Weekly Podcast

05/16/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the return of federal earmarks and which youth and family organizations benefitted, Florida’s new Family Navigator plan, and the findings of the first Voice of The Foster Care Community survey.

05/09/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the Justice Department’s entry into the legal battle on trans medicine for youth; Biden’s new juvenile justice leader, decarceration advocate Liz Ryan; and the first state in decades to pursue lowering the age of its juvenile justice system.

05/02/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss some of the significant changes to federal child welfare policy proposed in President Biden’s budget for the next fiscal year, which includes new incentives to prioritize kinship care placements and more generous federal support for foster care prevention.  

04/25/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss what’s happened in Ohio since the death of Ma’Khia Bryant a year ago, how child welfare might figure into California’s ideas around reparations, Connecticut’s new approach to helping families, and more.

04/18/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss a new kinship prioritization in Washington, New York gets sued (twice), privatization ends in Nebraska, and controversial new legislation in Alabama and Tennessee. 

04/11/2022

Today on The Imprint Weekly Podcast we feature a great conversation that Fostering Media Connections hosted last month called “Homeless in Foster Care: What Would Really Keep Foster Youth from Sleeping in Offices.”

As the title suggests, the motivation for this discussion was the reality that youth living in foster care are sleeping in offices, sometimes in hotels or even in rare cases cars, with systems struggling to find more appropriate shelter for them…and all of these kids had been removed from their home at one point or another due to safety concerns, which makes leaving them in such an unstable position is truly failure in its most clear form. 

This has gotten attention of late because several states saw the number of youth in this situation increase during the last year or so, likely in part to the pandemic and its impact on the child welfare workforce and more generally on foster care capacity. 

But this is not by any means a new problem in child welfare. This conversation was meant to discuss not the emergency solutions for it, but rather the upstream issues with how child welfare systems proceed that end up leaving youth open to these circumstances.

03/28/2022

We discuss several headlines related to litigation in the child welfare space, including two states exiting class-action lawsuits after decades and a new legal center aimed at fighting removals into foster care. Also: MacKenzie Scott drops unrestricted grants on youth organizations, and a great new visualization tool on racial and ethnic disproportionality in foster care. 

03/21/2022

We discuss what’s in the $1.5 trillion federal spending deal for youth and families, a court challenge to Canada’s new Indigenous child welfare law, and Colorado seeking to “raise the floor” for juvenile justice.

03/14/2022

We discuss the latest developments in the fight in Texas over Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to treat medical services for transgender youth as abuse, a major lawsuit over sexual abuse in L.A.’s juvenile justice system, hidden foster care in North Carolina, and more. 

03/07/2022

We discuss the latest on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to treat medical services for transgender youth as abuse; the Supreme Court set to decide fate of Indian Child Welfare Act (much more on that next week); and a bill aimed at reducing the need for congregate care placements in foster care.

02/28/2022

We discuss the seeming contradiction of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s directive to consider medical services to trans kids as abuse, and the Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling that sets heightened expectations around kinship in the child welfare system.

02/21/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss a recent roundtable on child welfare held by the Biden administration, and the legislative responses that have popped up in Illinois after the killing of a caseworker while responding to an abuse and neglect call.

02/13/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss what was on Senators’ minds during the confirmation hearing for Biden’s top child welfare officials; more federal scrutiny on for-profit colleges; and the human consequences of family court shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.

02/07/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss more troubling indicators on the workforce crisis in child welfare and juvenile justice, and a new bill introduced in Congress that would bring federal scrutiny around the use of automated decision making tools in America.

01/31/2022

On this week’s podcast, we try to tie three different sets of federally collected numbers together in regard to child welfare during the earliest phase of the COVID-19 pandemic between March and September 2020, when lockdowns were ubiquitous, schools were mostly closed and vaccines were still in the offing. We also talk about some well-timed research on the nexus between income support for poor parents and child well-being.

Later in the podcast we talk what could be the first collateral consequence of last year’s Supreme Court decision on faith-based discrimination in child welfare; where things stand with a court challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act and auditing L.A.’s child welfare agency. We end with a discussion of Edgar Cahn, a giant in the legal community whose legacy includes two innovative ideas in juvenile justice.

01/24/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss the final numbers on the enhanced child tax credit that ran from July to December; host home respite care comes to New York after a two-year standoff; and an audit suggests what might really be behind Montana’s very high use of foster care.

01/17/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the ongoing capacity crisis in Texas foster care, jarring numbers on community college enrollment, and new federal funds to seed innovation in supporting kinship caregivers.   

