Community Mental Health at the Crossroads

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.

Guest Interview Details

Sandy Santana is executive director of Children’s Rights, a national nonprofit that specializes in litigation and advocacy on child welfare. Jose Perez is a project manager at Children’s Defense Fund-New York. Amal Kharoufi is a youth action researcher with YouthNPower: Transforming Care, an initiative of the Children’s Defense Fund-New York

Reading Room

Lawsuit: C.K. v. Bassett http://bit.ly/3zl3Ivp It is Time to Prioritize Young People’s Mental Health http://bit.ly/3zlDRDl

Mental Health Litigation Boom in Child Welfare, and More Headlines

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.

Reading Room

South Korea Sets Up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Investigate Adoptions http://bit.ly/3Joq5Gc Feds Plan $10 Million to Prevent Confusion of Poverty with Neglect http://bit.ly/3kUzfA4 Nevada Eyes State Bill to Codify ICWA http://bit.ly/3WRSIie Wyoming Considers Codifying Indian Child Welfare Act Protections in State Law http://bit.ly/3YbdOJH With ICWA Under Threat, More States Shore Up Laws to Protect Native Families from Foster Care Separation http://bit.ly/3WJ7SGt Maryland and Iowa Are the Latest to be Sued Over Youth Mental Health Services https://bit.ly/3wipDBP Justice Department Slams Alaska for Over-Institutionalizing Youth with Disabilities http://bit.ly/3RjcNwY Disabled Foster Youth Sue North Carolina for ‘Segregating’ Them in Institutions http://bit.ly/3XLS6w1 New York Let Residences for Kids With Serious Mental Health Problems Vanish. Desperate Families Call the Cops Instead. http://bit.ly/3XXReEa ‘We’re at a Crisis Point’: NY Attorney General Hearing Spotlights Child Mental Health Care Failures http://bit.ly/3XOg21y Sabrina’s Parents Love Her. But the Meltdowns Are Too Much. http://bit.ly/3kSH35B The Imprint Weekly Podcast: Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran http://bit.ly/2ObtLAV Impact of Direct Cash Benefits to Low-Income Families Can Be Far-Reaching https://bit.ly/3kuzaTK Texas Teens Embark on An Idealistic Quest to Shut Down the State’s Last Five Youth Prisons http://bit.ly/3HDjGpA Youth and the Juvenile Justice System 2022 National Report https://bit.ly/3RhIWov How Youth Incarceration Undermines Public Safety: Reviewing the Evidence https://bit.ly/40eSk00

The Impact of “Drugging Our Kids” with Karen de Sá

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.

Guest Interview Details

A recent study found that the use of antipsychotic medications on California foster youth has dropped by more than 50%. The Imprint’s executive editor, Karen de Sá, joins to discuss her investigative series Drugging Our Kids, which nearly a decade ago helped to prompt a number of policy changes in the state when it came to powerful psychiatric meds and youth in foster care. 

Reading Room

Statement of Administrative Policy on the Mental Health Matters Act of 2022 https://bit.ly/3SuHaAh ACF Should Improve Oversight of Head Start To Better Protect Children’s Safety https://bit.ly/3rlyvUP Expansions to Child Tax Credit Contributed to 46% Decline in Child Poverty Since 2020 https://bit.ly/3roMfOI After Prison, He Became a Poodle Professional https://bit.ly/3RqmN5L As His Influence Peaks in Child Welfare Field, A ‘Family Defenders’ Leader Retires https://bit.ly/3BUpdDZ Drugging Our Kids Series: https://extras.mercurynews.com/druggedkids Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7lHeosq-FY Prescribing Antipsychotic Drugs to California Foster Youth Declines Dramatically https://bit.ly/3BcmTaW

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.  

Guest Interview Details

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

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.”

Guest Interview Details

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

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.

Guest Interview Details

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.