protection, created by the Colorado legislation in 1969, has been plagued with mistakes from its early days, the first story reveals. The follow-up features the findings of a 1990 state audit of the Central Registry, which "showed that numerous people on the list shouldn't have been on it," while "many people convicted such as convicted child abusers, were missing from the list." The reporter depicts how the wrongful listing of a man on the registry upended his and his wife's lives. The story cautions that 43 other states have similar databases on suspected child abusers.
Tags: children; state government; sex offenders; Denver Department of Human Services; child care; day-care; adoptive parent; foster parents; group homes
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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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The Parent Trap
What can go wrong with international adoptions, an area regulated largely by the states with little federal oversight, is the subject of this National Journal report. "Overseas adoptions pose diplomatic and personal dilemmas for parents and for Congress." Useful graphs and sidebars complement this story.
Tags: International adoptions; Elian Gonzalez; Adoption legislation
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Blasted from the Past
Philadelphia Magazine reports that "the secrecy and 'closedness' that once surrounded the adoption process, and the searching and 'openness' nowadays (are) seen as socially correct. Even if it's not always legal" and tells the story of an adult adoptee who was sought out by her biological family but did not want to meet them.