Weekly Podcast

10/07/2024

On this week’s episode, we review some recent headlines in child welfare and youth justice, including some big picture takeaways from recent stories about spiraling juvenile facilities and universal drug screening for soon-to-be parents. 

We also talk to Marina Nitze about how local governments have responded to the Biden administration’s new guidelines for caregiver licensing — which aim to make the process simpler and more equitable for children’s relatives and close kin. 

09/23/2024

On today’s episode we spoke with Aditi Shrivastava, deputy director of income security at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, known widely as TANF. Shrivastava discussed the proposed new rule for regulating how states use the program, a new test of how to measure success, and the many guaranteed income projects that have popped up around the country. 

09/16/2024

On this week’s episode we talk to Kamilah Bunn, CEO of the National Adoption Association, and Toni Oliver, former president of the National Association of Black Social Workers, about the recently published Black Paper, an early look at the effect of NAA’s Ujima Black Family Connection Program. The goal of the program is to convene Black leaders to work on addressing long-standing disparities in child welfare and push back against the stereotype that Black families do not adopt.

09/09/2024

On this week’s episode we recap a hodgepodge of headlines from late summer, starting with the effort to reauthorize a major federal child welfare program called Title IV-B. Among the other stories we discussed: California’s novel new approach to fund enrichment activities for foster  youth, and the state’s looming insurance cliff for nonprofits; New York could become the first state to track adoption subsidies; and shocking data on youth transferred into adult court in Florida.

09/02/2024

The Imprint Weekly Podcast has been re-running some of our most intriguing guest interviews from the early years of the show for listeners who might not have heard them the first time around. On this final installment of Summer Rewind, we feature our conversation with Patty Chin and Leslie Gross about the SOUL Family Concept, a new permanency option that was conceived of by youth with lived experience in foster care. Since our interview, Kansas became the first state to incorporate SOUL Family into its options for permanency. 

08/26/2024

During the month of August, The Imprint Weekly Podcast is re-running some of our most intriguing guest interviews from the early years of the show for listeners who might not have heard them the first time around. This week, we feature our conversation with juvenile justice reform expert David Roush about how a construction project inside Chicago’s juvenile detention center accidentally led to one of the most influential experiments in how to effectively engage incarcerated youth.

08/19/2024

During the month of August, The Imprint Weekly Podcast is re-running some of our most intriguing guest interviews from the early years of the show for listeners who might not have heard them the first time around. This week we feature on of our most frequently downloaded episodes, our 2021 conversation with author and law professor Dorothy Roberts.

At the time of our interview, Roberts was still working on her since-published book Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families. We talked about the abolition movement in child welfare, and how Roberts distinguishes between major and incremental reform within the existing child welfare system.

08/12/2024

During the month of August, The Imprint Weekly Podcast is re-running some of our most intriguing guest interviews from the early years of the show for listeners who might not have heard them the first time around.

This week we feature two different interviews about the same issue: how to ensure that foster youth succeed once they get to college. In 2022, we talked to Amy Dworsky of Chapin Hall and Judy Havlicek of the University of Illinois about dismal research around community college completion among youth who aged out of foster care. Community college student and former foster youth Matt Schaad joined us to talk about his own path towards a degree.

We also included our 2020 interview with Christopher Scott and Lino Peña-Martinez of Connecticut’s Sun Scholars, a program that supports current and former foster youth on college campuses around the state.

08/05/2024

During the month of August, The Imprint Weekly Podcast is re-running some of our most intriguing guest interviews from the early years of the show for listeners who might not have heard them the first time around.

This week we feature our 2020 interview with California Assemblymember Ash Kalra, who joined the podcast to discuss the Racial Justice Act, a bill he championed that enables a defendant and their legal counsel to present evidence of racial bias as a means of pushing back against specific sentences for offenses after conviction.

07/22/2024

Over the summer, The Imprint Weekly Podcast will feature episodes with subject matter experts to talk about several new rules and regulations issued by the Biden administration in the past year. 

On this week’s episode, Ashley Burnside of the Center for Law and Social Policy joins us to discuss a plan to update the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a federal cash assistance program designed to help low-income families fill the gap. Burnside discussed the changing nature of TANF programs since its inception in 1996, and explains what Biden’s proposed rules for it would change about how states could use the money to support families. 

07/14/2024

Over the summer, The Imprint Weekly Podcast will feature episodes with subject matter experts to talk about several new rules and regulations issued by the Biden administration in the past year.

On this week’s episode, Currey Cook of Lambda Legal joins to discuss a new rule aimed at ensuring all child welfare systems have enough foster homes that are supportive and safe for youth who identify as LGBTQ+. We discussed some of the existing laws and policies in this area, what the Biden rule actually requires of states, and what Cook hopes for in terms of further legislating to protect and support LGBTQ youth.

