The Imprint staff reports

Some of the strongest Youth Voices Rising pieces published by The Imprint in 2023, all written by youth with lived experience.

In 2024, The Imprint explored the state of kinship care — the reliance on relatives or other close caregivers that is increasingly utilized.

In October, outgoing President Joe Biden issued a formal apology for the centuries that the U.S. government forced Native American children to attending boarding schools.

A collection of ten of the strongest op-eds on child welfare and youth justice published by The Imprint in 2024.

In 2024, The Imprint reported on legislative, policy and advocacy efforts aimed at preventing the use of foster care in child welfare cases.

Since 2019, states have been able to use federal child welfare funds to help pay for legal counsel for children and youth involved in child welfare cases. This year, Biden expanded that federal support.

The Imprint introduced readers to John Spence, a member of the Gros Ventre tribe, who leads Indigenous youth to experience the “healing power of horses" through equine therapy.

This year, Imprint examined the financial troubles of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the organization's actual impact on kids.

Across the country, challenges to keeping youth safe in child welfare and juvenile justice facilities were under the microscope in 2024.

Drug tests being used against parents undergoing medication-assisted sobriety and fatal overdoses in youth justice facilities in New York were among the stories we covered in 2024.

The child welfare and youth justice systems are often impacted by lawsuits. This year saw suits filed in California, New York and more states.

For the first time, some states moved toward establishing an expectation of 'active efforts' for most or all children involved in child welfare cases.

Congressional intern Julia Stumler calls on Congress to take several steps to prevent congregate care for older youth in foster care.

The SOUL Family approach to permanency should be recognized as a viable permanency option, says Congressional intern Shyeonna Robinson.

Congressional intern Maria Rosa Kelley wants more attention on the impact of interstate sibling separation in child welfare cases.

Congressional intern Nadia Goforth calls for Congress and the executive branch to spread awareness about Chafee benefits for older youth.

Congressional intern Dylan Evans proposes more federal investment in substance use treatment as a prevention tool, and kin caregiver support.

Congressional intern Christian Bell calls for greater federal transparency in delivering health care services to foster youth under Medicaid.

Congressional intern Erick Alvarez calls for federal investment in mentoring and other support for older youth transitioning out of foster care.

Congressional intern Leah Adams Adams argues for greater federal support for the promotion of treatment foster care in kinship care settings.

After her grandmother died, Aponi had to learn how to advocate for and protect herself. She talked to Mira Zimet about it for The Storyboard Project.

Mikey spent years cycling through foster and kinship homes before he found real permanency. He talked to Mira Zimet about it for The Storyboard Project.

Jhamasa, now in her mid-30s, reflected on her foster care experience several times over five years with Mira Zimet for The Storyboard Project.

Vic ran away while in foster care to avoid an emotionally charged home life. He talked to Mira Zimet about it for The Storyboard Project.

Annette knew that the way to break the cycle of addiction and struggle in her family was education. She talked to Mira Zimet about it for The Storyboard Project.

Some of our strongest pieces published by the Youth Voices Rising program in 2023

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year By The Imprint staff reports

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

Ten of the strongest op-eds published by The Imprint in 2023

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year

Congressional intern Faith Sharp suggests expanding two federal programs to include more youth who experience foster care.

Congressional intern Eunice Mejiadeu offers two solutions to improve support for foster youth at risk of being victims of trafficking

Congressional intern Idelia Robinson-Confer seeks to amplify the voices of foster youth and seed stronger adult connections for those aging out. 

Congressional intern Jamarri Maurice Kane-White calls for a federal tax credit for kinship caregivers outside the child welfare system.

Congressional intern Isabel Rodriguez offers three ideas for improving America’s commitment to keeping siblings connected in foster care.

Congressional intern Aoguzi Muhammet McDonald proposes a federal grant to pay tuition directly to colleges chosen by foster youth.

Congressional intern Nyomi Davis says Congress should reintroduce the Trauma-Informed Care Act and require PTSD training for foster parents.

Congressional intern Christian Sotomayor wants to expand eligibility for certain foster youth to transition under the Chafee program.

Congressional intern Glenda Wright wants to include kinship care as a requirement for state funding, separate from foster care or adoption.

