Achieving legal permanency (i.e., family reunification, adoption, or legal guardianship) for children placed in out-of-home care due to abuse, neglect, or dependency is one of the primary goals of the public child welfare system. Following through the end of 2008 children who first entered...

While the U.S. Supreme Court has expressed the opinion that providing parental counsel to indigent parents is generally a sound practice, it has ruled that parents do not have an absolute constitutional right to counsel in termination of parental rights proceedings, and not all states provide a...