07/08/2024

Over the summer, The Imprint Weekly Podcast will feature episodes with subject matter experts to talk about several new rules and regulations issued by the Biden administration in the past year. 

On this week’s episode, Allison Green of the National Association of Counsel for Children joins us to break down the new rule on federal funding to support legal counsel for parents and children involved with the child welfare system. We talk about how this new rule goes beyond some changes made during the Trump administration on this issue, and what Green sees as the potential impact on child welfare outcomes. 

07/01/2024

On this week’s episode we go deep on one headline: a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing in which Chairman Ron Wyden called the residential care business an inherently flawed model that intentionally puts children in unsafe situations. The hearing followed the release of a scathing report on the committee’s findings from a multi-year investigation into four of the biggest providers in that space.

In this episode, we break down nine different clips from the nearly two hour hearing that speak to some of the major themes and topics covered. 

06/16/2024

Over the summer, The Imprint Weekly Podcast will feature episodes with subject matter experts to talk about several new rules and regulations issued by the Biden administration in the past year. 

This week, Ana Beltran of Generations United joins us to talk about the new federal rules around approving (and financially supporting) relatives and other loved ones to care for youth in the foster care system. We discuss the barriers that prompted the new action, what has changed, what happens next and how we’ll know if the new rule is having an impact. 

06/10/2024

After nearly 20 years, The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project sunsetted at the end of 2023. Ruth Rosenthal, Pew’s director for courts & communities, joins to talk about the history and lessons learned from the project and its expansion to include youth justice as a focal point.

06/05/2024

On this week’s Headlines edition of the podcast, we discuss a precedent-setting law passed and signed in Minnesota called the African American Family Preservation and Child Welfare Disproportionality Act, and break down the basics of new child welfare policies finalized by the Biden administration. 

We also discuss a recent Imprint analysis of kinship care in New York, some legislation that was inspired by our reporting in California, and…doggies in the courtroom?

05/13/2024

For the past three years, iFoster has been conducting the Voice of the Foster Care Community survey to gather perspective on the system from current and former foster youth, caregivers and the child welfare workforce.

iFoster CEO Serita Cox joins the podcast to discuss this year’s findings, which focused on gauging attitudes about solutions to some of the challenges surfaced in earlier surveys. She also discussed iFoster’s argument for moving towards a “child-first” system and what that would take, plus what her organization is working on with AmeriCorps around reaching more opportunity youth.

05/06/2024

On this month’s headlines edition of the podcast, we discuss an upcoming appeal in Michigan around the constitutionality of some terminations of parental rights, as well as a trial starting in Oregon and a new lawsuit filed against Louisiana. 

We also cover the very steep decline in foster care entries in Texas since the passage of a law that sharpened the definition of neglect in the state, a music studio helping incarcerated youth, and a fourth path to permanency begins in Kansas.

04/21/2024

Criminologist Alex Piquero, who led the Bureau of Justice Statistics early in the Biden administration, joined us to discuss what the best available data shows about trends in youth crime before, during and after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also discussed the media’s coverage of youth crime, and what Piquero’s research shows are the most effective ways to prevent and deter youth from committing crimes.

04/15/2024

In February, Carolyn Travis of California Youth Connection wrote an op-ed for The Imprint calling on Governor Gavin Newsom to keep his commitment to fair market support for youth who receive subsidized independent living placement (SILP) funds in extended foster care. 

Travis joined us on the podcast to talk about her own experience transitioning into extended foster care and then into adulthood, and how important her ability to save some money through SILP was as she entered the workforce during COVID-19. 

04/09/2024

On this month’s headlines edition of the podcast, we discuss new federal data on foster care, the first state and tribe to get approved for kinship licensing, and what happened this year in the government spending deal. We also talk about a controversial law in Tennessee over foster parents’ views on sexual orientation, Minnesota’s African American Family Preservation Act, and more.

04/03/2024

A new multimedia package produced by The Imprint and Voices of Monterey Bay takes readers, viewers and listeners deep inside rural Oregon’s Indian Country, where elders are Indigenizing social work through equine therapy for young people who have experienced foster care and youth justice systems.

“Horses take us all the way back to our history before our land was taken away,” explains John Doug Spence, who leads equine therapy sessions across Oregon. “It’s a way of taking back our power.” 

The project, Healing the Children of Horse Nations, is a collaboration between The Imprint’s Indigenous Children and Families Reporter Nancy Marie Spears, an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma; podcast producers Julie and Mara Reynolds; and visual storyteller Josué Rivas, who is Mexica and Otomi.

