Word: problems
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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Adaptive-optics systems do have limitations. To start with, they work well only with infrared radiation. That's not a huge problem, given that infrared is ideal for spotting new planets and for studying the early universe, the core of the Milky Way and the formation of stars. A bigger drawback is that adaptive optics can currently correct only for a small patch of atmosphere at the center of the telescope's field of view. But pockets of atmospheric turbulence are small enough that a slight change in viewing angle means a whole different pattern of distortions, which in turn...
...costs at least $7 billion a year, or about $13,000 a child, to care for America's foster kids. The problem is not a single black hole but a series--each state affected with its own distinct problems. A yearlong investigation by TIME has found the crisis mounting in at least 20 states as lawyers file class actions asking judges to take control of entire agencies and Governors to appoint task forces to review child-welfare programs. Three states in particular--Georgia, Alabama and California--show the severity of the crisis...
...David was kept secluded in Building 112, locked in a 9-ft. by 6-ft. cell with metal crates as a wall and a door painted black. Even though he talked of suicide, banged his head against the walls and screamed profanities, staff members treated him as a behavior problem. In March 1992 a center worker found David trying to hang himself and placed him under observation. Two days later, he tried again, using a shoestring. He suffered severe brain damage. "Till the day we die, we'll have to take care of him," says his father Michael, a school...
...because the real control over foster care rests with local agencies, not state officials. Policies vary not only from state to state but also from county to county. "It's part of the Western culture to be independent," says Representative Doug Linkhart, a Colorado Democrat. "But it presents a problem, because the system is so fragmented, and too many things are going wrong because of poor communication...
...however, the new federal policies may engender a whole new set of problems. Critics say the reforms put a bounty on the heads of unwanted children. They fear that timetables tied to disbursement of money may keep social workers from trying harder to rehabilitate biological parents and reunite families, because government leaders now consider adoption a panacea. "Skewed financial incentives are the single biggest problem in the entire child-welfare system," says Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. And what happens, asks Rachel Oesterle, an expert with Aid to the Adoption of Special Children, when...