Lawmakers have passed a bill that allows the Indiana Department of Child Services to more efficiently collect delinquent child
support, including a gaming intercept requiring casinos to check whether gamers are on a state delinquency list before releasing
large jackpots to them.
The Department of Child Services wants a federal judge to stay the preliminary injunction preventing it from cut ting reimbursement
rates, arguing the results of the injunction will be detrimental to children receiving services.
Hoosier lawyers and judges were kept on the edge of their seats as the Indiana General Assembly navigated its final days of
the session, reviving talk on two issues that have significant impact on the state’s judiciary and legal system.
State lawmakers want to crack down on child support collections and make it tougher for deadbeat parents to not pay what's owed.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would repeal a last-minute 2009 special session provision that gave the Indiana Department of Child Services key control in deciding whether juveniles should be placed outside the state.
In a one-two punch, a pair of lawsuits filed a week apart in December hit the Indiana Department of Child Services square
in the gut over how the agency planned to reduce payment rates for foster and adoptive parents and juvenile service providers.
A father's consent to voluntarily terminate his parental rights so his sister could adopt his daughter was invalidated by misrepresentations made by a family case manager for the Department of Child Services. As such, the father's petition to set aside the judgment should have been granted, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.
The full Senate will now decide whether casinos should be forced to check if certain gamblers winning larger jackpots are on a delinquent child support list, and if those gaming winnings should be automatically frozen and put toward the amount owed.
As this year's legislative session winds down, several bills of interest to the legal community have made it through both
houses, but many remained stuck in conference committee Thursday.
A legislative committee has given its OK to a bill that would repeal a last-minute 2009 special session provision, which gave the Indiana Department of Child Services key control in deciding whether juveniles can be placed outside the state.
In addressing a statutory inconsistency on parental rights terminations, the Indiana Court of Appeals has held that trial judges must offer findings of fact in those types of cases just as they're required to by law for children in need of services cases and grandparent visitation matters.
A federal judge in Indianapolis has temporarily blocked the Indiana Department of Child Services from reducing the amounts
it pays to foster and adoptive parents and juvenile-service providers.
As the Indiana General Assembly got down to its final hours in a short-session, significant changes for the Hoosier legal community were on the table to possibly increase the number of appellate judges, change how one county chooses its trial judges, and impact how juveniles can be placed outside the state.
The federal judge who granted a preliminary injunction in the combined suits against the Department of Child Services for cutting reimbursement rates for adoptive and foster parents and child care agencies found the quality of care for children would suffer if the rate cuts stood.
The Indiana Department of Child Services wants the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to review a judge's decision to temporarily stop DCS rate cuts.
The Indiana Department of Child Services isn't responsible for the costs of a minor's secure detention because it never entered into a written agreement with the juvenile court to cover the costs, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled today.
New rules from the Indiana Supreme Court this week officially create an expedited "rocket docket" for certain juvenile cases going through the appellate system.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed the placement of a juvenile delinquent in an out-of-state shelter care facility over the objection of the Indiana Department of Child Services, finding the trial court complied with statutes that allow it to place the juvenile in a non-Indiana facility. A recent change to one of those statutes now shifts the burden of payment to out-of-state facilities from DCS to the counties.
A nonprofit organization made up of agencies that provide services to abused and neglected kids is suing the Indiana Department of Child Services for cutting rates paid to the agencies next year.
In the first appeal of a juvenile case under Indiana Appellate Rule 14.1, the "rocket docket," the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the juvenile court's determination that a child shouldn't be immediately reunited with his mother until after the school year concluded – contrary to what the Department of Child Services recommended – wasn't clearly erroneous.