04/01/2024

Healing the Children of Horse Nations, a new multimedia package produced by The Imprint and Voices of Monterey Bay, takes readers, viewers and listeners deep inside rural Oregon’s Indian Country, where elders are Indigenizing social work through equine therapy for young people who have experienced foster care and youth justice systems.

“Horses take us all the way back to our history before our land was taken away,” explains John Doug Spence, who leads equine therapy sessions across Oregon. “It’s a way of taking back our power.” 

Check out this episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast for an interview with the people behind Healing the Children of Horse Nations, and check back on Wednesday April 3 for the official release of the project.

03/18/2024

LaShawnDa Pittman spent years studying the lives of dozens of grandmothers in the Chicago area for her book, Grandmothering While Black. 

“Despite managing the simultaneity of love and coercion,” she writes, “the Black grandmothers in this study demonstrated their love for their grandchildren in their willingness to provide care, as an extension of parenting and sometimes in place of it.” 

Pittman explored that balance of love and coercion and many other takeaways from her work in our discussion.

03/11/2024

On this week’s episode we talk to Rob Geen, who is leading the new Child Welfare Initiative started by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Some of the initiative’s early activities have included:

-A national survey on public attitudes and views about the child welfare system and how it should operate

-A landscape assessment based on interviews with those working for, involved with, and directly affected by child welfare policy.

-A review of state child welfare legislative activity in recent years.

Geen talked to us about the origins of the initiative, findings from its early activities, and his view on what “bipartisanship” means in the context of child welfare policy.

03/05/2024

On this week’s podcast, we discuss some new legislation aimed at drawing more interest in extended foster care, long-sought data on compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act, and the use of federal funds for family justice. We also break down yet another child welfare-related lawsuit in New York, and concerns over the precedent set by the conviction of Jennifer Crumbley.

02/12/2024

On this week’s episode we first talked to Kat McCloud about the new season of “Self-Taught,” a podcast from foster youth, for foster youth that just joined our SafeCamp Audio Network. McCloud talks about the first season of the show, what to expect in the second (which is now out) and how she decides what she is comfortable sharing publicly.

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus on Children, joins us to discuss a new tax reform bill that includes a big proposal to provide more financial support for low-income parents and children, as well as federal budget deliberations and what states are doing related to child spending. 

02/05/2024

On our monthly headlines episode, we discuss recent Imprint coverage on a child welfare litigation group’s first big legal challenge, the impact of fentanyl on legislation and policy in child welfare, and the Biden administration’s incremental steps on fines and fees in the juvenile justice system. We also discuss the child welfare case of a transgender teen in Montana, and the state of federal data on child welfare.

01/29/2024

On January 1, two of Washington State’s largest human services providers combined to form a new organization called Akin. The merger of two healthy nonprofits perhaps reflects the alignment of business and outcomes to a new vision for how youth and families are served by governments and their partners.

Dave Newell, the first CEO of Akin, returns to The Imprint Weekly podcast to discuss how the merger came together, what to expect (and not) from the new organization, and his perspective on parts of the child welfare process that are not reformable.

01/23/2024

Strategies for Youth (SFY) is one of the few organizations in the country focused on the true front door of the juvenile justice system: interactions between youth and law enforcement officers. Recently, SFY published a collection of model policies for departments to use in making those interactions safer and more productive. 

SFY’s Shelley Jackson, who spent decades working on guidance and policy for the federal government, joins us to describe these model policies and how they came together.

12/15/2023

As always, we were fortunate to have some amazing guests join us this year on The Imprint Weekly Podcast. In this episode we feature clips of 20 great interviews from 2023. 

If you enjoy this podcast, or the great work our reporters do at The Imprint and Fostering Families Today, and the work that our Youth Voices Rising team does, 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 www.imprintnews.org/donate.

12/11/2023

On this week’s podcast, we break down the new data featured in The Imprint’s “Who Cares” project, which seeks to provide an up-to-date answer on two key questions in child welfare:  How many kids are in foster care today? And where are they living?

Every year we obtain answers directly from states on this subject, and surround that with data drawn from the federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System. You can access all of our national tables and state-by-state profiles at FosterCareCapacity.com.

12/04/2023

On this week’s podcast, we discuss some headlines that seem to emanate in part from workforce woes, a lawsuit over anonymous reporting, one state’s effort to adjust child welfare policy after marijuana legalization, and missing school while locked up.

Lisa Dickson of ACTION Ohio joins us to talk about the annual series of Thanksgiving dinners she helped state for youth in Ohio foster care, the right way to incorporate lived experience, the death of Ma’khia Bryant, and more.

11/20/2023

On this week’s podcast, we discuss some news out of Tennessee that makes a congressional inquiry look bad, and two stories that highlight the intrinsic problem with states investigating alleged abuse within foster care. 

