2022: Reclaiming the Calendar with Adoptee Advocate, Haley Radke

For this January 2022 episode, I sit down with adoptee advocate and the creator and host of the Adoptees On, Haley Radke. Haley and I discuss how we, as adopted persons, often experience the calendar differently than non-adopted persons, and how adoption can teach the world about grief.

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.

Guest Interview Details

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/

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.

Guest Interview Details

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

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.

Guest Interview Details

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

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. 

Guest Interview Details

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