The departure of Mary Beth Bonaventura as director of the Indiana Department of Child Services surprised several family law attorneys and social service providers. Uniformly, they agreed the former Lake County juvenile judge was a strong advocate for children and brought valuable experience to her tenure. Still, the department has struggled against internal and external challenges.
A babysitter convicted of inflicting a life-threatening head injury on an infant in her care lost her appeal of her felony convictions and sentence after the Indiana Court of Appeals determined neither court error nor insufficient evidence warranted reversal.
Although a Tippecanoe County father appealed the denial of a petition alleging his children were children in need of services, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled the father’s arguments as to why his children should be considered CHINS were unavailing.
A divided Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed summary judgment for the Department of Child Services after one of its employees revealed the name of a child abuse reporter, finding there was no statutory or common law basis to impose a duty of confidentiality.
Indiana school employees are now required to report suspected child abuse or neglect directly to the Department of Child Services or local law enforcement instead of first notifying a school administrator.
A doctor who reported medical child abuse to the Department of Child Services was not protected by the state’s anti-SLAPP statute, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled Friday in a case of first impression.
A southern Indiana man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty in the child abuse death of his former girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.
A southern Indiana man has reversed himself again and agreed to plead guilty in the child abuse death of his former girlfriend's 3-year-old daughter.
Delaware County officials have approved plans to acquire a service dog to aid young people in the juvenile court system.
Authorities in northern Indiana have charged three people with neglect after a 3-year-old girl was found locked inside a wooden box for extended periods of time.
A former USA Gymnastics team doctor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in his Michigan home with a girl under 13.
A southern Indiana church van driver who suspected children to be in need of services due to dangerous living conditions in his small community followed the law requiring him to report his suspicions. He didn’t want to provide his name, but he did so after a Department of Child Services hotline worker assured him his identity would remain confidential, as the law also requires.
A Fort Wayne woman accused of smothering her two children after abducting them said she decided to kill them after hearing that authorities had issued an Amber Alert.
A 26-year-old Indiana man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the beating death of his infant son.
Jurors in Jeffersonville have convicted an Underwood man of battery and neglect in the death of his 4-year-old son.
A 26-year-old Indiana man is awaiting sentencing in the death of his infant son after a plea agreement was reached in the case.
A Marion County jury convicted a mother and her boyfriend in the death of the mother’s 1-year-old son.
Four 7th Circuit Court of Appeals judges believed that a man who had evidence admitted at trial of his refusal to take a polygraph test deserves a new trial. The 7th Circuit Thursday denied rehearing David Resnick’s case en banc.
Charges that former Park Tudor basketball coach and teacher Kyle Cox attempted to coerce and entice a 15-year-old student into a sexual relationship — and an attorney’s alleged actions after learning of the accusations — have refocused attention on a 2015 advisory ethics opinion that largely exempts lawyers from a law that requires reporting suspected child abuse.