A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year
In 2021, The Imprint covered an unusual case in which the Washington State Supreme Court took on the case of Cheryl Beaver, a grandmother who was fostering her grandson, Keyon, and lost custody. By the time the court agreed to hear it, the child’s mother had already won in another case where she challenged the termination of her parental rights.
This year, the court acted on Beaver’s case, setting a bright line precedent around prioritizing kinship care in Washington. It decreed that the child welfare system must give a meaningful preference to kin; later in the year, the state essentially codified that into law.
Across the country in Washington, D.C., the Biden administration used its 2023 budget to propose a significant change to federal support for foster care that would put kinship care at the top of the pecking order. The plan would increase the federal match of foster care funds for relatives and other kin, while decreasing federal payouts for placements into congregate care.
Listen: Sixto Cancel, founder of Think of Us, told The Imprint Weekly Podcast he thinks greater support for kinship care is the most likely reform of child welfare to gain traction during the Biden administration.
Other news outlets don’t cover child welfare and juvenile justice like we do.
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