01/10/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss Biden’s new nominee to lead child welfare and family support policies at the Department of Health and Human Services; the tragic murder of a social worker in Illinois; and it’s decision time for the Supreme Court on the Brackeen v. Haaland case that could decide the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

01/03/2022

On this week’s episode we discuss some leadership departures and additions in top jobs; the ongoing “workforce spiral” in child welfare; how systems pull money from the social safety net to offset foster care costs; and the Adoption Files Initiative.

12/26/2021

We had some amazing guests join us on The Imprint Weekly Podcast this year, and we reviewed the entire 2021 archive to bring you clips from some of the very best! This episode includes clips of 20 interviews from this year. 

If you enjoy this podcast, or the great work our reporters do at The Imprint and Fostering Families Today, please consider making a donation. And if you do so this month, during Newsmatch, your donation will get doubled!

Fostering Media Connections is very lucky to have some terrific philanthropic supporters, advertisers and sponsors, and subscribers to our business and policy section that help make this organization go. But we really cannot do it without donors like you who read our stuff, listen to our podcasts and attend our online events. 

There are tons of really great nonprofit, independent news outlets to support out there, and we hope you consider us one of them. To give today it’s easy! Visit imprintnews.org/donate. 

12/20/2021

This week’s episode is an edited-for-length version of a discussion that Fostering Media Connections recently conducted called “Navigating the Holidays.” Kim Hansel, the editor of our Fostering Families Today magazine, moderated this terrific panel of four former foster youth —  Raquel Wilson, Tamar Sebesta, Jessica Castillo, and Daniel Bisuano — in a conversation about what the holidays can be life for young people with lived experience, and what foster and resource parents should know and expect during this time of year.

12/13/2021

On this week’s episode, we discuss California’s looming foster care cliff for older youth, obesity-as-neglect in Pennsylvania, and the passing of a major figure in international adoption. 

12/06/2021

On this week’s episode, we discuss new numbers (from the federal government and from The Imprint’s annual survey of states) that shed light on foster care trends across the nation during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. Also: a new leader nominated for Biden’s child welfare team, and the release of a ProPublica/New York Times feature on “hidden foster care.”

11/29/2021

Deborah Shropshire and Charlene Wong are career pediatricians, and Terry Stigdon is a registered nurse who specializes in pediatrics. All three are now leading state child welfare systems in Oklahoma, North Carolina and Indiana, respectively.

This episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast features a conversation hosted by Fostering Media Connections in which Accenture’s Molly Tierney and The Imprint’s John Kelly talk to the three women about the differences between the health and child welfare fields, what child welfare systems could learn from or adapt from health systems, and what they see coming in the next five years for the field.

11/22/2021

California became one of the first states to extend foster care when the federal Fostering Connections to Success Act became law, offering states the opportunity to extend foster care to the age of 21 with financial assistance. Last year, The Imprint produced an in-depth series looking at the first decade of the program in California, exploring what holes still existed in a new safety net that overall has helped ease the transition to adulthood for teens in the system. 

This episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast features a panel discussion hosted by Fostering Media Connections on the state of extended foster care in the Golden State. Imprint reporter Sara Tiano moderates a discussion that features perspectives from two young leaders who experienced the system before and after the extension to 21; an expert in California child welfare policy; and one of the nation’s leading researchers on the experience of older youth in foster care.

11/15/2021

On this week’s podcast we talk to the University of Michigan’s Natasha Pilkauskas about what a recent survey of low-income families tells us about the enhanced child tax credits included in coronavirus relief and, possibly, in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better plan. 

11/08/2021

On this week’s podcast we break down the major legislation introduced last week by Rep. Karen Bass that would alter the controversial timelines around terminating parental rights in the Adoption and Safe Families Act. We also discuss a new waiver to use Medicaid in congregate care settings and good results for a strategy to prevent some foster care removals.

11/01/2021

On this week’s podcast we dig into a major decline in the number of youth charged as adults in the justice system, and some child welfare legislation that could include the first federal requirement for legal counsel for parents and children. 

10/25/2021

On this week’s podcast we talk about the new push for federal oversight of the “troubled teen industry,” and what might be different this time around; the first kinship support program approved for new federal funding nationwide; and a local court case over ICWA that involves high-powered attorneys. 

10/18/2021

On this week’s podcast, we discuss what The Imprint has learned from states about the end of the federal moratorium on aging out of foster care during the pandemic; a new law to limit the transfer of youth into adult court in Washington, D.C.; and a troubling case of entrenched and unchecked juvenile justice and child welfare leadership.

