Media for Social Change

By Ziyue Yan After months of criticism of Los Angeles County’s use of a makeshift dormitory to house older adolescents entering foster care, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) will be opening a new facility for those youth on April 10.

By Andrea Flores While the release of a landmark study on income mobility earlier this year set the news media abuzz with stories about inequality, there was scant mention of children involved with the child welfare system, for whom moving up the economic ladder is uniquely challenging.

By Jessica Hansen-Weaver For vulnerable families facing child welfare investigation, this issue can make the difference in whether their child is removed from their home or not. A May 2013 study in The American Journal of Community Psychology examines whether inadequate housing increases the threat of out-of-home placement among families under investigation by child protective services (CPS).

The use of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care for Preschoolers leads to greater permanency By Alexandria Lahdya Knowing where to invest early for the best payback is a tricky business for policy makers, but investing in foster children should be a no-brainer.

A Public Education: Part II by ChronicleofSocialChange On Thursday nights during the spring semester, Fostering Media Connections Director Daniel Heimpel teaches a course called Journalism for Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

By Josh Neff My friend Steven decided to become a doctor because he wanted to serve the poor. When it came time to choose a specialty, however, he picked pediatrics because he said he had run out of patience for the self-destructive behavior he saw among some adult patients in underserved communities.

by Brett Shears In an oft-cited survey of American adults, nearly two out of five people thought that foster care adoption was “somewhat” or “very expensive.” But this perception is not anchored in reality and may be the result of prospective parents who frequently conflate the costs of adopting through a public agency and a private agency.

By. Lingchao Chen While decades of studies have revealed that child maltreatment and poverty are co-occurring and interrelated, “policy and practice are now lagging science in this area.” In January of this year, researchers Brett Drake and Melissa Jonson-Reid at Washington University at St.

By Lily Conover Youth investigated by child welfare agencies in the United States suffer from chronic health conditions at a rate much higher than that of the general population, according to research published in the journal Pediatrics in March 2013.