The Pandemic's Heartbreaking Toll on Separated Families

01/04/2021

The Pandemic’s Heartbreaking Toll on Separated Families

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

Episode Archive

05/16/2022

College Ready, Career Prepared: Foster Youth and Higher Education

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Instead of a guest interview, we’re featuring a great conversation on connecting youth in foster care to higher education and careers. This discussion was hosted by our team at Fostering Families Today, a bimonthly magazine delivered straight into the homes of foster and kinship caregivers, and was moderated by Ivory Bennet, who has been a guest on this podcast before and served as a special advisor in the creation of the recent special issue of Fostering Families Today entitled College Ready, Career Prepared: A Guide to Postsecondary Education for Youth in Foster Care.

Reading Room

The Return of Earmarks: Winners from Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice and Youth Homelessness
https://bit.ly/3yyrGnI

DCF Announces Robust Child and Family Well-Being Initiative to Better Support Families
https://bit.ly/3yBOfYz

Voice of The Foster Care Community
https://voiceoffostercare.org/

College Ready, Career Prepared: A Guide to Life After High School
https://bit.ly/3JZFWsr

05/09/2022

America’s New Juvenile Justice Leader; Reasonable Efforts in Child Welfare with Judge Len Edwards

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Judge Len Edwards joins us to talk about the “reasonable efforts” standards in child welfare policy, his book on that topic, the rise of relatives in the system, and the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Reading Room

Free Event!

Safe Space When There’s No Safe Place: Tips from Youth Who Faced Maltreatment
Register: https://bit.ly/38ZmChi

Decarceration Advocate Liz Ryan to Lead Juvenile Justice for Biden Administration
https://bit.ly/37hzj6A

U.S. Department of Justice files challenge to Alabama transgender law
https://bit.ly/3vVKkEm

Louisiana Stopped Putting 17-Year-Olds in Adult Prisons. It May Start Doing It Again.
https://bit.ly/37u85da

Texas Juvenile Justice Leader Departs with State Agency at Critical Juncture
https://bit.ly/3w5mqVG

Ignoring Reasonable Efforts: How Courts Fail to Promote Prevention
https://bit.ly/3kRhYEY

Timely Permanency and the Appellate Process
https://bit.ly/3LWGxfs

05/02/2022

Stuck Kids: How Foster Youth End Up In Hospitals for Months

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Erin Dorrien, vice president of policy for the Maryland Hospital Association and Carrie Etheridge, director of social work at Sheppard Pratt, join to talk about why foster youth are getting stuck in hospitals long after such a restrictive sitting is necessary, a problem that seems to be very acute in Maryland but we are also hearing is a major capacity symptom in other states as well.

Reading Room

Biden Proposes Major Spending Shifts to Prioritize Kin, Foster Care Prevention
https://bit.ly/3iL0U26

FMAP: Four letters that drive the biggest source of federal funding for state child welfare services
https://bit.ly/3wD1dk2

Maryland H.B. 406: Children in Out-Of-Home Placements
https://bit.ly/3P1Xp6y

Stranded in the ER: Can California Change its Treatment of Kids in Crisis?
https://bit.ly/3B41pMu

04/25/2022

Wellness In The Workforce with Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran, who both lead legal clinics at the University of Michigan Law School, join to discuss the importance of organizational support for the wellbeing of people who work in trauma-filled professions.

Reading Room

Honoring the Life of Ma’Khia Bryant: An Ombudsperson for Foster Youth in Ohio
https://bit.ly/3v153pP

Child Welfare Ideas from the Experts: Housing Help to Keep Siblings Together
https://bit.ly/3xYvxWX

Life Altered for One Texas Family Determined to Protect Transgender Child
https://bit.ly/3Ou1tfm

In California, First-Ever Task Force Envisions Reparations for Black Residents
https://bit.ly/3xz5Tvz

Violence & Vanishing Supervisors At Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall
https://bit.ly/3MiCGcq

Reports Without Surveillance: Connecticut’s New Child Welfare Experiment
https://bit.ly/3xCSjal

Measuring What Actually Matters
https://bit.ly/37VWL9w

LawLifeProf Coaching
http://lawlifeprofs.com

04/18/2022

Prioritizing Kinship Care with Kim Clifton of HALOS

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Kim Clifton of HALOS in South Carolina, joins us to talk about kinship care, what federal funding for kinship navigators could mean for her state, and hidden foster care.

Reading Room

Washington Supreme Court: ‘Meaningful Preference’ for Kin Is Required
https://bit.ly/3IcVdp1

Keeping Families Together Act
https://bit.ly/3vs1MP4

Lawmakers Pass Child Welfare Changes, Teacher Incentives, Tax Break on Tampons
https://bit.ly/3jPfxSw

Alabama Lawmakers Vote to Make Providing Gender-Affirming Care to Trans Youth a Felony
https://politi.co/3MhinMB

New Law Shields Religious Foster, Adoption Agencies from Discrimination Lawsuits
https://bit.ly/392ordz

New York State Failed to Provide Legally Required Mental Health Care to Kids, Lawsuit Claims
https://bit.ly/3JOdSav

Lawsuit Alleges New York Created ‘Extremely Harmful’ Shadow Foster Care System
https://bit.ly/3xvWoxa

January Contreras Confirmed to Biden’s Top Child Welfare Post
https://bit.ly/3JKsYh5

Hidden Foster Care: Continuing Coverage in The Imprint
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/hidden-foster-care

04/11/2022

Homeless in Foster Care: What Would Really Keep Foster Youth from Sleeping in Offices

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

This conversation includes Molly Tierney of Accenture, who worked in child welfare leadership in Illinois and in Baltimore; BJ Walker, former director of the state child welfare systems in Georgia and Illinois, and Gary Ivory, the President of Youth Advocate Programs, which for decades has been focused on serving as a community alternative to things incarceration and foster care.

03/28/2022

Raising the Age, Cleaning the Slate with Jason Smith

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Jason Smith, executive director of the Michigan Center for Youth Justice, joins to discuss how Michigan’s recent reforms of its juvenile justice system, and what’s changed since the 2020 death of Cornelius Fredericks.

Reading Room

Agreement Reached on New Jersey Plan to Exit Decades-Old Child Welfare Lawsuit
https://bit.ly/3JM2Gfg

Federal Court Approves End to Child Welfare Lawsuit in Connecticut, Citing Dramatic Improvements for Children and Families
https://bit.ly/36sQhPc

South Carolina Short Term Action Plan
https://bit.ly/3DdnJVM

New Civil Rights Organization Dedicated to Families’ Rights Launches in New York City
https://bit.ly/356ToLZ

Billionaire MacKenzie Scott Supports Child Welfare, Youth Justice Organizations
https://bit.ly/3NejTAi

Disproportionality Rates for Children of Color in Foster Care Dashboard (2010-2020)
https://bit.ly/3JMDZ2f

Michigan Raises the Age, Includes 17-Year-Olds in Juvenile Justice System
https://bit.ly/3JJPCad

Michigan Raise The Age Law on Track to Pass, Leaving Three States with Juvenile Age Under 18
https://bit.ly/36NsWHB

03/21/2022

Digital Artist Karl Wyatt on Foster Care, NFTs and The Blockchain

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Digital artist and poet Karl Wyatt joined the podcast and talked about his own experience as a youth in foster care, his more recent adventure as a foster parent, and took us into the world of NFTs and how that technology might have value in child welfare.

Reading Room

“When 911 Isn’t Your Only Option,” brought to you by Fostering Families Today
Register for free: bit.ly/ToughConversations0324

What’s in the 2022 Federal Spending Deal for Children and Families
https://bit.ly/3qcZ26w

Ottawa backs Indigenous child welfare law after Quebec court declares parts of it unconstitutional
https://bit.ly/3IpPknq

Ottawa appeals Quebec court decision finding parts of Indigenous child welfare law unconstitutional
https://bit.ly/37LKYdS

“Decolonization Is Only The Beginning”: Indigenous Child Welfare in Canada
https://bit.ly/3rNEP8x

Colorado Considers a Raise the Age Youth Justice Bill
https://bit.ly/3qlfG3W

Humanitarian Support in Ukraine Should Prioritize Children Without Stability
https://bit.ly/3qaiiBo

This is Not How You Fix Things: Testimony from A Transgender Teen in Texas
https://bit.ly/3CJ7Kyz

The Orphan’s Plea NFT Collection, by Karl Wyatt
https://opensea.io/collection/orphansplea

03/14/2022

The Indian Child Welfare Act: What’s At Stake with Brackeen v. Haaland

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Journalist Rebecca Nagle, host of the podcast This Land, joins to help us break down the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case about the Indian Child Welfare Act, and what’s riding on their decision for Native American kids and families.