10/11/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss new developments in the 2020 death of a teenager killed by staff at a Michigan residential center, state spending on post-permanency and the latest in The Imprint’s “Hidden Foster Care” series. 

10/04/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the end of some pandemic protections for current and former foster youth, what Canada’s reckoning with history on Native American children portends for America; exits from big lawsuits, and office-seekers of note in Alaska and Los Angeles.

09/27/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss a new campaign to end fines and fees in the juvenile justice system, more problems with privatization in child welfare, and the estimated 18,000 young adults who could age out of foster care this week.

09/19/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss a foster care capacity crisis in Texas, promising programs and bad facilities in Los Angeles, and former foster youth getting positions of leadership in federal government. 

09/13/2021

On this week’s episode, we discuss the slow-developing effort to connect current and former foster youth with federal pandemic assistance, and a new bill that would extend the deadline for it. Also: the Family First Act clearinghouse reconsiders some programs; federal judges toss three child welfare lawsuits; Supreme Court asked to decide the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act; and Maryland commission recommends an end to automatic transfers from the juvenile justice system.

08/16/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss a new proposal to boost funding for preventing and investigating child maltreatment, a controversial proposal to permit Medicaid in foster care institutions, and movements on legal counsel in Minnesota and Texas. 

08/09/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the recent dismissal of lawsuits in Ohio and West Virginia, new research on the prevalence of child protection investigations, and a local investigation into “hidden foster care” that might make waves.

08/01/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the newest policy proposals from foster youth interns on Capitol Hill, new funding for racial equity in child welfare, and the newly approved guaranteed income pilot project in California that will pay up to $1,000 per month to young adults who have aged out of foster care.

07/25/2021

This week, The Imprint Weekly Podcast presents our in-depth interview with Dr. Bruce Perry, recent co-author of the bestseller “What Happened to You” with Oprah Winfrey. Perry has spent years building the knowledge base around understanding and addressing the impact of child trauma on kids and adults. 

Perry discussed his new book, his views on child welfare and its approach to engaging parents, the potential of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics, and more.

07/18/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss more plans for rethinking child welfare, universal cell phone coverage for California foster youth, and another big experiment planned for the “colorblind” approach to foster care removal decisions.

07/12/2021

On this podcast we discuss the overrepresentation of LGBTQ youth in foster care, big budget investments in California families, baby bonds in Connecticut, and foster youth stimulus in New York.

07/04/2021

On this week’s episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast we discuss new proposals for abolishing “family policing” and creating a community-led parallel system for family support; lowered expectations on L.A. juvenile justice reform; and a surprising outcome among states that have raised the age since 2007. Jen Burdick of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia joins to talk about her organization’s massive push to help clients file tax returns this year to prevent them from missing out on major new family supports that some believe could halve child poverty in America. 

06/27/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss universal basic income and pandemic assistance for current and former foster youth; a new federal investigation into the sordid history of Indian boarding schools; potential trouble for Ohio’s new mental health reform; and a settlement over homeless foster youth in Washington.

06/20/2021

On this week’s podcast, we discuss New York’s new legal path to visits for parents whose rights have been terminated; trends in juvenile incarceration; and the return of early child welfare legal advocacy to the city that birthed it.

06/13/2021

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the decline in reunifications during the early pandemic, a potential legal counsel law in Congress, a new national campaign to connect current and former foster youth with pandemic assistance, and juvenile justice reforms in Michigan and New York.

06/06/2021

Throughout the country, jurisdictions are rethinking all aspects of the child welfare system, to make it more community-based, youth-centered, and responsive to families’ and communities’ needs. This podcast episode, originally recorded as an online event, features ideas from thought leaders in the field about how to move the needle.

05/30/2021

On this week’s podcast, reporter Julie Reynolds Martinez drops in to discuss a two-part series published by The Imprint and Voices of Monterey Bay about Corey Glassman, who was convicted as a teen for the brutal killing of a classmate. Glassman’s path through the incarceration system to recent parole epitomizes the changing tides in public attitude and policy about horrific crimes committed by youth.

05/23/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the everyday impact of the Indian Child Welfare Act in court; a guide for current and former foster youth who want to find out if they are owed social security benefits; Alabama gets sued (again); and new entries into the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Click here to view our full podcast archive for more interviews with leading voices in the fields of child welfare and youth justice.

05/16/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss a multi-million dollar jury award in a “hidden foster care” case; a bill to offer employers a tax credit to hire current or former foster youth; another state moves to protect faith-based discrimination; and the New York mayoral candidates talk child welfare.

