The Imprint Weekly

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. 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,...

On our 100th episode of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, we discuss a raft of new youth-related legislation introduced by Congress, moving teens to one of America’s largest adult prisons, and a new investment in adoption training. Liz Ryan, administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, joins us to discuss the Biden administration’s priorities for juvenile justice. Reading...

On this week’s podcast we discuss a major drop in the use of powerful psych meds on California foster youth, and discuss how child welfare metrics behaved during the prolonged decline in child poverty that was recently analyzed by Child Trends. Jenny Harper joins to talk about the looming federal cliff facing a program aimed at supporting new and expectant mothers, and what advocates are hoping wi...

On this week’s podcast we discuss developments in the legal battles over access to gender-affirming care for youth, the U.N.’s critique of American child welfare laws, and problems with the planned closure of California’s state-run youth prisons.  Last month, a U.S. district court ordered two former judges to pay damages totaling $206 million to families that were caught up in what came to be know...

No interview this week! We’ll be back with more great guests after Labor Day. On this episode, we catch up on a whole slew of headlines in child welfare and juvenile justice from the summer. Then, we highlight five things to keep an eye on this fall in terms of federal law and policy.  Reading Room Pennsylvania Parents Sue State Over “Unconstitutional” Child Abuse Registry https://bit.ly/3QGIfDD...

On this week’s podcast, we feature an online event hosted by Fostering Media Connections called “Stability Now: Getting Proactive About The Child Welfare Workforce.” This conversation features several child welfare experts who in different ways have worked on putting either their organization, or the system in general, in a better position to retain and support good workers.  Featured in this conv...

On this week’s episode we discuss a new bill to protect the rights of disabled adults involved in child welfare cases, and the resurgence of a lawsuit in West Virginia.  Researchers and social workers Justin Harty and Kristen Ethier join us to talk about what they found when they tried to unearth anything about fathers and fathering while in foster care.  Reading Room House Bill Would Establish Pr...

Dee Wilson is a former leader in Washington’s child welfare system who writes the monthly child welfare commentary Sounding Board. Wilson joined us to discuss a range of topics, including his view on the abolition movement, his ideas around boosting reunification efforts, the Family First Prevention Services Act, and professional foster parenting. Reading Room Sounding Board Commentary https://bit...

On this week’s episode, we discuss new findings that connect anti-poverty measures to reducing child maltreatment, the Democrats’ plan for unaccompanied minors at the border, and the Road to Healing Tour. Sixto Cancel, founder and CEO of Think of Us, joins to discuss his organization’s new Center for Lived Experience, kinship care, and authentic vs. performative gestures in the child welfare arena...

On this week’s episode, we discuss the federal about-face on child support payment policies for youth in foster care; how the workforce crisis is impacting Texas juvenile justice; and the latest on localizing juvenile justice in California.  Debbie Riley, CEO and co-founder of the Center for Adoption Support and Education, joins us to talk about what we’ve learned about post-adoption support in Am...

The Imprint Weekly Podcast will return with a new episode next week! For this week, we are turning the space over to feature a new podcast created by Community Legal Services of Philadelphia and Rowhome Productions: How Is That Legal? Breaking Down Systemic Racism One Law At A Time On each episode of How Is That Legal?,  host Kee Tobar and guests discussing specific ways that systemic racism is pr...

On this week’s episode, we discuss some alarming high school graduation data for foster youth in one of America’s largest cities; Oregon’s move away from an algorithm; and how the bipartisan gun bill could bring accountability to Medicaid services for children.  Longtime child welfare legal expert (and poet!) Diane Redleaf joins to discuss her career, recent legislation to change neglect statutes...

On this week’s episode we discuss the Biden administration’s possible crackdown on the use conversion therapy, Los Angeles’ new child welfare director, and a promising new legal clinic for mothers of newborns.  Lemn Sissay, chancellor of the University of Manchester, was stolen from his mother by the U.K. care system, renamed Norman, and placed with a family he was told was his forever but who cal...

On this week’s episode we discuss the worsening capacity crisis when it comes to older youth in foster care, calls for better juvenile judge training, and an update on the legal battle over investigating gender affirming care as abuse in Texas. After a youth enters foster care, there have traditionally been three paths to a more permanent setting: reunification, adoption and guardianship. Patty Du...

On this week’s episode, we discuss a scary error in California’s abuse registry process, more on state efforts to end gender-affirming care for youth, Louisiana’s “Lower the Age” bill and a new ombuds office in Ohio.  Serita Cox of iFoster joins to talk about how an email her organization sent to partners about what the Biden administration should prioritize in child welfare may have planted the s...

On this week’s episode, we go straight to the interview! Colleen Henry, of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, joins us to talk about the origin story of abuse and neglect registries and how they have changed in size and impact over the decades since they were first introduced. We close with some thoughts from Henry about some common-sense changes that systems should be consider...

On this week’s podcast we discuss the recent series and data reporting by USA Today on youth who are adopted from foster care and return to the system, the recent federal investigation on America’s use of Indian boarding schools; and news on lawsuits in Alaska and Indiana. Buzzfeed reporter Scott Pham joins to discuss his data reporting work on state-rund child abuse and neglect registries, which...

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the return of federal earmarks and which youth and family organizations benefitted, Florida’s new Family Navigator plan, and the findings of the first Voice of The Foster Care Community survey.  Instead of a guest interview, we’re featuring a great conversation on connecting youth in foster care to higher education and careers. This discussion was hosted by our t...

On this week’s podcast, we discuss the Justice Department’s entry into the legal battle on trans medicine for youth; Biden’s new juvenile justice leader, decarceration advocate Liz Ryan; and the first state in decades to pursue lowering the age of its juvenile justice system.  Judge Len Edwards joins us to talk about the “reasonable efforts” standards in child welfare policy, his book on that topi...

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.  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 restrictiv...

On this week’s podcast we discuss what’s happened in Ohio since the death of Ma’Khia Bryant, how child welfare might figure into California’s ideas around reparations, Connecticut’s new approach to helping families, and more.  Bridgette Carr and Vivek Sankaran, who both lead legal clinics at the University of Michigan Law School, join to discuss the importance of organizational support for the wel...

On this week’s podcast we discuss a new kinship prioritization in Washington, New York gets sued (twice), privatization ends in Nebraska, and controversial new legislation in Alabama and Tennessee.  Kim Clifton of HALOS in South Carolina, joins us to talk about kinship care, what federal funding for kinship navigators could mean for her state, and hidden foster care. Reading Room Washington Suprem...

Today on The Imprint Weekly Podcast we feature a great conversation that Fostering Media Connections hosted last month called “Homeless in Foster Care: What Would Really Keep Foster Youth from Sleeping in Offices.” As the title suggests, the motivation for this discussion was the reality that youth living in foster care are sleeping in offices, sometimes in hotels or even in rare cases cars, with...

The Imprint Weekly Podcast is on vacation, so we're bringing you a bonus podcast today from the great new series "Diaries of A Black Girl in Foster Care." The show’s co-hosts include Tashia Roberson Wing, who is pursuing her master’s degree in social work and public administration at Ohio State University; Kaysie Getty, a senior program analyst at the Center for the Study of Social...

We discuss several headlines related to litigation in the child welfare space, including two states exiting class-action lawsuits after decades and a new legal center aimed at fighting removals into foster care. Also: MacKenzie Scott drops unrestricted grants on youth organizations, and a great new visualization tool on racial and ethnic disproportionality in foster care.  Jason Smith, executive d...