Reading Room

Free Event! Better Tech, Better Outcomes: How Technology Collaboration Can Improve Foster Care
Thursday, March 17 – 11am PST, 2pm EST
Register: bit.ly/techchildwelfare

The Imprint Tracks Political Actions Against LGBTQ Youth in Texas
https://bit.ly/3tNGIBP

The Imprint Tracks Political Actions Against LGBTQ Youth in Texas
https://bit.ly/3pXHGdU

‘Delete this form and never use again.’ DSS agencies remove kids without judge’s order.
https://bit.ly/3q0L9bD

Calls to Roll Back Raise the Age Laws Reach NY Statehouse, But Find Little Traction
https://bit.ly/3hRklWB

Don’t Let Foster Care Contracts Open a Back Door to Discrimination
https://bit.ly/35MbKSB

The Imprint’s coverage of the Indian Child Welfare Act
https://imprintnews.org/topic/icwa

03/07/2022

Getting Foster Youth to Higher Education, and Helping Them Stay There

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Ivory Bennett, a playwright and educator, joins us to discuss her own pursuit of higher education after foster care, what systems should be doing differently, and we talk about our forthcoming project that she served as a guest editor for: College Ready, Career Prepared: A Guide to Postsecondary Education for Youth in Foster Care.

To pre-order the guide: https://bit.ly/caready

Want to give a copy to all the foster youth or caregivers in your life? E-mail [email protected]

Reading Room

Better Tech, Better Outcomes: How Technology Collaboration Can Improve Foster Care
Sponsored by Binti
Register for free: https://imprintnews.org/webinars

Threatened with Investigations and Foster Care, Texas Parents and Advocates Fight for Transgender Youth
https://bit.ly/3MoRTcK

Biden Blasts Texas Leaders’ ‘Cynical and Dangerous’ Targeting of Transgender Youth and Their Parents
https://bit.ly/3IIeRJC

Alabama bill seeks to ban hormone treatments for trans youth
https://bit.ly/3CjQvDt

Human Rights Campaign Condemns Arizona Lawmakers for Advancing Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills, Putting the Well-Being of Youth At Risk
https://bit.ly/3vFUIQM

Supreme Court Will Hear Indian Child Welfare Act Case
https://bit.ly/3vvea2v

Senators Baldwin, Portman Reintroduce Bipartisan Bill to Improve Access to Treatment Family Care Services for America’s Most Vulnerable Youth
https://bit.ly/3tzsRir

Read Ivory Bennett’s contributions to The Imprint: https://imprintnews.org/author/ivory-bennett

02/28/2022

Foster Care in India, Kinship in America, and More with Ian Forber-Pratt

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Ian Forber-Pratt, the director of Global Advocacy & Growth for Children’s Emergency Relief International, joins to discuss his long, international path through child welfare. Forber-Pratt was adopted from his home country of India, grew up in Missouri and has since worked on child welfare reform in both nations.

We talked about his childhood, his effort to create a foster care system in India (which previously saw abuse/neglect handled informally in the community or with big orphanages and institutions), and kinship care in America.

Reading Room

Free Online Event!
Homeless in Foster Care: What Would Really Keep Foster Youth from Sleeping in Offices
To Register: https://imprintnews.org/webinars

Pre-Order Today!
College Ready, Career Prepared: A Guide to Postsecondary Education for Youth in Foster Care
https://bit.ly/caready

Texas Governor Calls on Citizens to Report Parents of Transgender Kids for Abuse
https://nbcnews.to/3JYeN8F

5 Texas DAs Defy Gov. Greg Abbott, Won’t Treat Gender Affirming Care for Trans Youth As Child Abuse
https://bit.ly/3HkKYO0

Washington Supreme Court: ‘Meaningful Preference’ for Kin Is Required
https://bit.ly/3IcVdp1

Keyon’s Case Heads to Washington Supreme Court
https://bit.ly/3sAirg1

A New Era of Community-Based Social Work – Lessons Learned from Impossible Odds
https://bit.ly/35AcREI

Nonprofit Launched to Replicate Missouri Family-Finding Program
https://bit.ly/35xCt4O

02/21/2022

America’s Most High Profile Child Welfare Job: Jess Dannhauser’s Plan for New York City

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.

Listen

Guest Interview

Jess Dannhauser, the new commissioner of the Administration for Children’s Services, joins to discuss his early priorities, his thoughts on several parental rights issues, and more.

Reading Room

Readout of HHS Secretary Becerra’s Roundtable on Child Welfare
https://bit.ly/3p3yR1D

Path to Federal Foster Care Prevention Funds Overlooks Tribal Programs, Experts Say
https://bit.ly/3JTSySp

New legislation Would Arm Child Welfare Workers with Mace
https://bit.ly/3JTSySp

Illinois Foster Care Numbers Climb During Pandemic, Bucking National Trend
https://bit.ly/3HOho4l

Eric Adams Taps Jess Dannhauser to Lead City’s Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice System
https://bit.ly/3zes219

02/13/2022

“Decolonization Is Only The Beginning”: Indigenous Child Welfare in Canada

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Last month, the Canadian government announced a historic, $31.5 billion agreement with Indigenous people to compensate them for three decades of discriminatory treatment by the child welfare system. Chief Cadmus Delorme of Cowessess First Nation joins to discuss the long, dark history that led to this settlement.

Reading Room

During Confirmation Hearing for Top Biden Child Welfare Officials, Senators Voice Their Own Priorities
https://bit.ly/3gKAWe4

Confirmation Hearing of January Contreras and Rebecca Jones Gaston
https://bit.ly/3Ls0dYV

Consumer Finance Agency Digs Into Questionable Direct Student Loan Practices
https://bit.ly/3uNwxzc

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to Examine Colleges’ In-House Lending Practices
https://bit.ly/3rNyZUs

New York City Court Dysfunction Found to Have ‘Caused Harm to Thousands of Families’
https://bit.ly/3gGA0Y7

Historic $31.5 Billion Settlement to End First Nations Suits Against the Child Welfare System in Canada
https://bit.ly/3JjL2Po

02/07/2022

“Only Together Do We Survive”: Andrea Elliott, Author of Invisible Child

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

New York Times reporter Andrea Elliott joins to discuss her new book “Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City,” which chronicles Dasani Coates and her family in New York City. Elliott talks about her thoughts on how the social safety net, and the city’s child welfare system, did (or did not) help the family.

Reading Room

Nonprofits in New York City Struggle to Keep Child Welfare Workers
https://bit.ly/3IIM5rM

The Employment Situation – January 2022
https://bit.ly/3shJz5u

The Scope and Impact of Nonprofit Workforce Shortages
https://bit.ly/34lKwBI

Algorithmic Accountability Act of 2022 Section-by-Section
https://bit.ly/3GvmZvb

The Foster Care System Turns to Big Data: Promising or Profiling?
https://bit.ly/3GnHp9o

Girl in the Shadows: Dasani’s Home Life
https://nyti.ms/34oLuwV

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
https://bit.ly/35XENTf

01/31/2022

Child Welfare in The Early Pandemic; Remembering Edgar Cahn, Juvenile Justice Visionary

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Reading Room

Child Maltreatment 2020
https://bit.ly/3rdgets

2020 Child Maltreatment Data: A Breakdown
https://bit.ly/3u5vfiI

Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System
https://bit.ly/3udG5n0

Trends in U.S. Emergency Department Visits Related to Suspected or Confirmed Child Abuse and Neglect
https://bit.ly/3rdEuvJ

Cash Aid to Poor Mothers Increases Brain Activity in Babies, Study Finds
https://nyti.ms/3KVYGtF

Public Investments and Class Gaps in Parents’ Developmental Expenditures
https://bit.ly/3GcwqzA

Michigan Settles Lawsuit with St. Vincent Catholic Charities over Same-sex Adoptions
https://bit.ly/32I7Rwy

Jews Have Been Rejected by Adoption Agencies for Years. This Couple Hopes to Force a Change
https://bit.ly/3KVqjDd

Edgar Cahn, Pioneer of Time Banking, Passes Away
https://bit.ly/3KNvAMY

A Perfect Combination of Chutzpah and Soul
https://wapo.st/35AGINf

A Novel Approach on Litigating Racial Disparities in Juvenile Justice
https://bit.ly/3g9BWYZ

01/24/2022

Why Isn’t Community College Working for So Many Foster Youth?

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Amy Dworsky of Chapin Hall and Judy Havlicek of the University of Illinois join to discuss some dismal new findings about community college completion among youth who aged out of foster care. And, current community college student Matt Schaad talks about his own path towards a degree.