05/09/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the end of the federal eviction moratorium, a string of new laws aimed at protecting parents suspected of abuse or neglect in New York, and Molly Dunn joins to talk about problems with Arizona’s effort to get federal assistance to current and former foster youth. 

05/02/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the tragic deaths of Ma’khia Bryant and Aviva Okeson-Haberman, the system clawing back social security from youth in foster care, and new research on termination of parental rights.

04/25/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the police shooting of an Ohio foster youth, the recent Supreme Court decision on juvenile sentencing, and a novel partnership to connect former foster youth with housing stability.

04/18/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the first public appearance by one of Biden’s top child welfare officials, and another big state moves toward adoptee access to birth certificates, and The Imprint’s big win at the Sacramento Press Club awards.

04/15/2021

In our final installment of Big Questions for Child Welfare, Accenture’s Molly Tierney and Daniel Heimpel of Fostering Media Connections reflect on Tierney’s 2014 Ted Talk, at which 

she received a standing ovation for a speech that questioned the underpinnings of what she described as the child welfare industrial complex, and measured the use of foster care up to Einstein’s definition of insanity. 

04/11/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss a portal to federal aid for former foster youth; a big juvenile probation reform proposal in California; and new leadership at a pioneer group for elevating parent voice in child welfare. 

04/04/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the growing interest in race-blind foster care removal decisions, hidden foster care, the return of federal earmarks, and an interesting Michigan Supreme Court case on educational neglect. 

03/29/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the state of legislation on Raise the Age reforms in Georgia, Texas and Wisconsin; a new campaign to repeal the Adoption and Safe Families Act; and news on the Family First Act.

03/25/2021

The Imprint Weekly Podcast is releasing bonus episodes featuring our publisher, Daniel Heimpel, and Molly Tierney, the child welfare lead at Accenture and former child welfare director for Baltimore. 

On this episode, the two friends discuss  the growing call for child welfare to paddle “upstream,” investing more money in keeping families together and less on splitting them apart. What will it take to improve our prevention of abuse and neglect in America? And should that work be done by child welfare agencies, other parts of government, or something entirely different?

03/22/2021

On this week’s podcast, we discuss Washington’s limitations on life without parole, “raising the floor” on juvenile arrests, rules of the road for foster youth COVID relief and prioritizing foster parents for vaccines.

03/15/2021

On this week’s podcast, we break down the major child and family provisions in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed by President Biden last week, including a major guaranteed income program for parents.

03/11/2021

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing bonus episodes on Thursdays that will be conversations between The Imprint’s publisher Daniel Heimpel and Molly Tierney, the child welfare lead at Accenture and former director of Baltimore’s child welfare system.

On today’s episode, Tierney and Heimpel talk about the Biden administration, which succeeds an erratic period for child welfare in America under former President Donald Trump. The Trump administration is responsible for intentionally separating families at the nation’s Southern border, and for proposals that would gut the social safety net. It also unleashed federal resources for legal support to system-involved parents and children, and expanded federal child welfare spending to include much more money for efforts to keep families together.

Tierney and Heimpel talk about what a good comprehensive agenda for child welfare under Biden could mean.

03/08/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss testing universal basic income for youth aging out of the foster care system, a Minnesota law aimed at addressing race disproportionality, and the new head of the U.S. Children’s Bureau.

02/28/2021

On this week’s episode we discuss some of the Biden administration’s early hires for key positions at the Administration for Children and Families, which oversees family support and child welfare in the federal government. 

02/25/2021

Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing  bonus episodes on Thursdays that will be conversations between The Imprint’s publisher Daniel Heimpel and Molly Tierney, the child welfare lead at Accenture and former director of Baltimore’s child welfare system.  

On today’s episode they discuss racial biases and the child welfare workforce with Karen Baynes-Dunning, acting president of the Southern Poverty Law Center and former juvenile court judge.  The three explore interesting lessons on this issue learned from testing of a virtual caseworker training platform. 

02/22/2021

On this week’s episode we discuss new access to birth certificates for adoptees in New York with reporter Michael Fitzgerald, more job training efforts for system-involved teens and young adults in California and Nevada, and a national campaign to end the use of solitary confinement for youth.

02/15/2021

On this week’s episode we discuss  the continuing spiral of Sequel, a for-profit provider of residential youth programs, Biden’s halt to Trump religious rules, a new slate of child allowance plans and more. 

02/08/2021

About 40,000 foster youth live in group homes and institutions. On this week’s podcast we talk to reporter Megan Conn about what’s going on with vaccination for the frontline staff at these places, some research of note on homelessness and employment, and a former foster youth who just became an NAACP Image Award nominee.