We also talk about new research on abortion laws and foster care entries, supportive housing’s impact on reunification, and two cool mapping resources on federal and state spending.

11/13/2023

Last month, the Biden administration proposed a new rule that would permit the use of federal funding to support attorneys for tribal governments, relatives and other kin, and parents and children at risk of experiencing a family separation. 

Jey Rajaraman, associate director of litigation, children and the law for the American Bar Association, spent 16 years leading parent counsel in New Jersey, helping to develop one of the nation’s first “pre-petition” programs. She joined the podcast to discuss what the new proposed rule means and the potential of earlier provision of legal counsel for families. 

11/07/2023

On this week’s podcast, we discuss some upcoming online conversations on self-sufficiency and navigating the holidays, The Imprint’s “Born of History” series, and more information on the Biden administration’s interest in updating a key piece of the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Kerrie Lonard, Child Advocate for the State of Kansas, joins us to talk about an interesting survey her office did over the summer to learn more about the nature of why foster parents stop fostering.

10/23/2023

Episode 150! We discuss foster parents seeking adoption before a termination of parental rights, the nexus of foster care and psychiatric facilities and charging parents for child welfare services.

Dawn Post joins to discuss her career in child welfare, which includes starting the Broken Adoptions Project in New York City, working on class action litigation around the country and much more.

10/16/2023

On an all-headlines edition of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, Imprint reporter Sara Tiano joins us to discuss her new series on an Oklahoma child welfare worker, also a licensed foster parent, who is losing a fight to adopt her two nephews in Minnesota. The case raises fresh questions about the prioritization of kin in child welfare.

We also discuss some mixed reviews from new research on unconditional cash support, the impact of enduring relationships for older youth in foster care, the future of mandated reporting, and more.

10/02/2023

On this week’s podcast we break down some major new actions on child welfare taken by the Biden administration around kinship care, legal counsel for parents and children, and LGBTQI+ youth in foster care.

Matt Anderson, host of the new podcast The Proximity Process, joins to discuss his own journey in the world of child welfare and what his plans are for this new show.

09/25/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss the rebounding of child poverty rates as COVID-19 era fiscal support went away; truth and reconciliation in South Korea; and a potential Supreme Court case over gender-affirming care 

Jody Kent Lavy, co-executive director of the Campaign for The Fair Sentencing of Youth, joins to discuss the history of the campaign, the push to end juvenile life without parole sentences and what comes next as more states provide a meaningful chance at freedom.

09/18/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss another “Family Miranda” bill becoming law, this time in Arizona; a case against caseworkers headed to verdict; and a damning statement on “Shaken Baby Syndrome.”

Christine Norbut Beyer, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, joins to discuss her state’s exit of court oversight after many years, how the system has changed since her early career as a social worker, and her thoughts on Miranda-style warnings for parents at the point of investigation.

09/11/2023

On this week’s episode we are joined by Kathy Icenhower, co-founder and CEO of Shields for Families. Three decades ago, against the backdrop of the crack epidemic, Icenhower started Shields out of a run-down trailer provided by the Los Angeles county government with Norma Ntume and Dr. Xylina Bean. It quickly became a pioneering organization in the fight to keep families together while parents pursued drug treatment.

Icenhower talked with us about the evolution of Shields, when child removals are necessary in substance abuse cases, her concerns about the trends in treating addiction, and much more.

08/28/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss another class action lawsuit, this one targeting the extended foster care system in America’s largest local child welfare system. Also: a potentially problematic hiccup in Arizona with one of the first modern state case management systems, and the After Life podcast wins a major award. 

Michael D. Davis-Thomas, aka MDDT Speaks, joins to discuss the first two seasons of his podcast Resilient Voices and Beyond, as well as the current state of child welfare from the perspective of a man who experienced it and worked within it.

08/21/2023

On this week’s episode, we discuss another class action lawsuit filed against Indiana’s child welfare agency; housing barriers to reunification; one of America’s most famous adoption stories unravels; and new leaders in child welfare.

Kee Tobar, host of Community Legal Services (CLS) of Philadelphia’s podcast “How is That Legal?”, joins to discuss the origins of the show and some of the most impactful moments from its first two seasons.

08/14/2023

On this week’s episode we talk about some cases over the right to foster and adopt, Washington’s new policy on newborns exposed to drugs, and some recent award-nominated work by The Imprint.

Ivory Bennett, host of Ivory Bennett: The Podcast and new program manager for the Youth Voices Rising program, joins to discuss her plan to take on tough conversations on the show.

08/07/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss new data on the use of detention since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a whistleblower in Texas, and the passing of Charles Ogletree.