Reading Room

Sixth Child Tax Credit Payment Kept 3.7 Million Children Out of Poverty in December
https://bit.ly/3tRWcX6

New York Allows Overnight Respite Care For Children, Despite “Shadow Foster Care” Concerns
https://bit.ly/3qry8Z2

Faith-Based Movement to ‘Host’ Children of Struggling Families Hits Opposition in New York
https://bit.ly/33As1Fa

Report Finds Problems with Foster Child Program, Including Missing Protection and Safety Plans
https://bit.ly/3fQc30f

Kids in Care: Analysis of Population Trends and Management Processes in Montana’s Foster Care System
https://bit.ly/33LKSkF

Chapin Hall Study Finds Lack of Support for Foster Youth in Community College
https://bit.ly/33vUpMt

Chapin Hall Research Brief
https://bit.ly/32q84o7

01/17/2022

Due Process, Disparity, ASFA and More with Kathleen Creamer

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Kathleen Creamer of Community Legal Services of Philadelphia joins to discuss two recent court cases of note in the state, Philly’s high rate of foster care, the Adoption and Safe Families Act and more.

Reading Room

Outside Experts Give Texas Roadmap to Decrease Sky-high Rates of Foster Kids Sleeping in Offices, Hotels
https://bit.ly/3qptqez

Chapin Hall Study Finds Lack of Support for Foster Youth in Community College
https://bit.ly/33vUpMt

Looming Questions, 2022 Edition
https://bit.ly/3Gld5gh

A Court Reminds Us of the Obvious: Probable Cause Counts in Child Welfare Cases, Too
https://bit.ly/3tedeP4

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling in Child Welfare Case
https://bit.ly/3GLLsNu

He’s 400 Pounds. Pennsylvania Says That’s Good Enough Reason to Deny Custody of His Children
https://bit.ly/3GBsl94

Free event! Tough Conversations on Understanding Addictive Behaviors
Thursday, January 27, 10am PST.
Register: www.bit.ly/fftwebinar

01/10/2022

What We’re Doing, and What We Aren’t, About Youth and Family Homelessness

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Ruth White of the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare joins us to talk about the first two full years of Foster Youth to Independence, a housing voucher program designed by current and former foster youth that aims to prevent housing instability for those aging out. We also talk about her thoughts on “Housing First” as a strategy, an untapped resource for youth homelessness prevention, and her idea for a “flat rent” approach to help develop savings for former foster youth.

Reading Room

Supreme Court Set to Decide Whether to Take Up Indian Child Welfare Case
https://bit.ly/3zDm8Xi

Coverage of the Indian Child Welfare Act by The Imprint
https://imprintnews.org/topic/icwa

January Contreras Nominated for Top Child Welfare Position
https://bit.ly/334l3vG

DCFS Worker was Stabbed to Death While Responding to Report of Children in Danger in Thayer
https://bit.ly/3q5szPU

Texas v. Haaland Supreme Court Documents
https://bit.ly/32ZCPjX

Ben Carson Unveils Major Stable Housing Initiative for Former Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3odHqUS

01/03/2022

Les Gara: From Foster Care to a Run for Governor

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Former Alaska legislator Les Gara is seeking the nomination to be the Democratic candidate for governor of the Last Frontier. He joined us to talk about his time in foster care, his advocacy for foster youth and parents in the Alaska legislature and why he thinks he has a chance in a state that has historically sent Republicans and Independents to the governor’s mansion.

Reading Room

Los Angeles County Child Welfare Director Bobby Cagle Suddenly Steps Down
https://bit.ly/3DPFHgw

Eric Adams Taps Jess Dannhauser to Lead City’s Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice Systems
https://bit.ly/3zes219

Legal Settlement: New York Foster Parents Poised for Big Increase in Support Payments
https://bit.ly/3JgCgSW

Kentucky Social Workers Get 10% Pay Hike Amid Job Exodus
https://bit.ly/3pkS3Z8

These foster youth say the state of Alaska pocketed thousands of dollars that belonged to them.
https://bit.ly/3vHyjPX

A Mother Needed Welfare. Instead, the State Used Welfare Funds to Take Her Son.
https://bit.ly/3FNQIQf

States send kids to foster care and their parents the bill — often one too big to pay
https://n.pr/3zgqsvu

Judge Curbs Alaska’s Practice of Claiming Foster Youths’ Federal Benefits
https://bit.ly/3EMrbpD

A Seattle Agency Digs Deep into Unanswered Questions About Past Adoption Practices, and its Obligations to Families
https://bit.ly/30I2KLO

12/26/2021

The Best of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, 2021 Edition

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Guests on this episode include:

Melissa Thompson, Melanie Jordan and Cam Lundstrom of the Office of Respondent Parent Counsel in Colorado
Christopher Scott and Lino Peña-Martinez of Sun Scholars
Gary Ivory, president of Youth Advocate Programs
Former juvenile judge Karen Baynes-Dunning
Michelle Caldeira, senior vice president of College Bound Dorchester
Dorothy Roberts, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Race, Science & Society
Kevin Skidmore, owner of Four Fourty Trucking in Georgia
Dr. Jay Miller, dean of the University of Kentucky School of Social Work
Adoption expert April Dinwoodie
Beverly Jones, child operating officer for Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois
Takkeem Morgan, founder of Foster Together Indiana
Josh Gupta-Kagan, professor, University of South Carolina School of Law
Dr. Bruce Perry, founder and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy
Rae Baker, director of the Minnesota Prison Doula Project
Kris Henning, professor, Georgetown Law
Rebecca Nagle, host of the award-winning This Land podcast
Corey Best, consultant, Mining for Gold
Irene Clements, former president, National Foster Parent Association
Lisa Thurau, founder, Strategies for Youth

12/20/2021

How Foster Youth Navigate the Holidays

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Reading Room

The Holidays Aren’t Always a Celebration. It’s Much More Complicated for Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3nDIsf1

Holiday Lessons from a Former Foster Youth: Families Don’t Have to Be Bound by Blood
https://bit.ly/3sp9TMv

For This Foster Youth, Christmas Was Always Conflicting
https://bit.ly/3skxyO5

Be Mindful of Foster Youths’ Struggles with Holidays
https://bit.ly/3qen9B1

12/13/2021

“Kids Are Not a Priority Until They’re a Problem”

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Lisa Thurau, the head of Strategies for Youth, joins us to talk about the true front door of the juvenile justice system: police encounters with youth. We talked about the origins of her organization, how it trains law enforcement to think differently about engaging young people, and what she thinks will come of the current moment of reckoning around police and civil rights.

Reading Room

Donate to Fostering Media Connections during the month of December and your contribution will be fully matched! Help support our independent coverage of child welfare, youth justice and youth homelessness today at www.imprintnews.org/donate.

Youth Voices Contest, Free Registration
www.YouthMatterSFY.org

Los Angeles Leaders Aim to Prevent “Housing Cliff” for 1,100 Aging Out of Foster Care Dec. 31
https://bit.ly/3owBaKA

The New Year’s Cliff for California Foster Care Requires a Community Solution
https://bit.ly/3oi7xN0

A Pennsylvania Case Illustrates Again Why, for Children, “Best Interests of The Child” Is Among the Most Dangerous Phrases in the “Child Welfare” Lexicon
https://bit.ly/3s0fWXx

Hyun Sook Han, Korean Social Worker and Adoption Pioneer, Dies at 83
https://nyti.ms/3rW1Gze

Make Training Police on Juvenile Justice, Youth Interaction a National Priority
https://bit.ly/3IFnzbY

Hope Springs Infernal for Better Policing
https://bit.ly/3DIleJG

12/06/2021

Foster Care During the Early Pandemic; A New Response to Mental Illness in Los Angeles

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.”

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Aurelle Amram joins us to discuss a new approach Los Angeles is taking to gear services to people with serious mental illness around outcomes-based contracting, a plan that is expected to include a lot of focus on youth involved in foster care and/or the juvenile justice system.

