All articles tagged with #child welfare
Roy Anthony Lopez, 37, was arrested in Morgan Hill after confessing to killing his wife. He drove her body to Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose, where she was pronounced dead. Police found three children, aged 3, 6, and 14, at the family home and placed them into protective custody.
Sheriff Carl Ritchie defended his agency's response to the deaths of two toddlers in Ladson, stating deputies followed policy despite a radio dispute. Justine May faces homicide charges after her children died of starvation, prompting calls for an independent investigation.
A Dutch government report revealed that the first child euthanized under the country’s 2024 law expansion was a one-year-old infant. The child suffered from extensive brain damage, severe cerebral palsy, and epilepsy, with no prospect of improvement. Medical review boards confirmed the procedure was lawful, marking the youngest recorded death by euthanasia globally.
Taylor Gosnell, 35, was denied bond after being charged with two counts of attempted murder for allegedly attacking her children, ages three and six, with a knife and blunt object in Spartanburg County. The children were hospitalized but are in stable condition. Gosnell was found in a distressed state by deputies responding to a welfare check requested by her ex-boyfriend.
New Zealand’s government apologised to the three children who disappeared with their fugitive father and spent nearly four years living in bush camps after an inquiry found missed opportunities and poor coordination among police, child protection, defence and education agencies to safeguard them; the father, Tom Phillips, died in a police shootout in 2025, and the children have been in state care since.
An official inquiry into a 2021 New Zealand case—where a man vanished with his children and hid them in a forest—blasts police and child-welfare officials for a slow, flawed response, noting that authorities underestimated welfare concerns despite broad media coverage of the disappearance. The children were found with their father after 18 days in the forest; during the escape he committed armed robberies and was killed in a police shootout. The report also cites prior disappearances, reveals Oranga Tamaraki staff told a family court the children were “completely fine,” and says concerns raised by the mother and police were not adequately disclosed.
Baltimore police found six children ages 1–9 home alone in an East Baltimore residence; five were turned over to Child Protective Services, while the mother was taken into custody as investigators continue the case, with the children evaluated at Johns Hopkins Hospital Pediatrics.
Authorities in Ohio removed 16 siblings from a squalid home, straining county child-welfare resources; officials are seeking state assistance to care for the children while prosecutors pursue charges against their parents.
Video shows an 11-year-old driving his parents’ pickup into a group of monks and worshippers during a Buddhist procession in Mukdahan, Thailand, killing at least 10 people and injuring about 10 others. The boy, who could not give a police statement, has been referred to child welfare authorities; Thai law states children under 12 have no criminal liability.
A French woman and her partner were ordered to remain in pre-trial detention in Portugal after allegedly abandoning their two young sons on a roadside near Alcacer do Sal; the boys, aged four and five, are in foster care in Lisbon and are expected to return to France as investigations continue.
A Western High Court in Denmark ruled that the removal of Keira Alexandra Kronvold’s two‑hour‑old daughter Zammi was illegal and violated her rights, criticizing the now-banned FKU parenting-competence tests as outdated; the case underscores ongoing consequences for Greenlandic families despite the ban, with potential implications for older cases and possible apologies or compensation under ILO Indigenous rights conventions and UN scrutiny.
Two Cache County, Utah residents are charged with international parental kidnapping after allegedly taking a 10-year-old to Havana, Cuba, instead of returning the child to the biological mother per a custody order; the trio had planned a Canada camping trip but crossed into Mexico and Cuba, where Cuban authorities later located them and the child was returned to the United States, with Utah courts granting the mother exclusive custody. The FBI and federal and state agencies, including the Diplomatic Security Service and ICE, helped locate and recover the child, and the case is being prosecuted in Utah as part of Project Safe Childhood.
Authorities in eastern France rescued a 9-year-old boy who had been living in his father’s utility van since November 2024, malnourished and unable to walk. The father is detained on kidnapping charges; the partner faces charges for failing to assist a minor, and the other children have been placed in social services as investigators probe who knew about the confinement.
Arkansas police arrested Kendra Duggar on four counts each of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree false imprisonment; she has a Monday hearing. Her husband Joseph Duggar was arrested in Florida on lewd and lascivious charges involving a child under 12, but the Florida case is unrelated. The Duggars, known from the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, have four children.
The Indiana House Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 1035 with a 12-1 vote, aiming to clarify that allowing children age-appropriate independence should not trigger DCS investigations or criminal charges unless recklessness endangers the child, creating an affirmative defense in neglect cases; supporters say it reduces unnecessary government involvement while preserving safety, though one Democrat expressed concerns about raising the intervention threshold; the bill moves to the full House.