Corey Best, founder of Mining for Gold and host of the Audio Nuggets podcast, joins to discuss how he built his show in the mold of a hip-hop cypher.

07/31/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss new data on drug use among youth who experience incarceration; federal legislation to define poverty out of neglect; testing cash assistance in child welfare; and how foster care is being discussed in the context of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Angela Orkin, co-host of The Children’s Law Podcast, joins to discuss one of the longest running podcasts on child welfare.

07/24/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss the ever-decreasing amount of kids in adult jails and prisons; an ominous audit on the use of psychotropics and opioids in foster care; and several interesting stories published by The Imprint this month. 

Adrian McLemore, a founding member of the Unbelievably Resilient podcast, joins to discuss the origin of the show and his views on the state of child welfare.

07/17/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss new supports for older foster youth in California, psychiatric facilities in North Carolina, an angry Texas judge and an interesting new leader in New Hampshire. 

Michael Ramey, host of the EPPiC Broadcast, joins us to discuss the show’s origin, the state of parental rights in America, and more.

07/10/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss a slate of recent court decisions over gender-affirming care for minors; Arizona moves to protect Social Security benefits for foster youth; big data breaches involving youth in the system; and California closes state-run juvenile prisons for good. 

We begin our summer series SafeCamp Spotlights, where we’ll talk to hosts from all of the great shows featured on the SafeCamp Audio podcast network. Up first: April Dinwoodie, host of Born in June, Raised in April.

06/26/2023

Darrell Missey’s path to leading the Missouri Children’s Division was an interesting one. He joined us to talk about his own life growing up in a family that experienced a mental health crisis; the group of grandmas that helped him run for judge; and the frank conversation that landed him in charge of a state with one of America’s highest foster care rates.

06/19/2023

Last week, in a surprising 7-2 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court fully upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act in Brackeen v. Haaland. We break down the full opinion of the court and their various reasons for siding in support of the 1978 law that was passed at a time when nearly a third of indigenous children were separated from their family. 

We are joined for reaction to the Brackeen ruling by three women close to the case:

-Kate Fort of Michigan State University, one of the foremost experts on ICWA in this country, who assisted with the tribes’ preparation for the Supreme Court oral arguments

-Chrissi Ross Nimmo, deputy attorney general for Cherokee Nation, one of the the tribes that officially was party to the case

-Rebecca Nagle, journalist and architect of the podcast This Land, whose second season focused on the Brackeen case.

06/12/2023

What can the ChatGPT and Bards of the world do to improve the child welfare and juvenile justice systems? On this week’s podcast, Carole Hussey of Evolv Strategy Group joins to talk about that and why states are hesitant to make big changes to case management systems.

06/05/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss some of the figures in the biennial report on state-by-state child welfare spending from Child Trends. Also: looming deadlines on “Family Miranda” laws in two states and a Supreme Court case on ICWA, and more. 

Imprint reporter Michael Fitzgerald joins to talk about his investigative reporting looking into sexual and reproductive health policies for foster youth, an issue brought into sharp focus last year when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

05/23/2023

This week we discuss the race between Texas and New York to pass the first “Family Miranda” bill for child welfare investigations, clergy as mandated reporters, and the 28th state to ban juvenile life without parole sentences. 

Serita Cox of iFoster joins to discuss some of the most interesting results from the organization’s second annual foster care survey, including some notable responses from current and former foster youth about reunification or adoption

05/15/2023

This week we review some new research on older youth in foster care, and the impact of mother bonding in the treatment of withdrawal symptoms for opioid-exposed newborns.

We also discuss several recent stories published in The Imprint, including the first installment of a series looking at the haphazard rules around sexual and reproductive health for youth in foster care; how a small group of parent activists eventually effected the closure of California’s state-run youth prisons; and more.
Coming Soon: SafeCamp Audio, the forthcoming podcast network from Fostering Media Connections, which will feature terrific audio projects on child welfare, youth justice and more. Click here to join the SafeCamp newsletter!

05/08/2023

A recent law journal article lays out three arguments against the rate at which many child welfare systems terminate parental rights. “The Ties That Bind” lays out data, outcomes and legal reasoning to support that idea. 

We are joined this week by the co-authors of this paper: Christopher Church, a pro-bono attorney for the CHAMPS Clinic at the University of South Carolina School of Law and a co-director for the Appeal for Youth Clinic at Emory Law in Atlanta, and Vivek Sankaran, who directs the Child Advocacy Law Clinic and Child Welfare Appellate Clinics at the University of Michigan.

05/01/2023

This week we discuss SafeCamp Audio, the forthcoming podcast network from Fostering Media Connections, which will feature terrific audio projects on child welfare, youth justice and more. Click here to join the SafeCamp newsletter!