Reading Room

Youth Voices Contest, Free Registration
www.YouthMatterSFY.org

Navigating the Holidays with Fostering Families Today
www.bit.ly/FFTholidays

Federal Report: Foster Care, Adoptions Dropped in 2020
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/federal-report-foster-care-adoptions-dropped-2020/60489

National Foster Care Population Down 4% Amid Pandemic
https://imprintnews.org/subscriber-content/national-foster-care-population-down-amid-pandemic/60421

Biden Nominates Oregon Leader, and Former Foster Youth, for a Top Child Welfare Post
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/biden-nominates-oregon-director-former-foster-youth-top-child-welfare-post/60479

“They Took Us Away From Each Other”: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System
https://www.propublica.org/article/they-took-us-away-from-each-other-lost-inside-americas-shadow-foster-system

Hidden Foster Care: A Continuing Series by The Imprint
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/hidden-foster-care

11/29/2021

Healers in the System: From the Health Field to Child Welfare Leadership

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Molly Tierney, Accenture
Terry Stigdon, Indiana Department of Child Services
Deborah Shropshire, Oklahoma Department of Human Services
Charlene Wong, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services

11/22/2021

Bridge to Adulthood: A Discussion on California’s Extended Foster Care System

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Guests for this episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast include:

Janay Eustace, Executive Director, California Youth Connection
Jordan Sosa, Statewide Legislative and Policy Manager, California Youth Connection
Amy Lemley, Executive Director, John Burton Advocates for Youth
Mark Courtney, Samuel Deutsch Professor, University of Chicago

Reading Room

Fostering Adults: The State of Care
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/fostering-adults-state-extended-care

Behind the Stats: Mark Courtney on His Newest Study on Transition-Age Foster Youth in California
https://imprintnews.org/analysis/behind-the-stats-mark-courtney-on-his-newest-study-on-transition-age-foster-youth-in-california/31833

Report: Extended Foster Care in California Boosts Wealth, Stability
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/report-extended-care-foster-care-in-california-boosts-wealth-stability/33508

Study Finds Foster Youth Fare Better When They Receive Care Until 21
https://imprintnews.org/news-2/study-finds-foster-youth-fare-better-receive-care-21/18007

11/15/2021

What We’ve Learned About Child Tax Credits, and the Future of Fostering with Irene Clements

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Irene Clements, the retiring head of the National Foster Parent Association, talks about her own massive family, her concerns with the recent rise of “foster-to-adopt,” the continuing impact of the coronavirus on foster parents, and the future of fostering in America.

Reading Room

Receipt and Usage of Child Tax Credit Payments Among Low-Income Families: What We Know
https://bit.ly/3nn8C5X

As Coronavirus Shutdowns Grow, Resource Families Left with Little Guidance
https://bit.ly/30yHBDE

We Have to Stop Losing Half of Foster Parents in the First Year
https://bit.ly/3CfWVSw

11/08/2021

Rethinking ASFA, The Broward County Experiment and More with Corey Best

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

We continue our conversation with Corey Best of Mining for Gold. In part two of this interview we talk about an experiment with changing the way maltreatment reports are handled in Broward County, Florida, his fears over racial disparity with the Family First Prevention Services Act, and more.

Reading Room

Historic Bill Would Remove Federal Requirement to Terminate Parental Rights in Some Cases
https://bit.ly/3bPtNXq

Feds Offer More Medicaid Support for New Congregate Model
https://bit.ly/3BAb5Oe

Team Decision Making May Empower Child Welfare Decision Making and Improve Outcomes for Families
https://bit.ly/3BYwMaY

A Complete Guide to The Family First Act
https://bit.ly/2IoWNue

Sponsor of today’s episode:

Accenture Child Welfare Services: https://accntu.re/3CUV3j8

Institute for Family: Subscribe to the Institute’s new podcast series, Seen and Heard. https://podcasts.instituteforfamily.org/seen-and-heard/

11/01/2021

Child Safety Reporting, Parental Rights and More with Corey Best

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Corey Best of Mining for Gold joins us to discuss his own experience losing parental rights as a young father, mandatory reporting and what we could differently with information that comes in from the child protection hotline.

Reading Room

Youth Younger Than 18 Prosecuted in Criminal Court: National Estimate, 2019 Cases
https://bit.ly/3mwcMrH

Senate Bill May Require Legal Counsel for Parents, Children in Child Welfare Cases
https://bit.ly/3g9GyiH

Continued State Flexibility To Assist Older Foster Youth Act
https://bit.ly/3nBUbti

End Aging Out of Foster Care
https://bit.ly/2ZwvExn

How Incarcerated Parents Are Losing Their Children Forever
https://bit.ly/3Cy8up7

Taking on Racial Bias in Child Welfare
https://bit.ly/3mrMOFr

10/25/2021

Texas’ Wild Year in Child Welfare Legislation

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Kate Murphy of Texans Care for Children joins us to break down a very eventful year in child welfare legislation and policy shifts in the Lone Star State, including the state’s plans around the Family First Act, a controversial change to its definition of neglect, legal protection for parents, and how mental health has been a major driver of the state’s continuing crisis on placements for older foster youth.

Reading Room

America’s ‘Troubled Teen Industry’ Needs Reform So Kids Can Avoid the Abuse I Endured
https://wapo.st/3maybGI

Lawmakers Issue Warning to Troubled Teen Industry: Congress Will Act
https://bit.ly/3vz6Vom

Behavior Modification: Abuse Alleged
https://bit.ly/3BmT8md

Washington Targets Behavior Modification Programs
https://bit.ly/2ZuqKRU

Residential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing
https://bit.ly/2ZjWhWd

First Kinship Support Model Gains Approval by Family First Clearinghouse
https://bit.ly/3vtZZsl

State of Missouri and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma vs. Honorable Scott S. Sifferman
https://bit.ly/3vEmV8F

Texas Bills Aim to Boost Rights for Parents Accused of Mistreating Kids
https://bit.ly/3wje633

10/18/2021

Raising Up The Stories of Families in Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Matt Anderson, who leads the Institute for Family at the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, joins to discuss his new mission to develop media projects that tell the stories of youth and families who experience the child welfare system.

Reading Room

Next Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXh

Redefinition of Child Amendment Act of 2021
https://bit.ly/30uUrCx

Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.
https://bit.ly/3BRt9nT

The Institute for Family
https://instituteforfamily.org/

Seen and Heard Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seen-and-heard/id1588126658

Documentary: From Place to Place
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98UIV-gsE2

10/11/2021

Families, Kids and Tribes: Rebecca Nagle on The Indian Child Welfare Act

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed in 1978 at a time when one-third of Native American children were separated from their families. Journalist Rebecca Nagle, host of This Land, joins us to discuss the podcast’s new season about a major court case that could determine the future of ICWA.

Reading Room

Family of Foster Youth Slain by Staff at For-Profit Group Home Files $50 Million Federal Lawsuit
https://bit.ly/3DmbW6a

Better Data and Guidance Could Help States Reinvest Adoption Savings and Improve Federal Oversight
https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-6.pdf

Kinship Caregivers in D.C. Say Child Welfare Agency Owes Foster Payments
https://bit.ly/3Da1uif

California Foster Youth Must Make UBI Payments Work Along With Other Public Assistance
https://bit.ly/3Ahc3ht

This Land, Season 2
https://crooked.com/podcast-series/this-land/

The Nation’s First Family Separation Policy
https://bit.ly/3AXykSt

Indian Child Welfare Act Under Fire: Federal Judge Strikes Down 40-Year-Old Law, Appeals Could Lead to Supreme Court
https://bit.ly/3Dr5Xgv

Federal Court Ruling on Indian Child Welfare Act Goes in Several Directions
https://bit.ly/3mvzWMX

Minneapolis Lawyers Rely on ‘Gold Standard’ Law to Keep Native American Families Together
https://bit.ly/2QwINme

10/04/2021

Foster Care Prevention & Group Care Limits: The Family First Act Takes Effect

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Zach Laris, director of federal advocacy and child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics, joins us for a deep dive on the Family First Prevention Services Act, which fully took effect in all states last week.

Reading Room

Next Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXh

Several States Issue Second Round of Foster Youth Pandemic Assistance
https://bit.ly/3kPEKxF

Indigenous children in Canada slated to receive billions in compensation after court rejects Trudeau appeal
https://wapo.st/2YbOXvX

Bill To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States
https://bit.ly/3A4HADt

Bureau of Indian Affairs Listening Sessions Registration
https://on.doi.gov/3mgFUlb

Former state Rep. Les Gara becomes fourth candidate for Alaska’s governor
https://bit.ly/3l1uYbD

California Rep. Karen Bass Joins Los Angeles Mayoral Race
https://bit.ly/3EXRDhc

09/27/2021

The Criminalization of Black Youth, with Kris Henning

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Georgetown Law professor Kris Henning has been a public defender for youth in Washington, D.C. for more than two decades, and has had exactly four white clients in that time. Henning joins us to discuss her experience representing youth, and her new book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.