Congressional intern Kayleen makes three recommendations aimed at preventing the maltreatment of children while they are in foster care.

Congressional intern Gianna Bottom proposes that Congress mandate and fund the Children’s Bureau to develop required standardized training.

Congressional intern Jessica Herrera Twitchell proposes that Congress amend two federal programs for older youth in foster care.

Aubrey Edwards-Luce is the new executive director for the Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children and the Courts.

A nonprofit in Washington, D.C., has launched a guaranteed income pilot program supporting Black mothers with current or recent child welfare involvement.

The Biden Administration is seeking input from tribal leaders on how the federal government can support Indian Child Welfare Act protections.

The Child Well-Being Research Institute is slated to move to the University of Kentucky’s School of Social Work.

Advocates with the campaign Debt Free Justice earned Telly awards for short films about fines and fees in the juvenile justice system. 

The Oklahoma Legislature has approved a program to pay and train lawyers for children and parents involved in child welfare cases.

Alabama’s Department of Youth Services can now hire people with previous findings of neglect, which once made applicants ineligible.

Leonard Burton has been tapped to lead the Center for the Study of Social Policy as its next president, succeeding Judith Meltzer.

The National Adoption Association's Ujima Black Family Program, focusing on racial equity in adoption, has been awarded $500K. 

A new report has revealed that temporary pandemic relief programs brought child poverty to a historic low of 15% in New York City. 

Dawn Rains has been appointed CEO at Seattle-based Treehouse. She replaces Lisa Chen, who has held the position since 2020. 

More than 1,000 California families will receive reimbursements for illegal fees they paid to Riverside County’s juvenile justice system.

National child welfare nonprofit Foster America has brought in its first head of programs, Brian Clapier, slated to start on Feb. 6.

By The Imprint staff reports

Proposed legislation in Virginia would require colleges and universities to provide free housing for foster care students during breaks.

This year, The Imprint reported on developments specific to Indigenous child welfare, including a challenge at the Supreme Court of the Indian Child Welfare Act.

This year, The Imprint covered the prioritization of kinship care from Washington state to Washington, D.C.

A collection of some of the many powerful Youth Voices Rising pieces featured in The Imprint during 2022

In 2022, Imprint reporters told the stories of several of the leaders on the front line of youth justice reform in California.

In California, the number of youth in foster care on psychiatric meds has fallen, but other states continue to keep inadequate records.

For all the efforts to improve the academic experiences of foster youth, significant barriers to education remain.

A selection of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from the past year By The Imprint staff reports

Mira Zimet traveled the country interviewing youth who have experienced foster care for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

In 2022, The Imprint reported on state policies that used child protective services to target transgender youth and their families.

A Michigan court ruled that parents with children in foster care cannot be denied visitation based on positive drug tests alone.

In 2022, The Imprint covered innovative community approaches to curbing youth violence, from California to New York.

Advocates have filed a federal class action lawsuit against North Carolina’s child welfare agency, claiming it segregates disabled foster youth in institutional care.

A new digital toolkit from the Juvenile Law Center aims to help people build or strengthen youth advocacy programs.

Mira Zimet traveled the country interviewing youth who have experienced foster care for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

The workforce crisis continues to plague the child welfare field, where increasingly stressful jobs have worsened already-high turnover rates. 

Despite some concerns about whether child maltreatment rates would rise during the pandemic, early numbers showed that wasn't the case.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a federal rule barring foster care providers from discriminating against LGBTQ children and families. 

Emilio, whose adoption by a relative turned abusive, now works to support kinship care in Nevada. He talked to Mira Zimet about it for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

Embark Georgia, an organization that improves college access and retention for students who have been in foster care or homeless, got $1.5 million.

When a mentor and a pastor got involved, it changed the trajectory of Emmerald's life in foster care. She talked about it with Mira Zimet for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

Shayla struggled through anxiety and found stability in supportive people. She talked to Mira Zimet about her journey for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

Eltuan moved 16 times while in Kentucky's foster care system. He talked to Mira Zimet for the third season of The Storyboard Project.

The Morgridge Family Foundation is investing $1.4 million to expand child welfare research and professional training across the country.

