Community In-Site

This episode of Community In-Site is a re-release with Melody Webb, founder and CEO of Mother’s Outreach Network and lead of the MotherUp pilot. Direct cash support for parents can sound both simple and provocative. Research shows that neglect is the most common reason families become involved with child welfare, and it is often tied to economic hardship, which is why direct cash support has becom...

Diapers may seem like a small need, but for families raising babies, diaper insecurity can affect  child care, work, parental stress, health, social connection, and the choices families are forced to make every day. In recognition of National Diaper Need Awareness Week, September 14-20, 2026, this episode asks what becomes possible when family well-being policy begins with the needs families are a...

When substance use is involved during pregnancy, the instinct to protect a baby can quickly lead to testing, reporting, child welfare involvement, and possible separation. But what if pregnancy is also one of the most important opportunities we have to help a parent recover, stabilize, and safely care for their child? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Dr. Sharon...

Getting into college and succeeding in college are two very different things. Young people with foster care experience have gained greater access to college through tuition assistance, scholarships, and enrollment support. But if access alone were enough, completion rates would look very different. In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost talks with Livingstone College Vice Presid...

What happens when a public-systems leader with more than 30 years of experience is asked to move from a sweeping vision for reform to the realities families experience when they seek help? In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost speaks with Tennessee Department of Human Services Commissioner Clarence Carter, author of Our Net Has Holes in It . Carter argues that America does not...

Prevention is one of the most common words in child welfare and family well-being conversations. But what are we actually trying to prevent? Are we trying to prevent foster care entry, family crisis, poverty, surveillance, or are we trying to build the conditions families need to thrive? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Zach Laris, founder of Bolder Horizons and...

Family well-being is often discussed in terms of concrete resources and services. But what happens when family support is built from the cornerstone of community, culture, creativity, healing, and relationships? What if reimagined what’s possible for a family resource center.  In this episode of Community In-Site , host Valerie Frost speaks with William and Camille, founders of School of Hip Hop i...

Today’s episode is a re-release of the recording with Carol Mitchell from Season Two on June 19, 2025. This is a great episode for both Father’s Day and Juneteenth.  In this episode, Valerie sits down with Carol Mitchell, a seasoned attorney, social justice advocate, and founder of the Institute for Black Justice (IBJ). With over 20 years of public sector leadership experience, Carol is dedicated...

AI is here and how it impacts our work and lives is only going to speed up. As AI becomes ubiquitous in child welfare and family well-being systems, an important question emerges: who is shaping the use of these tools, and whose experiences are reflected in their design? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Derrick Stephens, a lived-experience leader and technology...

The child welfare field is increasingly focused on shifting toward a broader vision of family well-being, one that emphasizes prevention, stability, and keeping families together whenever possible. But a fundamental question remains: can the system we have today actually become a family well-being system? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Sixto Cancel, founder an...

The child welfare field is increasingly asking what it would take to fundamentally change how we support families, and whether the systems we have today are capable of evolving into what communities and families have been asking for. One of the ideas at the center of that conversation is abolition. For many, it has existed as a critique from outside the system. But as that conversation moves close...

Termination of parental rights is often described as a last resort, something that happens only after every other option has been exhausted. But many families and advocates question how those outcomes are shaped long before a case reaches that point. In this episode, host Valerie Frost speaks with Toia Potts, a family advocate and organizer with Emancipate NC, about the role legal representation p...

For more than twenty years, there has been a growing emphasis on youth engagement — inviting young people into the conversations and decisions about the systems that impact their lives. However, there are still fundamental skills that many people are developing that are grounded in working with people with lived experience as experts.  Today, we’re joined by two child welfare advocates who are foc...

This episode of Community In-Site is a re-release from Season 2 with Dr. Jessica Pryce. Dr. Pryce is a research faculty at Florida State University and author of Broken: Transforming Child Protective Services . Dr. Pryce is a nationally recognized thought leader on child welfare workforce development. In this conversation, Valerie and Dr. Pryce talk about the agent–advocate–activist journey framew...

As the family well-being movement continues to push toward prevention, experimentation, and community-led solutions, what does it look like for philanthropy to support that shift? How can philanthropy be a leader in driving innovation and social change?  In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost speaks with Marvin Smith, founder and CEO of Funding Bravely. He is also the host of the...

Direct cash support for parents can sound both simple and provocative. Research shows that neglect is the most common reason families become involved with child welfare, and it is often tied to economic hardship, which is why direct cash support has become part of prevention conversations. Some would say that giving families money, with no strings attached, is exactly what prevention should look l...

When most people think about transitional housing for youth aging out, Mike Williams thinks about home ownership as a way to help them build generational wealth. Mike is the CEO of Dreams and Success Homes and SMART DREAMS Inc. Some would say that what Mike is doing is innovative and exactly what young people need, while others might say that mixing foster youth, real estate, and profit introduces...

Some would say that reducing child welfare intervention puts children at risk, while others argue that too much intervention causes its own harm. How can stepping back be seen as both responsible leadership and potentially risky, and what does that tension reveal about how we define safety? In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost balances these perspectives in her conversation wit...

Some would say that abolishing the child welfare system would put children at risk while others would say it is a beautiful vision for families. How can one idea, one word, spark such vastly different points of view, and what does this difference help us better understand about the child welfare system?  In this episode of Community In-Site, host Valerie Frost balances these differing points of vi...

Producer's Note: Season Three is Coming in January.... In this episode, host Valerie Frost talks with Bobbi Taylor, an experienced child welfare advocate and founder of Proximate Solution about why entrepreneurship matters in the family well-being sector.  Bobbi shares the problem she saw up close: gaps in support, training, and tools for people trying to make meaningful change, and how found...

Since our original conversation with Lisa Lawson, she’s published a new book called Thrive: How the Science of the Adolescent Brain Helps Us Imagine a Better Future for All Children . The book is a powerful reminder that adolescence is not a problem to fix, but a window of growth and possibility. Drawing on research, stories from the field, and feedback from young people, Lisa explores how we can...

In this episode, host Valerie Frost talks with Tanya Torres Trice, Director of Washington DC’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), about CFSA’s efforts to build trust with the community as they launch DC’s Warmline to better support families. Director Trice dives into the story behind DC’s Warmline, a new pathway that allows families to reach out for help before a crisis arises. She talks abo...

In this episode, host Valerie Frost speaks with Demarco Mott, a passionate youth leader and advocate from Miami who has spent years fighting racial disparities in child welfare and school systems. Demarco is the Chair of the Citrus Family Care Network Youth Advisory Council. His leadership journey began with his own experiences of exclusion and othering, moments that fueled his commitment to build...

In this episode, host Valerie Frost speaks with Liangliang Han, Program Director of the Family Enrichment Center at the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Together, they explore Rise Up, a community-driven initiative where immigrant families are not just recipients of services, they are the architects of them. Sunset Park is one of New York City’s most diverse neighborhoods, home to...

In this episode, host Valerie Frost sits down with Dr. Melissa Merrick, President and CEO of Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA), to talk about what it means to lead today as we all navigate through uncertainty. She emphasizes the importance of having courage, maintaining a clear vision, and being deeply committed to families. With a background in clinical work, public health, and national leadersh...