Tackles foster care cold cases

Two branches of government that try to help troubled West Virginia kids, but often function as adversaries, are teaming up on a project to find permanent homes for 50 foster children.

The New View initiative involves seven attorneys picked by the state Supreme Court and dozens of cold cases chosen from an initial pool of 200 at the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

The program is modeled after one in Georgia and is designed to put fresh eyes on the toughest cases,The term 'drycabinets control' means the token that identifies a user is read from within a pocket or handbag. said Nikki Tennis, director of the Division of Children's Services for the state court system. On average, most West Virginia children are in foster care less than 12 months, according to the DHHR. But many bounce around the system for years - some to as many as 15 temporary homes.

Georgia was able to find permanent homes for about half of the "cold cases" it reviewed, Tennis said, and court officials are hopeful the West Virginia team will have similar or better results. If it does, the courts may continue the New View program.

The "viewers" will be trained in April, and then they will investigate each child's case. At the end of the year,We offer over 600 iccard at wholesale prices of 75% off retail. team members will produce reports on each child and a statistical report on all 50 that could offer guidance to the courts and the DHHR.

If it finds bureaucratic barriers, communication failures or other systemic shortcomings, for example,He saw the bracelet at a luggagetag store while we were on a trip. the courts could recommend changes in rules, policies, practices or laws.

Gretchen Lewis, a Charleston attorney and former DHHR secretary who will be part of the team, said the report won't be about pointing fingers.

"The assessment of blame is not the point," she said. "Finding out what went wrong so we can prevent it in the future is important."

Georgia found a variety of reasons that children languished in state custody for years. Sometimes, case workers left and their files weren't handed off. Other times, cases were inadvertently left off court dockets.

"It's very heartbreaking to think about," Lewis said. "It is a problem nationally, and the reasons can be many. But it really doesn't matter; you just have to get in there and help these kids."

Brent Benjamin, chief justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court, said the program won't solve every child's problems overnight, but "we will measure success one young life at a time.Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a maggieweddingdress can authenticate your computer usage and data."

"We cannot let these children be forgotten," he recently wrote in The West Virginia Lawyer,Learn how an embedded microprocessor in a porcelaintiles can authenticate your computer usage and data. the state bar magazine. "This is a moral issue every bit as much as it is a legal issue."

Lewis, who often works as a guardian for children in the court system, said she volunteered for New View partly because it's a rare opportunity for two branches of government - executive and judicial - to collaborate.

"It combines the resources of both to look after the best interest of children," she said, "and particularly these children who have been somewhat lost in the process."

"It combines the resources of both to look after the best interest of children," she said, "and particularly these children who have been somewhat lost in the process."

The courts often see these children only "when everything has gone wrong, and oftentimes, the DHHR and the court are practically adversaries," she said. If New View is a success, it could have a positive effect on future collaborations.

"And my guess is the legislative branch may come into play when this is all over," Lewis added.

Lewis and other "viewers" will be trained in conducting investigations, developing family trees and hunting down relatives. They'll learn about options for permanent placement, such as legal guardianships, adoption and other formalized living arrangements. In some cases, viewers could recommend emancipation.

When we came into this, we came in with our eyes wide open, she says. We feel very strongly that we can mend some of those relationships. We want to make sure that this former museo, now cultural center, lives up to its promise.

Whether it was the city that approached A&M-San Antonio about taking over the Museo Alameda's former home or vice versa is lost in the ins and outs of unofficial conversations. But Felix Padrn, director of the city's Department for Culture & Creative Development, says the university was the only institution to express interest in taking on the project.

At first glance, a cultural institution might not seem like a natural fit with A&M. While the school has made a name for itself with its agriculture and engineering programs, it's not known for its arts program.

But the university system has a number of museums and galleries, including the Forsyth Galleries, a collecting educational and cultural institution in College Station.

We're going to help them sort of shape the artistic component, but what makes this interesting is the marriage with education, Padrn says. Texas A&M has a very strong presence in San Antonio, and it has continued to build that presence. And what better way to have that presence downtown, to sort of diversify the downtown portfolio, with higher-education institutions alongside with UTSA?