An investigation showed that a top Medicaid contractor in Illinois did not effectively manage the health care of youth in foster care.

A federal grand jury indicted two former officials of a major Kansas foster care contractor on alleged financial crimes.

Citing a backlog of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors, the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement has awarded five contracts for long-term foster care.

First 5 LA recently announced its new executive director, Karla Pleitéz Howell, will start the job in January.

As he retires from the New York University School of Law's Family Defense Clinic, Martin Guggenheim says the nation's "child welfare" system doesn't deserve that name.

This week, New Mexico voters approved a measure that will invest millions of dollars into public education, including dedicated funding for early education.

Christian Connell was recently named the new director of Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network.

David Shalleck-Klein, founder of the Family Justice Law Center, has been awarded the David Prize.

A legislative committee in Maine will sue the state's human services department for access to records related to four child deaths in 2021.

After Texas and Florida made it harder to provide shelter for unaccompanied minors, the Biden administration wants to add federal monitoring.

Jesse Hahnel, longtime executive director of the National Center for Youth Law, is leaving the Oakland-based organization.

Phil Littleton, the longtime chief executive of Holt International Children’s Services, left his position late last month.

The CDC is funding research on gun violence among adults experiencing homelessness with a $1.6 million grant.

The Pascua Yaqui Tribe recently codified an agreement with the state of Arizona to preserve protections of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which could be overturned this fall.

Congressional intern Ryan Young wants to open eligibility for the Chafee program and other supports to more transition-age youth.

The American Bar Association has called on legal professionals to come to terms with how the child welfare system’s racist roots continues to harm Black families.

Congressional intern Angulina Wilson calls for mental health check-ins for youth in foster care and investments in trauma-informed care.

Beginning in September, the Young Women's Freedom Center will be co-led by Abigail Richards and Julia Arroyo.

Congressional intern Anna Rose Thelemaque wants to open up housing access specifically for former foster youth and those aging out.

Foster youth intern Nijeria Peterson proposes that Congress take steps toward improving access to, and knowledge of, benefits for transition-age foster youth.

Congressional intern Christina Parker wants more flexibility and expanded eligibility to support young people who have experienced foster care as they transition to adulthood.

Intern Stormy Lukasavage calls on the federal government to address the links between child welfare and youth justice involvement.

Earlier this month, California launched a program to kickstart college savings accounts for millions of children.

Rutgers University student April Barcus calls for every current and former foster youth to be matched with a health care navigator.

Two former judges were ordered to pay $206 million to hundreds of families whose children were victimized by their scheme to send kids to for-profit jails to receive kickbacks.

The new KIDS COUNT Data Book shows that young Americans faced significant mental health challenges even before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Margie Quin, currently the chief executive officer of End Slavery Tennessee, will soon step into her new role as commissioner of the state’s Department of Children’s Services. 

A North Dakota program to steer children away from the criminal justice and foster care systems launched this month. 

By The Imprint staff reports An Alaska social worker and associate professor at University of Alaska, Anchorage, is the president-elect of the National Association of Social Workers. The association, known as NASW, announced last week that Dr.

Judge Tracy Green, a child welfare judge in Wayne County, Mich., faces removal from the bench for her role in a child abuse case that involves her son and grandchildren.

Two senators have launched a new inquiry into four major operators of youth residential treatment programs that have been the subject of recent reports of abusive treatment.

A new program in New Mexico would give financial incentives to landlords who provide housing options for youth aging out of foster care and young adults facing homelessness.

A year after a judge tossed out a class-action lawsuit on behalf of West Virginia foster children, a federal court of appeals has reversed course.

The Office of Family Assistance, a division of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, has a new director — Ann Flagg.

After the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, maternal mortality in the U.S. increased by about one-third, according to a recent study.

A bill before Congress would ensure that safer housing and legal protection would be provided for undocumented, unaccompanied minors.

A new grant in Washington is accepting applications for funding for parent support, early learning and early childhood programs that advance cultural inclusivity.

Adam Meier, director of the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, is resigning and will be replaced by the department's current chief of staff, Charlie Brereton.

In Canada, a federal court judged approved a class-action lawsuit encompassing Indigenous people forcibly sent to Indian boarding schools from 1992 to 2020, and their descendants.

