Weekly Podcast

Guest Interview

Double feature! Celeste Bodner of FosterClub joins to discuss the $400 million in coronavirus aid headed to states to help current and former foster youth; and New Jersey child welfare commissioner Christine Norbut Beyer talks to us about her recent stimulus check program for older youth in care. 

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

Guest Interview

The Imprint was joined for this discussion by Molly Tierney, child welfare industry lead for Accenture, and Scooter Ward, former deputy chief information officer of the Washington, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency

Guest Interview

We’re joined by Melissa Thompson, Melanie Jordan and Cam Lundstrom of the Office of Respondent Parent Counsel in Colorado for a sobering discussion on how the pandemic has impacted the cases of parents with children in foster care.

Guest Interview

This episode includes clips from our interviews with the following guests:

Christina Remlin of Children’s Rights
Sharon McDaniel, A Second Chance Inc.
Roxanna Asgarian, author and freelance reporter
Jodi Cohen, ProPublica Illinois
Alan Dettlaff and Kristen Weber, upEND Movement
Serita Cox, iFoster
Andy Barclay and Melissa Carter, Barton Child Law and Policy Center
Vivek Sankaran, University of Michigan Law School
California Assemblymember Ash Kalra
Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran
Lisa Ling, host of CNN’s This is Life with Lisa Ling
Daniel Heimpel, publisher of The Imprint
Campaign for Youth Justice CEO Marcy Mistrett
Sara Tiano, reporter for The Imprint
Nora McCarthy and Jeanette Vega, Rise

Guest Interview

We’re joined by Nora McCarthy and Jeanette Vega of Rise, a New York City organization dedicated to supporting parents involved in child welfare cases, about the organization’s first 15 years in the world.

Guest Interview

We’re joined by Campaign for Youth Justice CEO Marcy Mistrett to discuss the end of the campaign, which closes its doors this month, and the past 15 years in the fight to keep youth out of adult courts and facilities.

Guest Interview

We’re joined by renowned journalist Lisa Ling and Imprint Publisher Daniel Heimpel to discuss Ling’s recent documentary covering the crossroads of opioid addiction and child welfare in her ongoing CNN documentary series.

Guest Interview

We’re joined by Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran to talk about her state’s new plan to change mental health services for youth and young adults and prevent unnecessary child welfare and foster care cases.

Guest Interview

We’re joined by California State Assemblymember Ash Kalra about his California Racial Justice Act, which was recently signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom and attempts to provide what might be an unprecedented check on racial bias during trials and at sentencing.

Guest Interview

We’re joined by Melissa Carter, executive director of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University, and Andy Barclay, statistician for the group Fostering Court Improvement, to discuss a new metric to track family separation in America. Imprint columnist Vivek Sankaran joins to discuss what he hopes a Biden-Harris child welfare policy will look like.

Guest Interview

Our guest this week is Serita Cox, co-founder of iFoster, on how her organization fueled a partnership that produced thousands of laptops and cell phones for current and former foster youth whose educations were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Guest Interview

Alan Dettlaff and Kristen Weber, co-founders of the upEND Movement, join us to talk about how the campaign came together and what they mean by seeking the abolition of the modern child welfare system.

Guest Interview

ProPublica reporter Jodi Cohen joins us to discuss her story from the summer about a Michigan teenager who was locked up by a juvenile court judge for skipping a virtual class. Cohen’s piece is perhaps now the most famous example of a long-debated federal policy: the “valid court order exception.”

Guest Interview

Sharon McDaniel, founder of A Second Chance, Inc. and president of the group Black Administrators in Child Welfare, joins us to discuss child welfare in the time of coronavirus and what it means for a system to be “anti-racist.”

Guest Interview

Christina Remlin of Children’s Rights discussed the legal and political battles being waged over faith-based child welfare providers seeking to choose who they will, and will not, serve.