ARTICLE TAG

Wyoming

Funding, staffing shortages beleaguer Wyoming youth psychiatric facilities

11/23/2022

Funding, Staffing Shortages Beleaguer Youth Psychiatric Facilities in Wyoming

A lack of state investment has left St. Joseph’s and the Wyoming Behavioral Institute underfunded amid rising staffing and operational costs.

1/28/2021

Amid Abuse Reports, Sequel-run Facility That Treated California Children Will Close

Sequel Youth & Family Services announced this week that it will close Wyoming residential campus Normative Services Inc. “after an evaluation of viability” of the program. Photo: Ashleigh Snoozy, Sheridan Press
A Wyoming treatment center where California had long sent troubled youth will shut down in March, following a Chronicle and Imprint investigation into violent abuse at its campus and others operated by Sequel Youth & Family Services.

2/14/2020

Bumpy Ride in Wyoming for Bills to Create Parent and Child Representation Offices

Just days into Wyoming’s legislative session, bills to expand legal counsel to children and parents in child welfare court were killed by a lack of support. But half of the package has already been raised from the dead.

Youth Services Insider

11/19/2019

The Curious Case of the Nonparticipating States

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) recently issued a $10.4 million funding competition that on first blush shocked Youth Services Insider. It was a request for proposals (RFP) from nonprofits or local governments in states that are not participating in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), through which state juvenile justice agencies receive grants in exchange for complying with four standards in their treatment of youths.

11/3/2019

Two Legal Representation Bills Will Be Considered During Wyoming’s Legislative Session

On Friday, the Wyoming Judiciary Committee voted in favor of a state-level office tasked with providing legal representation to parents involved in child welfare proceedings. There is momentum growing around the country to connect parents with counsel, fueled in part by a new offer of federal funds for that effort and recent research on the positive impact of quality representation.

6/19/2019

Hearings: A Rural Judge Talks About Small Town Child Welfare Courts

In the least populated state with many expansive miles between communities, Wyoming faces some unique challenges when it comes to meeting the needs of its kids in foster care. In a state that spans almost 100,000 square miles, there were just 1,247 youth in foster care in the entire state in 2018.

    1/25/2018

    Wyoming Looks to Merge Department of Health, Family Services

    As the state ramps up its legislative session, Wyoming lawmakers are considering a merger of the state departments of Health and Family Services. When Director Tom Forslund took on the oversight of the Department of Family Services last year, in addition to his position as director of the Department of Health, he was asked by the governor and lawmakers to look into what it would look like to merge the two entities.

    6/15/2017

    New Wyoming DFS Director Tom Forslund Does Double Duty in the Country’s Most Rural State

    Just a week into his new position, Wyoming Department of Families Services Director Tom Forslund, the new director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS), signed himself up for a year and a half of overseeing not one, but two state-level departments in the country’s most rural state.