Tennessee

A class-action lawsuit alleges “barbaric” violence against youth with disabilities at Tennessee’s juvenile detention facilities.

Child welfare and disability rights advocates are calling on Tennessee to reform its youth justice system through “prevention and rehabilitation” not “facilities and incarceration.”

Teenagers at a Tennessee detention facility have been sexually abused, locked in isolation cells for 23 hours a day and set up by staff to fight each other, two prominent advocacy groups have found.

There are pros and cons of child welfare systems partnering with churches, but if done right, it can be effective, writes Jessica Castillo.

Maine, Nebraska and Tennessee are among the states that have collectively been hoarding billions intended to help low-income families.

Students in foster care in Tennessee are exempt from a rule that bars kids who transfer to a new district from playing sports for a year.

New laws affecting the protection of children went into effect July 1 in Tennessee, including one that increases the penalty for knowingly exposing children to dangerous drugs.

By The Imprint staff reports In 2020, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law a a “religious freedom” bill ensuring that foster care and adoption agencies could continue to be eligible to receive taxpayer funding even if they refuse to serve same-sex foster and adoptive parents.

In 1980, Patrick Lawler was a young probation officer in Tennessee’s Shelby County. Lawler had started his career at just 18 working with boys in a local group home, which is why his experience caught the attention of Memphis judge Kenneth Turner.