We also review some recent headlines, including new research on racial disparities in the child welfare process, renewed Congressional interest in congregate care, family separation in Ukraine, and more.

04/24/2023

Last week we talked to Keri Richmond, manager of child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), about a 50-state look at the new federal rules prompted by the Family First Prevention Services act around the use of group homes, residential programs and other forms of congregate care.

On this week’s podcast we talk to Jim Czarniak about a deep dive on the same topic that focused on New York. Czarniak’s work surfaced very similar findings to the national review done by AAP.

04/17/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss a new California law that grants more time for reunifying families in some child welfare cases; the ever-worsening situation in Los Angeles juvenile facilities; and Congress takes an interest in kids that run away from foster care. 

Keri Richmond, manager of child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics, joins to discuss AAP’s recent assessment of the new limits on federal funding for group homes, residential care and institutions for foster youth. And we chat about the excellent podcast Keri helps produce, Unbelievably Resilient.

04/10/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss the lawsuit filed by an Oregon woman who wants to adopt and says the state is infringing on her religious freedom; higher education for incarcerated youth; and a new benefits tracker for people leaving Los Angeles foster care.

Jessica Pac of the University of Wisconsin’s Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work and Sophie Collyer of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University join to discuss their simulation of what different anti-poverty measures would do to child protection services activity in America.

04/03/2023

On this week’s podcast, we feature an online conversation hosted by Fostering Media Connection about community mental health services for youth in New York State. Sandy Santana, executive director of Children’s Rights, talks about the lawsuit his organization has filed against New York for failing to meet its commitments under Medicaid law when it comes to community mental health services. 

Jose Perez and Amal Kharoufi, both of whom work on the YouthNPower project for the Children’s Defense Fund-New York, spoke to the broader idea of what community mental health should include and how the limitations around mental health services impacts youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

03/27/2023

On this week’s podcast, we break down some recent research about toxicology testing of parents and newborns and how it connects to child welfare, legislative efforts to protect benefits for foster youth, and the troubling state of youth justice in Los Angeles. 

Jeff Fleischer, the recently retired CEO of Youth Advocate Programs and recent founder of Neighborhood Safety Advocates, joins to discuss YAP’s rich history and why he thinks America hasn’t developed more programs dedicated to serving youth who have committed serious crimes in the community.

03/20/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss trends in the use of the Family First Act, the pursuit of more federal child welfare data, and a state seeks to lower the age of juvenile justice.

Terri Sorensen, longtime CEO of Friends of the Children, joins to talk about professional mentoring of youth, how her organization’s approach has developed over the years, and the insane run of major gifts that Friends has seen of late.

03/13/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss some updates on the Indian Child Welfare Act front, Minnesota becomes a trans youth refuge, and the blind spot in America’s knowledge of youth justice. 

Imprint alum Roxanna Asgarian joins to discuss her new book, “We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America,” which traces the lives and families of six children killed by their adoptive parents in March of 2018.

03/06/2023

On this week’s podcast we discuss some great recent coverage in The Imprint about extended foster care, “second look” laws for youth convicted in adult court, and efforts to improve educational stability for youth in foster care. 

Heather Baker of Public Consulting Group joins us on the fifth anniversary of the Family First Act to discuss the law’s finer points, what conversations states are having about this law today, and more.

02/27/2023

On this week’s podcast, we talk about the Biden administration’s plan to expand federal funds to support kinship caregivers; promising data on one state’s Raise the Age reform; how COVID-era child tax credits impacted child abuse and neglect; and more.

02/20/2023

Part Two: A song for orphans

On this week’s podcast, we begin a two-part interview between Imprint reporter Nancy Marie Spears and Sandy White Hawk, author of the recently released memoir A Child of the Indian Race: A Story of Return. White Hawk’s recounts her own adoption story, which began in 1955, decades before the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed to protect Indigenous families from being separated. 

This conversation comes just months after the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case called Brackeen v. Haaland, in which several non-Indigenous families and the State of Texas have claimed that ICWA is unconstitutional. A decision in the case is expected to be delivered this summer.

02/13/2023

Part One: “Here’s Your Mother…She’s Been Waiting for You”

On this week’s podcast, we begin a two-part interview between Imprint reporter Nancy Marie Spears and Sandy White Hawk, author of the recently released memoir A Child of the Indian Race: A Story of Return. White Hawk recounts her own adoption story, which began in 1955, decades before the Indian Child Welfare Act was passed to protect Indigenous families from being separated.

This conversation comes just months after the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case called Brackeen v. Haaland, in which several non-Indigenous families and the State of Texas have claimed that ICWA is unconstitutional. A decision in the case is expected to be delivered this summer.