BONUS: This episode features music from the Unsung program, which helps youth in juvenile settings learn to perform, record and produce songs.

02/01/2021

On this week’s podcast, we highlight a law to dismantle and rebuild child protection in Iowa, closure of juvenile prisons in New York and a former foster youth gets a key spot in the Biden administration. 

BONUS: This episode features music from the Unsung program, which helps youth in juvenile settings learn to perform, record and produce songs. 

01/25/2021

On this week’s podcast, we share some thoughts on the earlygoing on child welfare and juvenile justice for the Biden Administration: initial actions, key hires, and the Family First Act. 

BONUS: This episode features music from the Unsung program, which helps youth in juvenile settings learn to perform, record and produce songs.

01/18/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the departure of Jerry Milner from the Trump administration (will he be back under Biden?), more lawsuits, and what the newest data on child abuse and neglect shows.

01/14/2021

Improving casework. Identifying and addressing racial disproportionality and disparity. Reducing the use of foster care. More knowledge about what works to prevent abuse and neglect.

Whatever you think is the most pressing reform in child welfare, technology is a key facet of solving the problem. In December, The Imprint hosted an online discussion about technology’s critical role in improving the child welfare system. 

01/11/2021

2020 was the first full year for the Foster Youth to Independence initiative (FYI), which helps secure stable housing and self-sufficiency services for young adults aging out of foster care. 

This week’s podcast was recorded live on Zoom in early December, and features a discussion about FYI’s first year and what comes next as the initiative recently became enshrined into law.

01/04/2021

On this week’s podcast we discuss the child welfare package passed by Congress as part of the coronavirus relief deal, new studies on life after foster care, and a temporary fix in Ohio on kinship support.

BONUS: This episode features music from the Unsung program, which helps youth in juvenile settings learn to perform, record and produce songs.

12/28/2020

Description: It’s been 11 weeks since we launched The Imprint Weekly Podcast. On this episode, Imprint Senior Editor John Kelly and producer Christine Ongjoco have put together a collection of clips from interviews with our first year of guests. 

Thanks to everyone who listened, subscribed, or joined us on the podcast in 2020. Happy New Year to all!

12/21/2020

On this week’s podcast we discuss the immediate fallout from The Imprint’s investigation into California’s use of out-of-state youth facilities, the rise in child welfare cases in Los Angeles during the pandemic, rapid testing regulations getting lifted and a big result for the workforce development program Year Up. 

12/06/2020

On this week’s podcast we discuss the potential legislative aftermath of a suicide in a Wisconsin juvenile facility, new Family First Act approvals, and how a rapid home-testing strategy could affect juvenile justice and child welfare systems.

11/30/2020

On this week’s podcast we discuss the soaring cost of incarceration in New York’s juvenile justice system, a landmark settlement on how child welfare agencies support disabled parents, and a new tutoring plan available for thousands of foster youth in the country.

11/24/2020

Description: On this week’s podcast we cover a lawsuit over equal support for relative caregivers in Ohio, LGBTQ youth in foster care, how foster homes are doing during the coronavirus pandemic, and New Jersey’s stimulus relief for older youth in care.

11/16/2020

On this week’s podcast we provide an overview of the Who Cares project, The Imprint’s annual data collection on foster youth and foster homes in America. We also discuss some local and state election results, and what’s going on with the Biden transition team. 

11/09/2020

On this week’s podcast we cover state and local ballot measures with big consequences for children and families, the Fulton v. City of Philadelphia Supreme Court case, and an interesting new program in Ohio aimed at preventing parents from relinquishing custody of their kids. 

11/02/2020

On this week’s podcast we look at a few interesting ballot initiatives that voters will decide on tomorrow, the plan to rewrite juvenile justice in Los Angeles, and how child support is used by states to offset the cost of welfare and foster care. 

10/26/2020

It’s a reporter-palooza! Journalist Roxanna Asgarian joins Senior Editor John Kelly to discuss her recent investigative report for The Imprint about the culture of silence on abuse inside Texas child welfare facilities. We also discuss Florida and privatization, and the recent spate of settlements in child welfare class-action lawsuits.

10/19/2020

We discuss the issue of credit for schoolwork done in juvenile justice facilities, plans for a universal suicide screening for foster youth and expansion of a homelessness prevention plan for young adults aging out of care.

10/12/2020

In the inaugural episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, Senior Editor John Kelly discussed the coronavirus relief package, a new state joining the Family First Act, and the looming end to California’s notorious state-run juvenile prisons.