Reading Room

Advocacy Groups Launch Nationwide Campaign to End Juvenile Court Fines and Fees|
https://bit.ly/3u7PVVt

Debt Free Justice Campaign
https://debtfreejustice.org/

Nebraska Inspector General Recommends Ending Foster Care Contract with Saint Francis
https://bit.ly/3uajUfu

Next Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXh

Youth Voice Webinar: What Did Your Mental Health Do for You (or to You)?
Thursday, Oct. 7 10amP/1pmE
Register for free! Can’t make it? Register and we’ll send you a recording!
https://imprintnews.org/webinars

09/19/2021

Chicago’s Unprecedented Juvenile Detention Experiment

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

In the early 2010s, Chicago’s juvenile detention center got a much-needed physical overhaul. Its leadership at the time used the opportunity to set up a gold-standard trial to test a new approach to engaging the youth inside. Juvenile detention expert David Roush joins us to talk about what they found and what’s happened since.

Juvenile justice expert David Roush on juvenile detention reform.

Reading Room

Healers in The System: From the Health Field to Child Welfare Leadership
Register for free! Tomorrow, Sept. 21, 4pm EST
(can’t make it? Sign up and receive the recording!)
https://imprintnews.org/webinars

Virtual Town Hall on Pandemic Assistance for Foster Youth
TODAY at 4pm EST
https://thinkofus.typeform.com/to/hUC75vWw

More Texas Foster Youth Are Sleeping in State Offices Than at Any Other Point in Recent Years
https://bit.ly/3hIQL5R

Texas Foster Care Children Exposed to Sexual Abuse, Given Wrong Medication and Neglected in Unlicensed Placements, New Report Says
https://bit.ly/39jqc2L

Los Angeles County Supervisors Approve Therapeutic Approaches to Youth Detention
https://bit.ly/3AiTHgT

State Agency Declares L.A.’s Juvenile Halls ‘Unsuitable for Confinement of Minors’
https://bit.ly/3CoEcVd

Foster Youth Advocate Joins Biden Administration’s Child Welfare Agency Leadership
https://bit.ly/39c0DR7

Child Welfare Policymakers Need to Learn User Centered Design
https://bit.ly/3kn5mG7

Young Adult Consultant and Youth Support Leads Application
www.bit.ly/ICFYAC2021

09/13/2021

A New Law to Support Mothers-to-Be in Prison

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Rae Baker of the Minnesota Prison Doula Project joins to discuss her organization’s efforts to help expecting moms in prison as they prepare for birth, and a precedent-setting state law the project successfully pushed for that will offer a chance for these moms to stay with their newborns outside of the prison walls.

Reading Room

Healers in the System: From The Health Field to Child Welfare Leadership
Register for FREE!
https://imprintnews.org/webinars

Pandemic Relief Funds for California Foster Youth Slow to Reach Needy Young Adults as Deadline Approaches
https://imprintnews.org/foster-care/pandemic-relief-funds-for-california-foster-youth-slow-to-reach-needy-young-adults-as-deadline-approaches/58376

Youth Voice: As Deadline for Federal Pandemic Relief Looms, Fosters Are Being Failed Yet Again
https://imprintnews.org/youth-voice/as-deadline-for-federal-pandemic-relief-looms-fosters-are-being-failed/58601

Family First Clearinghouse Approves Two New Services, Will Reconsider Ohio Kinship Navigator
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/family-first-clearinghouse-approves-two-new-services/58249

Clearinghouse Abruptly Downgrades Family Centered Treatment
https://imprintnews.org/foster-care/clearinghouse-abruptly-downgrades-family-centered-treatment/52087

Judges Toss Class Actions Against Ohio, West Virginia
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/judges-toss-class-actions-against-ohio-west-virginia/57424

Both Sides Ask Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Indian Child Welfare Act
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/supreme-court-asked-decide-fate-indian-child-welfare-act/58540

Minneapolis Lawyers Rely on ‘Gold Standard’ Law to Keep Native American Families Together
https://imprintnews.org/law-policy/minneapolis-lawyers-rely-on-gold-standard-law-to-keep-native-american-families-together/54527

This Land, Season 2
https://crooked.com/podcast/this-land-season-2-coming-august-23rd/

Reform Council Recommends Ending Policy of Automatically Charging Some Youth as Adults
https://www.marylandmatters.org/2021/09/09/reform-council-recommends-ending-policy-of-automatically-charging-some-youth-as-adults/

08/16/2021

Changing the Narrative on Fighting Poverty with Michael Tubbs

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton and new senior fellow at the Rosenberg Foundation, joins us to discuss universal basic income, how being mayor shaped his views on child welfare and juvenile justice, shifting the narrative on fighting poverty, and more.

Reading Room

FREE EVENT!
The Bridge to Adulthood: A Discussion on California Extended Foster Care System
Register: https://bit.ly/cafostercare

Senators Propose Medicaid Exception for Congregate Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3s9PoRJ

New Law Gives Low-Income Minnesotans Access to Attorneys in Child Welfare Cases
https://bit.ly/3rTl8KL

Texas Lawmaker Commits to Restricting and Tracking Hidden Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3yRUTqO

Hidden Foster Care: A Series by The Imprint
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/hidden-foster-care

08/09/2021

Supports, Not Just Services: Talking Child Welfare Response with Chapin Hall’s Bryan Samuels

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall, joins us to discuss the Family First Act, race and poverty, congregate care and his organization’s new policy brief on including more concrete and economic supports in child welfare.

Reading Room

Judges Toss Class Actions Against Ohio, West Virginia
https://bit.ly/3ii6lpS

Nearly Half of Children Experience CPS Investigations For Abuse And Neglect Before 18, New Estimates For Large Counties Show
https://bit.ly/2TSQzsj

Contact with Child Protective Services Is Pervasive but Unequally Distributed by Race and Ethnicity in Large US Counties
https://bit.ly/3A12W4O

NC County Illegally Removed Kids from Homes
https://bit.ly/3ilWMq8

Key Supervisor Pleads guilty in DSS Family Separation Scheme
https://bit.ly/3ynnxQx

Addressing Economic Hardship Key to Preventing Child Welfare System Involvement
https://bit.ly/3ighQgo

08/01/2021

No Strings Attached: California’s Guaranteed Income for Former Foster Youth

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Andrea Amavisca, a legislative aide to State Sen. Dave Cortese, joins to talk about how the plan became law. Veronica Vieyra, who participated in a smaller test of guaranteed income in Santa Clara County, joins us to reflect on the impact that help has had on her life this year.

Reading Room

Foster Youth Congressional Interns Present Policy Fixes to U.S. Legislators
https://bit.ly/3zJtLdD

Lawmakers Back Funding for Foster Sibling Pilot Programs
https://bit.ly/3lr4DEu

New Study Suggests Ending Group Care for Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3rsVqMU

H.R.4502 – Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022
https://bit.ly/3rMJ9mS

California Bans Out-of-State Treatment Programs After Reporters Investigate Abuse
https://bit.ly/3BkKm9u

Far from Home | Far from Safe
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/far-from-home

California Approves First State-Guaranteed Income For Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3xi84Qv

California County Tests Universal Basic Income to Support Youth After Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3dfmAB2

Help Us Close the Distance!

The past two years have been a time of painful isolation and uncertainty, especially for America’s most vulnerable families and children. There has never been a more important time for the kind of work that Fostering Media Connections does: Telling the stories that bring all of us together, closing the distance that kept us apart.

Now through Aug. 31, donations to The Imprint will be matched.

Your donations help us to keep you informed with nuanced stories you won’t find anywhere else — and produce podcast episodes like this! Double your donation today at www.imprintnews.org/donate.

07/25/2021

What Happened to You? Talking Child and Family Trauma with Bruce Perry

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Dr. Bruce Perry is a psychiatrist who heads the Neurosequential Network and is the founder or and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy. He is also adjunct professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Reading Room

EVENT: What Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Wish Youth Knew
Free Registration Link
https://bit.ly/2Ut0wwg

The ‘20s and Youth Services: A Guess at What Comes Next
https://bit.ly/3j2afTd

What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing
https://bit.ly/3ePBOh9

Timing of Early-Life Stress and the Development of Brain-Related Capacities
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6691036/

07/18/2021

Are There Way More Kids in Foster Care Than We Think?

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Josh Gupta-Kagan of the University of South Carolina School of Law joins to discuss “hidden foster care,” the practice of informally moving children out of their homes without the involvement of the courts. Gupta-Kagan’s research on this practice suggests that potentially hundreds of thousands more kids enter foster care every year than we think.

