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.
Healers in the System: From the Health Field to Child Welfare Leadership
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.
Guest Interview Details
Molly Tierney, Accenture
Terry Stigdon, Indiana Department of Child Services
Deborah Shropshire, Oklahoma Department of Human Services
Charlene Wong, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Bridge to Adulthood: A Discussion on California’s Extended Foster Care System
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.
Guest Interview Details
Guests for this episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast include:
Janay Eustace, Executive Director, California Youth Connection
Jordan Sosa, Statewide Legislative and Policy Manager, California Youth Connection
Amy Lemley, Executive Director, John Burton Advocates for Youth
Mark Courtney, Samuel Deutsch Professor, University of Chicago
What We’ve Learned About Child Tax Credits, and the Future of Fostering with Irene Clements
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.
Guest Interview Details
Irene Clements, the retiring head of the National Foster Parent Association, talks about her own massive family, her concerns with the recent rise of “foster-to-adopt,” the continuing impact of the coronavirus on foster parents, and the future of fostering in America.
Reading Room
Receipt and Usage of Child Tax Credit Payments Among Low-Income Families: What We Know
https://bit.ly/3nn8C5XAs Coronavirus Shutdowns Grow, Resource Families Left with Little Guidance
https://bit.ly/30yHBDEWe Have to Stop Losing Half of Foster Parents in the First Year
https://bit.ly/3CfWVSw
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.
Child Safety Reporting, Parental Rights and More with Corey Best
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.
Guest Interview Details
Corey Best of Mining for Gold joins us to discuss his own experience losing parental rights as a young father, mandatory reporting and what we could differently with information that comes in from the child protection hotline.
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.
Guest Interview Details
Kate Murphy of Texans Care for Children joins us to break down a very eventful year in child welfare legislation and policy shifts in the Lone Star State, including the state’s plans around the Family First Act, a controversial change to its definition of neglect, legal protection for parents, and how mental health has been a major driver of the state’s continuing crisis on placements for older foster youth.
Reading Room
America’s ‘Troubled Teen Industry’ Needs Reform So Kids Can Avoid the Abuse I Endured
https://wapo.st/3maybGILawmakers Issue Warning to Troubled Teen Industry: Congress Will Act
https://bit.ly/3vz6VomBehavior Modification: Abuse Alleged
https://bit.ly/3BmT8mdWashington Targets Behavior Modification Programs
https://bit.ly/2ZuqKRUResidential Programs: Selected Cases of Death, Abuse, and Deceptive Marketing
https://bit.ly/2ZjWhWdFirst Kinship Support Model Gains Approval by Family First Clearinghouse
https://bit.ly/3vtZZslState of Missouri and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma vs. Honorable Scott S. Sifferman
https://bit.ly/3vEmV8FTexas Bills Aim to Boost Rights for Parents Accused of Mistreating Kids
https://bit.ly/3wje633
Raising Up The Stories of Families in Child Welfare
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.
Guest Interview Details
Matt Anderson, who leads the Institute for Family at the Children’s Home Society of North Carolina, joins to discuss his new mission to develop media projects that tell the stories of youth and families who experience the child welfare system.
Families, Kids and Tribes: Rebecca Nagle on The Indian Child Welfare Act
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.
Guest Interview Details
The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) was passed in 1978 at a time when one-third of Native American children were separated from their families. Journalist Rebecca Nagle, host of This Land, joins us to discuss the podcast’s new season about a major court case that could determine the future of ICWA.
Foster Care Prevention & Group Care Limits: The Family First Act Takes Effect
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.
Guest Interview Details
Zach Laris, director of federal advocacy and child welfare policy for the American Academy of Pediatrics, joins us for a deep dive on the Family First Prevention Services Act, which fully took effect in all states last week.
Reading Room
Next Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXhSeveral States Issue Second Round of Foster Youth Pandemic Assistance
https://bit.ly/3kPEKxFIndigenous children in Canada slated to receive billions in compensation after court rejects Trudeau appeal
https://wapo.st/2YbOXvXBill To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States
https://bit.ly/3A4HADtBureau of Indian Affairs Listening Sessions Registration
https://on.doi.gov/3mgFUlbFormer state Rep. Les Gara becomes fourth candidate for Alaska’s governor
https://bit.ly/3l1uYbDCalifornia Rep. Karen Bass Joins Los Angeles Mayoral Race
https://bit.ly/3EXRDhc
The Criminalization of Black Youth, with Kris Henning
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.
Guest Interview Details
Georgetown Law professor Kris Henning has been a public defender for youth in Washington, D.C. for more than two decades, and has had exactly four white clients in that time. Henning joins us to discuss her experience representing youth, and her new book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth.
Reading Room
Advocacy Groups Launch Nationwide Campaign to End Juvenile Court Fines and Fees|
https://bit.ly/3u7PVVtDebt Free Justice Campaign
https://debtfreejustice.org/Nebraska Inspector General Recommends Ending Foster Care Contract with Saint Francis
https://bit.ly/3uajUfuNext Week, Thousands of Foster Youth Will Age Out on the Same Day
https://bit.ly/3ktAPXhYouth Voice Webinar: What Did Your Mental Health Do for You (or to You)?
