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.  Reading Room McCormack’s Dissent http://bit.ly/3THF8fC In re G.M. Dixson Dissent https://bit.ly/3XS3y8R ..read more

On this week’s episode, Melissa Sickmund, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, joins us to dive into the decades-long plummeting of youth arrests and incarceration, juvenile justice in the age of Covid-19, data blind spots and more. Reading Room Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp/ Juvenile Residential Facility Census Databook https://www.ojjdp.gov/ojstatbb/jrfcdb/ Juvenile Justice Geography, Policy, Practice & Statistics https://www.jjgps.org ..read more

On this week’s episode we discuss some notable changes in Congress’ 2023 spending deal, a new study on equity in services, and the release of The Imprint’s 2022 foster care capacity data.  Marina Nitze, author of Hack Your Bureaucracy and a co-founder of the Child Welfare Playbook, joins to discuss strategies for improving child welfare, why she’s optimistic about the future of kinship care, and more.  Reading Room 2023 Spending Deal: What’s In It for Youth and Families https://bit.ly/3X7IgUa House Rules for the 118th Congress https://bit.ly/3Iy7RSl ACF Equity Study to Examine Six Ch ..read more

We will get back to our regular podcast format next week, but today we are featuring the work of Julie Reynolds, who is The Imprint’s new Associate Editor.  Reynolds has produced and released the second season of her Podcast Grey Area.  This new season, called After Life, explores one man’s journey into and then out of the California penal system, the latter part of which might not have happened but for changes over time in the state’s view about a second chance for young offenders.  First you will hear a brief interview with Julie about the new season, and then we will present ..read more

We had some amazing guests join us on The Imprint Weekly Podcast this year, and we reviewed the entire 2022 archive to bring you clips from some of the very best! This episode includes clips of 20 interviews from this year.  If you enjoy this podcast, or the great work our reporters do at The Imprint and Fostering Families Today, and the work that our Youth Voices Rising team does, please consider making a donation. And if you do so this month, during Newsmatch, your donation will get doubled! Fostering Media Connections is very lucky to have some terrific philanthropic supporters, advert ..read more

On this week’s podcast we talk about a racial equity audit New York City never made public; welfare payments and foster care; and the emergence of lifebooks.  Robin Rosenberg, deputy director of Florida’s Children First, joins us to discuss Florida’s implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act. In particular, we focus on a sex trafficking exception to federal limits on congregate care funding that Florida is using to place hundreds of youth in group settings.  Reading Room Strategies for Youth’s Youth Voices Contest Details: http://bit.ly/3Xhh5HB Entry form: http://bit ..read more

On this week’s podcast we talk about some interesting stories in The Imprint last week, an interesting filing in a faith-based discrimination case, juvenile diversion and fathers. Mira Zimet, founder of The Storyboard Project, joins to discuss her three seasons of profiling youth and young adults who have experienced the foster care system in America.  Reading Room Break Free Education’s Holiday Card Project https://www.breakfree-ed.org/care-mail Foster Care Failed to Protect Two Texas Teens from Sexual Assault https://bit.ly/3VQcri6 Philadelphia Starts Ombuds Office for Youth in Resident ..read more

On this week’s podcast, we discuss a big state court opinion on juvenile life sentences, some more workforce crisis stories, and one state supreme court chief justice’s scathing dissent in perhaps her last child welfare case.  Leslie Lacy of Fostering Hope Louisiana, who used to represent parents and children in child welfare cases as an attorney, joins us to discuss her organization’s effort to get braces for youth in foster care as part of a broader mental health and life skills strategy.  Reading Room Strategies for Youth’s Youth Voices Contest Details: http://bit.ly/3Xhh5HB Entry ..read more

Youth-related funding and policy was on the ballot in several states last week, and Olivia Allen of the Children’s Funding Project joins to help us break down what happened with those measures.  Then, we break down five different exchanges that capture the essence of the Supreme Court’s three hour oral arguments over the Indian Child Welfare Act last Wednesday, and share some thoughts on what seemed to be on the mind of the likely “swing votes” in the case.  Reading Room What’s On The Ballot for Youth and Families https://bit.ly/3DJpLxi Supreme Court Probes Constitutionality of India ..read more

The number of youth in foster care is below 400,000 for the first time in nearly a decade. On this week’s podcast, we break down the new data released by the Department of Health and Human Services, Florida’s ban on trans medicine for minors, and the worsening news out of Louisiana’s juvenile justice system.  Kate Fort, director of clinics at the Michigan State University College of Law, joins us to break down the constitutional questions and potential outcomes of Brackeen v. Haaland, which could decide the fate of the Indian Child Welfare Act.  Reading Room Number of Youth in Foster ..read more