02/06/2023

On this week’s episode, we discuss a potentially landmark law on legal counsel in Washington, another state with an ICWA bill, and the Justice Department allegedly takes interest in a controversial child welfare algorithm.

Nearly 40 years ago, federal child support laws were rewritten and included new instructions for states when it comes to parents with children in foster care. NPR investigative reporter Joe Shapiro joins to talk about his coverage of the nationwide practice of charging parents for the cost of foster care. 

01/30/2023

On this week’s episode we catch up on some headlines from the last few months in child welfare and youth justice, including: a flood of mental health litigation; adoption reckoning in South Korea; a federal effort to help states differentiate poverty and neglect; the nexus between money and maltreatment; the Finish the 5 campaign in Texas; and more.

01/23/2023

On this week’s episode Bridget Mary McCormack, the recently retired chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, joins us to discuss appellate work and child welfare, and a scathing assessment of the system she was once responsible for overseeing. 

01/16/2023

On this week’s episode, Melissa Sickmund, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, joins us to dive into the decades-long plummeting of youth arrests and incarceration, juvenile justice in the age of Covid-19, data blind spots and more.

01/09/2023

On this week’s episode we discuss some notable changes in Congress’ 2023 spending deal, a new study on equity in services, and the release of The Imprint’s 2022 foster care capacity data.

Marina Nitze, author of Hack Your Bureaucracy and a co-founder of the Child Welfare Playbook, joins to discuss strategies for improving child welfare, why she’s optimistic about the future of kinship care, and more.

01/02/2023

We will get back to our regular podcast format next week, but today we are featuring the work of Julie Reynolds, who is The Imprint’s new Associate Editor. 

Reynolds has produced and released the second season of her Podcast Grey Area.  This new season, called After Life, explores one man’s journey into and then out of the California penal system, the latter part of which might not have happened but for changes over time in the state’s view about a second chance for young offenders. 

First you will hear a brief interview with Julie about the new season, and then we will present Episode 1 of AfterLife.

12/19/2022

We had some amazing guests join us on The Imprint Weekly Podcast this year, and we reviewed the entire 2022 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, and the work that our Youth Voices Rising team does, 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 www.imprintnews.org/donate.

12/12/2022

On this week’s podcast we talk about a racial equity audit New York City never made public; welfare payments and foster care; and the emergence of lifebooks. 

Robin Rosenberg, deputy director of Florida’s Children First, joins us to discuss Florida’s implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act. In particular, we focus on a sex trafficking exception to federal limits on congregate care funding that Florida is using to place hundreds of youth in group settings.

12/05/2022

On this week’s podcast we talk about some interesting stories in The Imprint last week, an interesting filing in a faith-based discrimination case, juvenile diversion and fathers.

Mira Zimet, founder of The Storyboard Project, joins to discuss her three seasons of profiling youth and young adults who have experienced the foster care system in America.

11/21/2022

On this week’s podcast, we discuss a big state court opinion on juvenile life sentences, some more workforce crisis stories, and one state supreme court chief justice’s scathing dissent in perhaps her last case involving a foster youth.

11/14/2022

Youth-related funding and policy was on the ballot in several states last week, and Olivia Allen of the Children’s Funding Project joins to help us break down what happened with those measures.

Then, we break down five different exchanges that capture the essence of the Supreme Court’s three hour oral arguments over the Indian Child Welfare Act last Wednesday, and share some thoughts on what seemed to be on the mind of the likely “swing votes” in the case.

11/07/2022

The number of youth in foster care is below 400,000 for the first time in nearly a decade. On this week’s podcast, we break down the new data released by the Department of Health and Human Services, Florida’s ban on trans medicine for minors, and the worsening news out of Louisiana’s juvenile justice system.

10/31/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss a landmark case out of New York over the rights of biological parents, connecting homeless children to early childhood programs, a federal end-around on monitoring unaccompanied minors, an AI Bill of Rights, and the placement preferences required by ICWA.

10/24/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss Maine’s legislature suing its child welfare agency over fatality records, the Angola transfer begins in Louisiana, and what low-income families used the enhanced child tax credit for.

10/17/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss a scandal that sparked new mandated reporting laws, the Biden administration’s kinship care ideas, and a new adoption information system in Ireland.

10/10/2022

On this week’s podcast we introduce listeners to Nancy Marie Spears, who will be covering Indigenous children and families for The Imprint and talk a bit about the upcoming Supreme Court case that could determine the future of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

10/03/2022

On this week’s episode we discuss new child mental health legislation, an investigation into abuse at Head Start programs, and child poverty in America continuing to plummet.

