Surprising Findings on Aging Out, Removal Reasons and More
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
Guest Interview Details
Serita Cox is the co-founder of iFoster, which uses a free platform to ensure that every child growing up outside of their biological home has the resources and opportunities they need to become successful. Before launching iFoster in 2010, Cox spent more than a decade consulting on technology and management in the Bay Area.
Older Youth in Foster Care, Treating Withdrawal in Newborns, and More Recent Headlines
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!
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.
Guest Interview Details
Jim Czarniak spent the past 20 years working in the nonprofit and government sectors. Most recently he was the deputy commissioner for the Onondaga County Department of Children and Family Services, and before that worked as director of juvenile justice for the county.
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.
Guest Interview Details
Keri Richmond manager of child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and executive director of Unbelievably Resilient.
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.
Guest Interview Details
Jessica Pac is an assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work. Sophie Collyer is a policy student who has a dual degree in social work and public administration from Columbia University and a Master’s of Science from Johns Hopkins School of Education. She is the research director of Columbia’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy.
Reading Room
Family First Clearinghouse Approves New Programs
http://bit.ly/3MxHJZNWoman Hoping to Adopt Foster Children Sues Oregon Over LGBTQ Expectations
http://bit.ly/3zIsghRCalifornia Expands College Education for Youth in Juvenile Detention Centers
http://bit.ly/3zNwQLXLos Angeles County Looks to Digital Tools to Assist Young Adults Leaving Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3KeI5TE2 Men Enter Pleas in Death of Lakeside Academy Student
http://bit.ly/3KKW6c1The Effects of Child Poverty Reductions on Child Protective Services Involvement
http://bit.ly/3ZYUqjoThe Antipoverty Effects of the Expanded Child Tax Credit across States: Where Were the Historic Reductions Felt?
https://bit.ly/3ZSYjpV
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
Why Aren’t There More Alternatives to Youth Incarceration?
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.
Guest Interview Details
Jeff Fleischer served for more than 20 years as the CEO of Youth Advocate Programs, the Harrisburg-based nonprofit providing alternatives to youth incarceration in 33 states. Fleischer is the recent founder of Neighborhood Safety Advocates.
Reading Room
Disparities in Maternal-Infant Drug Testing, Social Work Assessment, and Custody at 5 Hospitals
https://bit.ly/3Kbvj8cIncidence of Newborn Drug Testing and Variations by Birthing Parent Race and Ethnicity Before and After Recreational Cannabis Legalization
http://bit.ly/42LzMpMNovel Implementation of State Reporting Policy for Substance-Exposed Infants
https://bit.ly/3ZmJ5JAA Growing Number of States Vow to Stop Seizing Benefits Owed to Foster Youth
http://bit.ly/3LTOt3VNumerous Reforms, Little Time for Los Angeles County to Improve its Juvenile Detention Facilitieshttp://bit.ly/3MaGq31Northern California Tribe Alleges California Unfairly Denied Extended Foster Care Benefits to its Youthhttp://bit.ly/3LPUrmrYAP’s New President an Old Hand at Pushing Against Incarcerationhttp://bit.ly/40x4IIaYouth Advocate Programs Gets Federal Stamp of Approvalhttp://bit.ly/40zCP2cYouth Advocate Programs, Major Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare Provider, Gets $20 Million Investment from Ballmer Grouphttp://bit.ly/42Lzz5F
The Future of Professional Friends
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.
Guest Interview Details
Terri Sorensen has been the CEO of Friends of the Children for the past 20 years. Before that she was controller for the American Red Cross-Oregon Trail Chapter, held key managerial positions with Sprint Corporation and worked in public accounting for Ernst & Young in Kansas City, Mo.
We Were Once a Family, with Author Roxanna Asgarian
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.
Guest Interview Details
Roxanna Asgarian is a Texas-based journalist who writes about courts and the law for The Texas Tribune. She is the author of “We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America.”
Reading Room
Indian Child Welfare Act Think Tank to Strategize Legal Protections for Tribal Sovereignty
http://bit.ly/3YHTpeTWith Supporters from Indian Country Looking on, Minnesota Lawmakers Vote to Protect Indigenous Families
http://bit.ly/40jn7Z9Governor Signs Law that Codifies Indian Child Welfare Act Provisions into State Statute
http://bit.ly/3YWsP21Calling for ‘Love’ not ‘Hate,’ Minnesota Governor Declares His State a Refuge for Trans Youth
https://bit.ly/3L82c6MOn Point, March 9: Journalist Hannah Barnes on The Inside Story of The Collapse of Tavistock’s Gender Identity Clinic
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510053/on-pointWe’re Building a New Path to Prioritize Kin
https://bit.ly/3mriEERNew Mexico Has Lost Track of Juveniles Locked Up for Life. We Found Nearly Two Dozen.
http://bit.ly/3yuTurIFederal Study on Transfers of Juveniles Delayed, Again
http://bit.ly/3FhI91WWe Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
http://bit.ly/3FkaUuVRead Roxanna Asgarian’s coverage of child welfare for The Imprint
https://imprintnews.org/author/roxanna-asgarian
The Family First Act, Five Years Later
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.