New York Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Kin Caregivers are Denied Rights by Foster Care System

Reading Room

EVENT: What Youth Wish Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Knew
Thursday, July 22 10am PST
https://bit.ly/July22FFT

EVENT: What Foster, Adoptive & Kinship Parents Wish Youth Knew
Thursday, July 29 10am PST
https://bit.ly/July29YV

Addressing Economic Hardship Key to Preventing Child Welfare System Involvement
https://bit.ly/3ighQgo

Former Children’s Bureau Head To Work on Child Welfare ‘Replacement’
https://bit.ly/36v36oo

University of California Foster Students Organize to Demand Better Treatment on Campus
https://bit.ly/36BDDd3

Los Angeles Leaders Vote to Try “Colorblind” Foster Care Decisions
https://bit.ly/3wzc0vG

‘New Government Benefit’ Providing Cell Phones to California Foster Youth Made Permanent
https://bit.ly/3hNKtT7

America’s Hidden Foster Care System
https://stanford.io/3xPkX5y

Hidden Foster Care: A Collection of The Imprint’s Coverage
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/hidden-foster-care

07/12/2021

LGBTQ Youth in Foster Care, Baby Bonds, and Child Welfare 101 with Mary Bissell

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Mary Bissell of ChildFocus joins us for our first edition of Alphabet Soup: A Simple Serving of Complex Concepts in Child Welfare. First up: FMAP!

Reading Room

LGBTQ Youth Make Up One Third of Foster Care, But Are Often Poorly Served
https://bit.ly/3qQVXYV

LGBTQ Foster Youth in New York City: Strong in Numbers, Struggling in Care
https://bit.ly/3q0aJvI

Illinois Enhancing Support for LGBTQ Youth
https://bit.ly/3r1lChC

California’s Spending Plan Invests in Families and Children Still Reeling From the Pandemic
https://bit.ly/3qMtzao

Connecticut Becomes First State in Nation for Baby Bonds
https://bit.ly/3k4I7AX

One-time Pandemic Cash Assistance Now Available to Foster Youth in New York
https://bit.ly/2Vrn4hF

07/04/2021

Poverty Reduction? Only if You File Taxes

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

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.

Reading Room

Reading Room
Envisioning a Different Future for Child Welfare
https://bit.ly/3w8P2eL

Changing the Child Welfare System Starts With Reframing Our View of Families
https://bit.ly/3hihLYU

Los Angeles Seeks to Delay Sweeping Juvenile Justice Reform Plan
https://bit.ly/3w1x3qw

Advocates Tout Data Showing Raise the Age Laws Haven’t Overwhelmed States’ Juvenile Facilities
https://bit.ly/3w7O5mI

IRS Filing Portal for Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-update-portal

06/27/2021

A Better Approach on Foster Family Recruitment and Retention with Takkeem Morgan

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Takkeem Morgan of Foster Together Indiana joins us to talk about how his own experience with foster care and his time embedded with state government shaped his new venture.

Reading Room

California’s Foster Youth UBI Bill Moves Forward, Bolstered By Promising Results from Similar Local Program
https://bit.ly/3vMKWc6

California County Tests Universal Basic Income to Support Youth After Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3dfmAB2

California Will Offer Pandemic Relief Cash to Young People Currently or Recently in Extended Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3xEuJHa

IRS Filing Portal for Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/child-tax-credit-update-portal

Child Poverty Increased Nationally During COVID, Especially Among Latino and Black Children
https://bit.ly/3jd6coF

US Boarding Schools to Be Investigated
https://bit.ly/2U5SysM

Ohio GOP Senate Change To Budget Could Endanger Program For At-Risk Youth
https://bit.ly/3vVBy5P

Moving Upstream on Mental Health
https://bit.ly/2ObtLAV

Washington Will End Foster Youth Placement in Hotels, Offices and Cars
https://bit.ly/3qilGt4

06/20/2021

Freedom to Discriminate: Breaking Down Fulton v. City of Philadelphia

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Christina Remlin, the lead counsel for Children’s Rights, help us break down the decision in the recent Supreme Court case over the right of faith-based child welfare providers to choose who they will work with based on religious beliefs.

Reading Room

A Better Future for Minnesota Families: How to Improve Support for Parents in Crisis and Youth in Foster Care
www.bit.ly/MNFamilies

New York Legislature Passes Bill Allowing Parent-Child Contact After Termination of Rights
https://bit.ly/3czeRxl

Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement
https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp/

Biennial Juvenile Incarceration Census Data Released
https://bit.ly/3q7ltsI

Early Child Welfare Legal Help Comes Back to The City That Invented It
https://bit.ly/3iJKkB2

Supreme Court Says Philadelphia Violated Catholic Child Welfare Group’s First Amendment Rights
https://bit.ly/3iLjit7

06/13/2021

In Pursuit of Non-reformist Reforms with David Kelly

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

David Kelly, a former official in the Children’s Bureau during the Obama and Trump administrations, joins to talk about his federal career and what he sees on the horizon for child welfare.

Reading Room

Families in Limbo: Coronavirus Hobbles Reunifications from Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3vgscRO

AP Analysis: COVID Prolonged Foster Care Stays for Thousands
https://bit.ly/3xiqT6y

Senate Bill May Require Legal Counsel for Parents, Children in Child Welfare Cases
https://bit.ly/3g9GyiH

Federal Guidance on Foster Youth Pandemic Relief: A Breakdown
https://bit.ly/3lj19lL

“Check for Us” National Campaign
www.checkforus.org

A Teenager Didn’t Do Her Online Schoolwork. So a Judge Sent Her to Juvenile Detention.
https://bit.ly/3zlYyOj

After Grace’s Story, Michigan Will Study Its Juvenile Justice System
https://bit.ly/2ThbX9T

Attorney David Kelly Leaves the Children’s Bureau
https://bit.ly/3vvREUx

06/06/2021

Transformation Points: Redesigning Child Welfare to Help Youth and Families Thrive

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

We were joined for this discussion by Jerry Milner, former head of the US Children’s Bureau; Kelley Fong, a researcher who has done some amazing work on abuse and neglect reporting; Brian Blalock, head of New Mexico’s child welfare system; Sixto Cancel, the founder of the nonprofit Think of Us; and Barret Johnson of the child welfare tech company Binti, who discussed how improved technological infrastructure can help usher in such endeavors.

05/30/2021

Confronting Racism in Child Welfare Organizations

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Beverly Jones, child operating officer for Lutheran Child and Family Services, joins us to talk about her organization’s efforts to identify massive racial disparities in the outcomes of the kids it serves, and what Lutheran did to change that trajectory.

Reading Room

The Corey Glassman Story

Part I: Redemption Delayed
https://bit.ly/3yrikrf

Part II: Earning Freedom
https://bit.ly/2SAhEzb

05/23/2021

Building a Voice for System-Involved Youth with Alain Datcher

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Alain Datcher, executive director of the new Los Angeles Youth Commission, joins us to talk about how the new body will be put together and what guarantees are in place to make sure it has real power to influence the discussion on child welfare and juvenile justice policy.

Reading Room

Minneapolis Lawyers Rely on ‘Gold Standard’ Law to Keep Native American Families Together
https://bit.ly/2QwINme

Were You Ever in Foster Care? Here’s How to Find Out if the Government Took Your Money
https://bit.ly/2RxufmX

Class-Action Lawsuit in Alabama Alleges Mistreatment of Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3ytvfch

Clearinghouse OKs Five More Programs for Family First Act
https://bit.ly/3tZQu1R

Los Angeles Youth Commission Website
https://youthcommission.lacounty.gov/

05/16/2021

Raising the Floor on Prosecuting Youth

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Ricky Watson, executive director of the National Juvenile Justice Network, joins us to discuss local and national efforts to establish a minimum age for arresting and processing youth.

Reading Room

AP: N.C. County Illegally Removed Kids from Homes
https://bit.ly/3bNi5xd

Verdict: Federal jury awards millions to daughter, father separated by Cherokee County DSS
https://bit.ly/2RmrkgG

Tax Incentive to Hire Foster Youth Back in Congress
https://bit.ly/3faVuLI

We Asked the New York City Mayoral Candidates About the High-Stakes Child Welfare System. Here’s What They Said.
https://bit.ly/NYCchildwelfare

Still Bridging the Opportunity Divide for Low-Income Youth: Year Up’s Longer-Term Impacts
https://bit.ly/33L4QIT

Juvenile Arrests in 2019 Continued Long Downward Trend
https://bit.ly/3hqd6pD

Raising Our Standards by Raising the Minimum Age
https://bit.ly/3uRYR0K

05/09/2021

Money and Maltreatment

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Lindsey Bullinger of Georgia Tech University joins us for a conversation about how changes in the minimum wage can impact abuse and neglect, how to research the impact of the new child allowance, and what she and colleagues found when they matched up matched up child welfare data with cell phone usage during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Reading Room

Resuming Evictions Could Land Kids in Foster Care, Experts Say
https://bit.ly/3b8b89y

Evictions and Neighborhood Child Maltreatment Reports
https://bit.ly/3f1rulj

New York City Lawmakers, Moms Push Sweeping Changes to Child Maltreatment Reporting System
https://bit.ly/33qpldD

New Research Links Increased Minimum Wage to Reduced Child Maltreatment
https://bit.ly/2RvAqr7

COVID-19 and Alleged Child Maltreatment
https://bit.ly/3vNdCC7

05/02/2021

Post-Adoption America with April Dinwoodie

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

April Dinwoodie joins us to discuss what we’ve learned (and what we haven’t) when it comes to supporting adoptions and guardianships in America, and what she thinks of the recent calls to repeal or revisit federal adoption legislation.