09/26/2022

On our 100th episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, we discuss a raft of new youth-related legislation introduced by Congress, moving teens to one of America’s largest adult prisons, and a new investment in adoption training.

09/19/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss a major drop in the use of powerful psych meds on California foster youth, and discuss how child welfare metrics behaved during the prolonged decline in child poverty that was recently analyzed by Child Trends.

09/12/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss developments in the legal battles over access to gender-affirming care for youth, the U.N.’s critique of American child welfare laws, and problems with the planned closure of California’s state-run youth prisons. 

08/15/2022

No interview this week! We’ll be back with more great guests after Labor Day. On this episode, we catch up on a whole slew of headlines in child welfare and juvenile justice from the summer. Then, we highlight five things to keep an eye on this fall in terms of federal law and policy.

08/08/2022

On this week’s podcast, we feature an online event hosted by Fostering Media Connections called “Stability Now: Getting Proactive About The Child Welfare Workforce.” This conversation features several child welfare experts who in different ways have worked on putting either their organization, or the system in general, in a better position to retain and support good workers.

Thanks to our sponsor, Binti, for supporting this important discussion.

08/01/2022

On this week’s episode we discuss a new bill to protect the rights of disabled adults involved in child welfare cases, and the resurgence of a lawsuit in West Virginia.

07/25/2022

Dee Wilson is a former leader in Washington’s child welfare system who writes the monthly child welfare commentary Sounding Board. Wilson joined us to discuss a range of topics, including his view on the abolition movement, his ideas around boosting reunification efforts, the Family First Prevention Services Act, and professional foster parenting.

07/18/2022

On this week’s episode, we discuss new findings that connect anti-poverty measures to reducing child maltreatment, the Democrats’ plan for unaccompanied minors at the border, and the Road to Healing Tour.

07/11/2022

On this week’s episode, we discuss the federal about-face on child support payment policies for youth in foster care; how the workforce crisis is impacting Texas juvenile justice; and the latest on localizing juvenile justice in California. 

06/26/2022

On this week’s episode, we discuss some alarming high school graduation data for foster youth in one of America’s largest cities; Oregon’s move away from an algorithm; and how the bipartisan gun bill could bring accountability to Medicaid services for children. 

06/20/2022

On this week’s episode we discuss the Biden administration’s possible crackdown on the use conversion therapy, Los Angeles’ new child welfare director, and a promising new legal clinic for mothers of newborns.

06/13/2022

On this week’s episode we discuss the worsening capacity crisis when it comes to older youth in foster care, calls for better juvenile judge training, and an update on the legal battle over investigating gender affirming care as abuse in Texas.

06/06/2022

On this week’s episode, we discuss a scary error in California’s abuse registry process, more on state efforts to end gender-affirming care for youth, Louisiana’s “Lower the Age” bill and a new ombuds office for youth in foster care in Ohio.

05/30/2022

On this week’s episode, we go straight to the interview! Colleen Henry, of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, joins us to talk about the origin story of abuse and neglect registries and how they have changed in size and impact over the decades since they were first introduced. We close with some thoughts from Henry about some common-sense changes that systems should be considering in regard to these things.

05/23/2022

On this week’s podcast we discuss the recent series and data reporting by USA Today on youth who experience adoption from foster care and return to the system, the recent federal investigation on America’s use of Indian boarding schools; and news on lawsuits in Alaska and Indiana.

05/16/2022

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

05/09/2022

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

05/02/2022

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

04/25/2022

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

04/18/2022

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

04/11/2022

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

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

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

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

03/28/2022

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

03/21/2022

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

03/14/2022

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

03/07/2022

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

02/28/2022

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

02/21/2022

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

02/13/2022

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

02/07/2022

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

01/31/2022

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

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

01/24/2022

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

01/17/2022

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

01/10/2022

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

01/03/2022

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

12/26/2021

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

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

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

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

12/20/2021

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

12/13/2021

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

12/06/2021

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

11/29/2021

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

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

11/22/2021

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

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

11/15/2021

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

11/08/2021

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

11/01/2021

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

10/25/2021

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

10/18/2021

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

10/11/2021

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

10/04/2021

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

09/27/2021

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

09/19/2021

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

09/13/2021

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

08/16/2021

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

08/09/2021

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

08/01/2021

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

07/25/2021

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

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

07/18/2021

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

07/12/2021

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

07/04/2021

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

06/27/2021

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

06/20/2021

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

06/13/2021

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

06/06/2021

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

05/30/2021

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

05/23/2021

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

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

05/16/2021

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

05/09/2021

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

05/02/2021

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

04/25/2021

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

04/18/2021

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

04/15/2021

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

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

04/11/2021

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