Thursday, Oct. 7 10amP/1pmE
Register for free! Can’t make it? Register and we’ll send you a recording!
https://imprintnews.org/webinars
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.
Guest Interview Details
In the early 2010s, Chicago’s juvenile detention center got a much-needed physical overhaul. Its leadership at the time used the opportunity to set up a gold-standard trial to test a new approach to engaging the youth inside. Juvenile detention expert David Roush joins us to talk about what they found and what’s happened since.
Reading Room
Healers in The System: From the Health Field to Child Welfare Leadership
Register for free! Tomorrow, Sept. 21, 4pm EST
(can’t make it? Sign up and receive the recording!)
https://imprintnews.org/webinarsVirtual Town Hall on Pandemic Assistance for Foster Youth
TODAY at 4pm EST
https://thinkofus.typeform.com/to/hUC75vWwMore Texas Foster Youth Are Sleeping in State Offices Than at Any Other Point in Recent Years
https://bit.ly/3hIQL5RTexas Foster Care Children Exposed to Sexual Abuse, Given Wrong Medication and Neglected in Unlicensed Placements, New Report Says
https://bit.ly/39jqc2LLos Angeles County Supervisors Approve Therapeutic Approaches to Youth Detention
https://bit.ly/3AiTHgTState Agency Declares L.A.’s Juvenile Halls ‘Unsuitable for Confinement of Minors’
https://bit.ly/3CoEcVdFoster Youth Advocate Joins Biden Administration’s Child Welfare Agency Leadership
https://bit.ly/39c0DR7Child Welfare Policymakers Need to Learn User Centered Design
https://bit.ly/3kn5mG7Young Adult Consultant and Youth Support Leads Application
www.bit.ly/ICFYAC2021
A New Law to Support Mothers-to-Be in Prison
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.
Guest Interview Details
Rae Baker of the Minnesota Prison Doula Project joins to discuss her organization’s efforts to help expecting moms in prison as they prepare for birth, and a precedent-setting state law the project successfully pushed for that will offer a chance for these moms to stay with their newborns outside of the prison walls.
Changing the Narrative on Fighting Poverty with Michael Tubbs
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.
Guest Interview Details
Michael Tubbs, former mayor of Stockton and new senior fellow at the Rosenberg Foundation, joins us to discuss universal basic income, how being mayor shaped his views on child welfare and juvenile justice, shifting the narrative on fighting poverty, and more.
Supports, Not Just Services: Talking Child Welfare Response with Chapin Hall’s Bryan Samuels
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.
Guest Interview Details
Bryan Samuels, executive director of Chapin Hall, joins us to discuss the Family First Act, race and poverty, congregate care and his organization’s new policy brief on including more concrete and economic supports in child welfare.
Reading Room
Judges Toss Class Actions Against Ohio, West Virginia
https://bit.ly/3ii6lpSNearly Half of Children Experience CPS Investigations For Abuse And Neglect Before 18, New Estimates For Large Counties Show
https://bit.ly/2TSQzsjContact with Child Protective Services Is Pervasive but Unequally Distributed by Race and Ethnicity in Large US Counties
https://bit.ly/3A12W4ONC County Illegally Removed Kids from Homes
https://bit.ly/3ilWMq8Key Supervisor Pleads guilty in DSS Family Separation Scheme
https://bit.ly/3ynnxQxAddressing Economic Hardship Key to Preventing Child Welfare System Involvement
https://bit.ly/3ighQgo
No Strings Attached: California’s Guaranteed Income for Former Foster Youth
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.
Guest Interview Details
Andrea Amavisca, a legislative aide to State Sen. Dave Cortese, joins to talk about how the plan became law. Veronica Vieyra, who participated in a smaller test of guaranteed income in Santa Clara County, joins us to reflect on the impact that help has had on her life this year.
Reading Room
Foster Youth Congressional Interns Present Policy Fixes to U.S. Legislators
https://bit.ly/3zJtLdDLawmakers Back Funding for Foster Sibling Pilot Programs
https://bit.ly/3lr4DEuNew Study Suggests Ending Group Care for Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3rsVqMUH.R.4502 – Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2022
https://bit.ly/3rMJ9mSCalifornia Bans Out-of-State Treatment Programs After Reporters Investigate Abuse
https://bit.ly/3BkKm9uFar from Home | Far from Safe
https://imprintnews.org/special-series/far-from-homeCalifornia Approves First State-Guaranteed Income For Foster Youth
https://bit.ly/3xi84QvCalifornia County Tests Universal Basic Income to Support Youth After Foster Care
https://bit.ly/3dfmAB2Help Us Close the Distance!The past two years have been a time of painful isolation and uncertainty, especially for America’s most vulnerable families and children. There has never been a more important time for the kind of work that Fostering Media Connections does: Telling the stories that bring all of us together, closing the distance that kept us apart.Now through Aug. 31, donations to The Imprint will be matched.Your donations help us to keep you informed with nuanced stories you won’t find anywhere else — and produce podcast episodes like this! Double your donation today at www.imprintnews.org/donate.
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