Reading Room

‘We Should Not Be Here Today’: Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, Mourned, Celebrated at Her Funeral
https://bit.ly/2QDY70u

Remembering KCUR Reporter Aviva Okeson-Haberman
https://n.pr/3h1Xzwd

Foster Care Agencies Take Thousands of Dollars Owed To Kids Most Children Have No Idea
https://bit.ly/3vHyjPX

Coming Soon to Congress: Discussion on Child Support Clawback
https://bit.ly/3oJjvgH

New Study Confirms High Prevalence of Investigations, Loss of Parental Rights
https://bit.ly/32B1GXl

Five Early-Career Researchers Selected for the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2026
https://bit.ly/338y9Vo

North Carolina D.A. Erases Criminal Records for Former Juvenile Offenders
https://bit.ly/3dRhBY5

Former Foster Youth’s Bill Signed: At Every Washington State School, a Foster Care Coordinator
https://bit.ly/3vyBFEE

Profiles in Permanency
https://bit.ly/3xRkgJs

04/25/2021

Child Welfare Challenges in The Sunshine State

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Robert Latham of the University of Miami’s Children and Youth Law Clinic joins us to discuss several issues at play in Florida, one of America’s largest and most privatized child welfare systems. We talked about Latham’s unprecedented data project tracking the movement of foster youth in the state, a law that often leads to system-involved youth being confined in mental health facilities, and the state’s child welfare response to COVID-19.

Reading Room

Reading Room

Police Killing of Foster Child Ma’Khia Bryant in Ohio Wrenches Youth, Allies
https://bit.ly/3vdTusm

On Juvenile LWOP, Supreme Court Answers One Question and Creates Another
https://bit.ly/3dP3GSo

Ohio Senate Seeks Ban on Life Without Parole for Juveniles
https://bit.ly/3dNCV0v

Ben Carson Unveils Major Stable Housing Initiative for Former Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3odHqUS

Supporting Foster Youth on College Campuses
https://bit.ly/2PaX07q

04/18/2021

COVID-19’s Impact on The Frontlines of Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Sixto Cancel of Think of Us joins us to discuss what’s going on with pandemic assistance to current and former foster youth. Dr. Jay Miller, dean of the University of Kentucky School of Social Work, joins us to discuss what his research shows about how COVID-19 has specifically impacted child welfare social workers and foster parents.

Reading Room

Biden’s Child Welfare Chief Meets Foster Youth, Calling for Cash Grants and Promising to Address Systemic Racism
https://bit.ly/3mUmJOg

Federal Guidance on Foster Youth Pandemic Relief: A Breakdown
https://bit.ly/3lj19lL

Texas House Moves Bill Strengthening Adoptee Rights to Original Birth Certificate
https://bit.ly/3df3wU8

Far from Home | Far from Safe
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/far-from-home

Study Zeros in on Self-Care During COVID-19
https://bit.ly/3n1UHjJ

04/15/2021

Big Questions for Child Welfare: Foster Care, Einstein, and Insanity

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

On Child Welfare Tech, Change is Scary But Necessary

04/11/2021

Is The Indian Child Welfare Act Headed Back to the Supreme Court?

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Deputy Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation, joins us to discuss the massive and complicated federal opinion on the Indian Child Welfare Act, and its likely move to the Supreme Court. And Fostering Media Connections Founder Daniel Heimpel joins us for a “farewell” lookback on the media platform he created.

Reading Room

Arizona Launches Portal to Connect Former Foster Youth with Pandemic Relief
https://bit.ly/2Q4BYrm

California Weighs Plan to Shrink Probation Supervision Terms for Youth
https://bit.ly/3fQ0qHG

Parent-empowerment Group Rise Names New Leadership Duo
https://bit.ly/322rNpU

Federal Court Ruling on Indian Child Welfare Act Goes in Several Directions
https://bit.ly/3mvzWMX

Extending Foster Care Past Age 18
https://bit.ly/3mzDOfW

UPCOMING EVENTS

Unjust Roadblocks: How the Juvenile System Makes It Hard to Succeed
April 13 / 1pm P/ 4pm E
https://bit.ly/3u0V9kJ

Transformation Points: Redesigning Child Welfare to Help Youth and Families Thrive
April 29 / 11am P / 2pm E
https://imprintnews.org/webinars

04/04/2021

10,000 Adoptions Later: Wendy’s Wonderful Kids

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Rita Soronen, CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, joins to discuss the first 10,000 adoptions accomplished under the organization’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program, and what’s next for expansion of the program.

Reading Room

Color-Blind Ambition
https://bit.ly/3ufhJWU

Kentucky’s Budget Shrunk. These Informal Foster Parents Were Left with Nothing.
https://bit.ly/39IDW7X

Pork Is Back
https://bit.ly/2PRK46M

Inside the Expanding Universe of Wendy’s Wonderful Kids
https://bit.ly/2PX5dfv

03/29/2021

From Transferred Youth to Long-Haul Trucker

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Kevin Skidmore, owner of Four Fourty Trucking in Georgia, joins to discuss his journey from a youth transferred into adult jail to a businessman helping young adults come back home from incarceration.

Reading Room

Raise the Age: Where Legislation Stands in The Final Three States
https://bit.ly/39gQ4gc

Campaign Begins to Repeal Major Federal Child Welfare Law
https://bit.ly/3sihE3X

Nebraska’s Foster Care Prevention Plan Approved by Feds
https://bit.ly/314JULD

Foster Kinship Navigator Program: A Two Study Mixed-Method Evaluation Project
https://bit.ly/31r1hGB

03/25/2021

Big Questions for Child Welfare: How Do We Get Upstream?

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?

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

03/22/2021

“That There Isn’t a System At All”… Dorothy Roberts on Abolition in Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Dorothy Roberts, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Race, Science & Society, wrote Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare two decades ago. At the time, she proposed abolishing the field as we know it, to be replaced by an entirely new system.

Today, she now longer believes that a system can work at all in a way that ensures justice for poor or Black families in America. She joins us to talk about the abolition movement in child welfare and the “non-reformist reforms” that she thinks can move the country in that direction.

Reading Room

Washington Supreme Court Raises Age of Sentencing Limits for Teenagers
https://bit.ly/2NmSAJR

Boy Picks Tulip, Gets Arrested: A Tale As Old As Time
https://bit.ly/30XvYmr

Federal Guidance on Foster Youth Pandemic Relief: A Breakdown
https://bit.ly/3lj19lL

California Foster Parents Win Vaccine Eligibility, As Fight Continues in New York
https://bit.ly/3tsMiaV

Abolishing Policing Also Means Abolishing Family Regulation
http://bit.ly/37Y8aDQ

Rising Voices For ‘Family Power’ Seek to Abolish The Child Welfare System
http://bit.ly/3okyyNU

03/15/2021

“A Tsunami Is Headed Your Way.” The Pandemic, One Year Later

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Dave Newell, CEO of the Children’s Home Society of Washington, joins us to discuss a year of pandemic for an organization with services ranging from Head Start and home visiting to foster care.

Reading Room

The American Rescue plan puts us on a pathway to end child poverty within a generation if…http://bit.ly/2Q1oWLj

Pandemic Support for Foster Youth Still Delayed, Months After Federal Action
https://bit.ly/2OgYKvC

Advice from Washington Family Services Provider: ‘Tsunami’ Is Coming Your Way
http://bit.ly/30F61rw

The Imprint‘s Coverage of Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice in a Time of Pandemic
https://imprintnews.org/coronavirus-kids-and-families

03/11/2021

Big Questions for Child Welfare: The Biden Agenda

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

03/08/2021

Leo Ages Out: What One Case Shows about Holes in The System

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Lori Ross, the founder of FosterAdopt Connect, joins us to talk about the case of a high-needs youth who was almost pushed out of Missouri foster care onto the streets with no help, and the many policy implications that young man’s story carries

Reading Room

Biden Taps New York Official to Lead U.S. Children’s Bureau

https://bit.ly/2MFsQZ0

Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration

https://bit.ly/2O360LE

California Considers Universal Basic Income for Former Foster Youth

https://bit.ly/3sIO5bM

Town Hall Held to Discuss Minnesota Bill Aimed At Limiting Black Family Separation

https://bit.ly/3e7oLrE

Tiffany Haddish Launches Internship Program for Foster Youth Interested in Showbiz

https://bit.ly/3sOIUqO

She Ready Internship Application

https://readytosucceedla.org/she-ready

ACLU Sues as Missouri is Set to Release Young Man with Severe Autism from Foster Care

https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article249529070.html

02/28/2021

Investing in Gang Leaders to Fight Poverty

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Michelle Caldeira, the senior vice president of College Bound Dorchester, joins us to discuss a plan to invest in a new trajectory for gang leaders in Boston as an antipoverty strategy.