Guest Interview Details
Heather Baker leads Public Consulting Group’s child welfare and youth services practice, helping state, county, and community-based agencies invest in programs, people, and technologies that improve the lives of children and families. Prior to joining PCG, she worked at the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Executive Office of Administration and Finance, Fiscal Affairs Division.
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.
Guest Interview Details
Ian Forber-Pratt, deputy executive director of Children’s Emergency Relief International, joins us on the one-year anniversary of the War in Ukraine, a nation that before the invasion of Russia already had one of the world’s highest orphan populations.
A Child of the Indian Race: A Conversation with Sandy White Hawk
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.
Guest Interview Details
Sandy White Hawk is a Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. She is the founder and director of First Nations Repatriation Institute
Reading Room
An Indigenous Adoptee Reclaims Her Culturehttp://bit.ly/3YI0oF9First-of-its-kind Survey Examines Trauma and Healing Among Indigenous Survivors of Family Separationhttp://bit.ly/3e3XHfdHow a Chippewa Grandmother’s Adoption Fight Ended Up in the U.S. Supreme Courthttp://bit.ly/3VLeS6kThe Imprint’s Coverage of Brackeen v. Haalandhttp://bit.ly/3ttyzTy
A Child of the Indian Race: A Conversation with Sandy White Hawk
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.
Guest Interview Details
Sandy White Hawk is a Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. She is the founder and director of First Nations Repatriation Institute
Reading Room
An Indigenous Adoptee Reclaims Her Culturehttp://bit.ly/3YI0oF9First-of-its-kind Survey Examines Trauma and Healing Among Indigenous Survivors of Family Separationhttp://bit.ly/3e3XHfdHow a Chippewa Grandmother’s Adoption Fight Ended Up in the U.S. Supreme Courthttp://bit.ly/3VLeS6kThe Imprint’s Coverage of Brackeen v. Haalandhttp://bit.ly/3ttyzTy
Parents Paying the Bill for Foster Care
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.
Guest Interview Details
Joseph Shapiro is a NPR News Investigations correspondent with decades of experience covering health, aging, disability, and children’s and family issues. He is the author of the award-winning book NO PITY: People with Disabilities Forging a New Civil Rights Movement.
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/3Joq5GcFeds Plan $10 Million to Prevent Confusion of Poverty with Neglect
http://bit.ly/3kUzfA4Nevada Eyes State Bill to Codify ICWA
http://bit.ly/3WRSIieWyoming Considers Codifying Indian Child Welfare Act Protections in State Law
http://bit.ly/3YbdOJHWith ICWA Under Threat, More States Shore Up Laws to Protect Native Families from Foster Care Separation
http://bit.ly/3WJ7SGtMaryland and Iowa Are the Latest to be Sued Over Youth Mental Health Services
https://bit.ly/3wipDBPJustice Department Slams Alaska for Over-Institutionalizing Youth with Disabilities
http://bit.ly/3RjcNwYDisabled Foster Youth Sue North Carolina for ‘Segregating’ Them in Institutions
http://bit.ly/3XLS6w1New 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/3XOg21ySabrina’s Parents Love Her. But the Meltdowns Are Too Much.
http://bit.ly/3kSH35BThe Imprint Weekly Podcast: Ohio Medicaid Director Maureen Corcoran
http://bit.ly/2ObtLAVImpact of Direct Cash Benefits to Low-Income Families Can Be Far-Reaching
https://bit.ly/3kuzaTKTexas Teens Embark on An Idealistic Quest to Shut Down the State’s Last Five Youth Prisons
http://bit.ly/3HDjGpAYouth and the Juvenile Justice System 2022 National Report
https://bit.ly/3RhIWovHow Youth Incarceration Undermines Public Safety: Reviewing the Evidence
https://bit.ly/40eSk00
The Last Dissent of Bridget Mary McCormack
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.
Guest Interview Details
Bridget Mary McCormack served on the Michigan Supreme Court from 2013 to 2022, first as an associate justice, and as chief justice from 2019 to 2022.