Reading Room

“How Foster Families Are Coping”: A webinar to discuss findings from a survey of foster and resource families about the pandemic.
http://bit.ly/ParentPollFindings

JooYeun Chang Joins Biden Child Welfare Team
https://bit.ly/3pWNCAR

Biden Starts to Fill in Leadership at Administration for Children and Families
http://bit.ly/3bGv42w

As Hotline Calls Plummeted, Michigan Did Some Dialing of Its Own
http://bit.ly/3fT15ET

$400 Million In Coronavirus Relief for Foster Youth Heads to States
http://bit.ly/3c36KIH

Confusion Among State Agencies Delays Vaccines for New York Foster Youth In Congregate Care
https://bit.ly/2MusUuz

02/25/2021

Big Questions for Child Welfare: Racial Bias and Caseworker Training

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Daniel Heimpel is the founder of Fostering Media Connections and the publisher of The Imprint. Molly Tierney is the child welfare lead for Accenture, and the former child welfare director for the City of Baltimore. Karen Bayens-Dunning is a former juvenile court judge and the acting president of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

02/22/2021

Building the Case for Rewiring Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Ned Breslin, CEO of Tennyson Center for Children, joins us to talk about Colorado’s Rewiring initiative aimed at proving that more money to help families avoid crises will reap huge savings in the long run.

Reading Room

Adoption Secrecy Has Ended for Thousands Since New York Unsealed Birth Records

bit.ly/2ZA5iYp

Houston Region Funds Community-Based Alternatives to Youth Incarceration

bit.ly/3bqHdsl

Child Welfare Workers Scramble to Protect Foster Youth through Deadly Texas Winter Storm

bit.ly/3aImDVs

States Jump on New Chance to Target Most-Vulnerable Youth for Job Training

bit.ly/3qIPluS

$1 Million to Fund New Phase of Fight Against Solitary Confinement for Youth

bit.ly/3dzteDj

What Child Welfare Can Learn from ‘Rewiring’

bit.ly/3ujCQrR

02/15/2021

YAP-ing About Alternatives to Incarceration

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Gary Ivory, the new president of Youth Advocate Programs (often just called YAP) joins us to talk about what we know about serving young offenders without resorting to incarceration, his famous Tour of the South with young gang members, and what the Biden administration should focus on in regard to youth justice.

Reading Room

After Abuse Probe, Another Sequel-run Program that Housed California Youth Will Close
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/sequel-closes-program-flagship-location/51693

LGBTQ, Foster Youth Groups Hail Biden Administration Stance on Discrimination Lawsuit
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/lgbtq-foster-youth-groups-hail-biden-stance-discrimination-lawsuit/51826

Annie E. Casey Foundation Puts New Focus on 14- to 24-Year-Olds
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/annie-e-casey-foundation-new-focus-14-24-year-olds/51606

New Washington State Senator’s Bill for Foster Kids Advances with Unanimous Support
https://imprintnews.org/youth-homelessness/former-foster-youth-first-bill-washington-legislator-passes-senate/51708

Founder of the Only Magazine By and For Parents Impacted by Child Welfare System Steps Down
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/parents-rise-nora-mccarthy-steps-down-child-welfare/51747

02/08/2021

The Vaccine and Child Welfare; A New Prize for Thinking Outside the Box

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Chani Katzen Laufer and Jill Nagle of the Aviv Foundation join us to talk about a new $200,000 award the grant maker will give to four new ideas for family support and child welfare.

Reading Room

Children’s Residential Centers Scramble to Secure Vaccines for Frontline Staff
https://imprintnews.org/coronavirus/childrens-residential-centers-scramble-to-secure-vaccines-for-frontline-staff/51469

With Frontline Workers Refusing Vaccination, Youth Residential Facilities Consider Future Mandates
https://imprintnews.org/coronavirus/youth-congregate-facilities-requiring-coronavirus-shots/51641

A New Study Highlights Promising Jobs Programs for Foster Youth
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/a-new-study-highlights-promising-jobs-programs-for-foster-youth/51525

‘Black Foster Youth Handbook’ Author Nominated for NAACP Image Award
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/black-foster-youth-handbook-nominated-naacp-image-award/51529

Vote for the NAACP Image Awards
https://naacpimageawards.net/

Award Announced for New Ideas in Child Welfare
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/award-new-ideas-child-welfare/51564

02/01/2021

Supporting Foster Youth on College Campuses

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

Christopher Scott and Lino Peña-Martinez of Connecticut’s Sun Scholars program join us to talk about their model of a central program that supports current and former foster youth on college campuses around the state.

Reading Room

A Bipartisan Bill To Bolster Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act

https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/bipartisan-bill-bolster-child-abuse-prevention-treatment-act/51353

Bill Would Create One Million New Apprenticeships

https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/bill-create-one-million-new-apprenticeships/51379

New York Governor Aims to Shut Down Nearly Empty Youth Prisons

https://imprintnews.org/justice/new-york-governor-aims-to-shut-down-nearly-empty-youth-prisons/51327

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

https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/amid-abuse-reports-sequel-run-facility-that-treated-california-children-will-close/51391

Youth Returning to California from Out-of-State Programs

https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/continuum-of-care-reform/returning-youth-from-out-of-state-programs

Biden Appoints Child Welfare Policy Expert, and Former Foster Youth, to Budget Office

https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/sherry-lachman-founder-foster-america-biden-budget-office/51279

01/25/2021

A Deep Dive on Child Maltreatment Statistics

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

David Finkelhor of the Crimes Against Children Research Center and Family Research Laboratory joins to discuss the most recent federal data on child abuse and neglect, and what it showed as America headed into the coronavirus pandemic.

Reading Room

Biden First-Day Order Likely Means Rollback of Trump Faith-Based Protection
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/biden-first-day-order-likely-means-rollback-of-trump-faith-based-protection/51136

Biden Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Leaders: Some Logical Candidates
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/biden-child-welfare-juvenile-justice-leaders-logical-candidates/49471

The Biden Transition Team: Key Players on Family and Justice
https://imprintnews.org/child-welfare-2/biden-transition-team-family-justice/49273

A Complete Guide to The Family First Act
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/complete-guide-the-family-first-act

01/18/2021

How to Spend $400 Million on Older Foster Youth

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

Reading Room

Trump Separated Families. One Appointee Fought to Keep Them Together.

California Budgets $8 Million to Bring Youth Home from Troubled Facilities

Children’s Rights Sued One-Third of New England This Week

Number of Child Abuse and Neglect Victims Reached Record Low in 2019

Last-Minute Spending Deal Includes Boosts for Child Welfare

Feds Strongly Suggest That States Use Coronavirus Relief for Cash Payments to Foster Youth

01/14/2021

BONUS PODCAST: Reform is the Destination. Tech is the Road

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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

01/11/2021

Ending Homelessness for Youth Leaving Foster Care

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

Guest Interview

We’re joined for the conversation about Foster Youth to Independence by Ruth White and Jamole Callahan, two chief architects of the initiative, and Love Williams, an early participant in the initiative.

12/28/2020

This Year on The Imprint Weekly Podcast

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!

Listen

Spotify Apple

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

12/21/2020

15 Years and Rise-ing

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

12/13/2020

California Cancels Sequel; The Fight To Keep Kids Out of Adult Court

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the major investigation of California’s use of an embattled for-profit to care for kids out of state, trendlines since New York “raised the age,” and a new foster youth film channel.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

12/06/2020

Lisa Ling on The Opioid Crisis within Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

11/30/2020

Moving Upstream on Child Mental Health

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

11/24/2020

Can California Erase Racism at Trial?

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

11/16/2020

Measuring Family Separation, and the Biden Child Welfare Agenda

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

11/09/2020

A Pandemic Plan To Keep Foster Youth Plugged In

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

11/02/2020

The Abolitionists

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

10/26/2020

Detained for Skipping Schoolwork

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.”

10/19/2020

Anti-Racism and Child Welfare

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.”

10/12/2020

Faithful Discrimination

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.

Listen

Spotify Apple

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.

Weekly Podcast