A local Washington, D.C., bill would stop the government from applying for federal benefits on behalf of foster youth.

A bill in the House of Representatives would make it easier for current and former foster youth to obtain a driver’s license and other driving essentials.

In an executive order issued this month, President Joe Biden detailed his plan to advance equality for LGBTQ youth and adults.

New Hampshire could be on the cusp of reforming its restraint and isolation practices in residential treatment facilities for youth.

Oregon child welfare officials are replacing an algorithm used to help determine which families should be visited by child protective services with a new screening process.

Casey Family Programs announced its annual Casey Excellence for Children Awards and Jim Casey Building Communities of Hope Award.

Two Florida health agencies last week made cases to bar transgender children and residents using Medicaid from gender-affirming health care.

Donna Ludford, who entered foster care at six months old and previously worked as a cleaner at Manchester City Council, is the city's new lord mayor.

A new law in Connecticut offers protections for Indigenous families that mirror the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.

More than a hundred children have died while in the custody of Ohio’s foster care system since 2015, a local news investigation found.

Georgia youth detained in adult jail will soon have access to special education services, following a recent ruling by a U.S. District Court.

Alaska has amended court rules to allow foster youth the ability to attend hearings and have attorneys argue their own wishes in their cases.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill last week that will provide free college and technical school tuition for Mississippi foster youth through a scholarship fund.

In Utah, three state laws will soon take effect that focus on youth — two pertaining to juvenile justice and child welfare, and a third regarding mental health.

Washington state will now prioritize keeping children with relatives when both parents lose custody, under a new law signed last month. 

A judge ruled that the Office of Refugee Resettlement must set and abide by clear standards when deciding to detain an immigrant child in a jail-like setting, and must offer an appeals process.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has named Jenney Samuelson secretary of the Agency of Human Services to lead corrections, foster care and other state systems.

According to a lawsuit filed recently in federal court, New York fails to provide adequate mental health services to youth who qualify.

By The Imprint staff reports In Georgia, child advocates are suing the state’s child welfare agency in federal court because it refuses to pay for the specialized legal services that some undocumented youth and young adults would need to fully protect their foster care benefits.

A bipartisan bill introduced in the U.S. Senate aims to address the issue of children missing from the foster care system.

Nearly two months after a Kentucky judge held the state in contempt of court for the “dismal shape” of its child welfare agency, state legislators unanimously passed a bill to help address these poor conditions.

South Carolina could join the many states that tap federal foster care funds to help establish extended foster care.

Child welfare investigators in Illinois would be allowed to carry pepper spray if a bill with strong bipartisan support becomes law.

The Colorado Supreme Court will hear a case that involves local child welfare officials' federal requirement to notify Native American tribes about custody cases that involve Indigenous children.

The Juvenile Law Center recently announced the winners of this year's Leadership Prize: Cyntoia Brown Long, Dorothy Roberts and Tomas Grisso.

The House Judiciary Committee last week approved a Colorado bill that would raise the age of criminal responsibility in the state.

Oklahoma is looking for people from marginalized backgrounds who want to influence the state’s child welfare and juvenile justice systems.

Jackie Thu-Huong Wong is the incoming executive director of First 5 California, which provides resources, services and programs to families with young children.

A month after Maine Gov. Janet Mills proposed a plan to improve child protective services, legislators endorsed bills this week with the same goal.

After Kansas lawmakers rejected a bill to expand access for food assistance in the House, the Senate is now considering a bill that would limit access.

Michigan recently announced its plan to create a task force to support LGBTQ families looking to foster or adopt following a settlement with a private charity that excludes same-sex families.

A Mississippi bill being considered by the state Senate would create a short-term scholarship program for students who spent their teens in foster care.

Colorado lost an advocate for children waiting to be adopted with the death of Dixie van de Flier Davis, who founded the organization now known as Raise the Future.

While the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case on the constitutionality of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act, New Mexico has a similar bill on the governor's desk.

Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would set up exit interviews for youth after they leave a foster home.

Dr. Danny TK Avula, who ran Virginia's coronavirus vaccination program, has been selected to run the state's Department of Social Services.

Families and children in New Mexico could have greater access to better lawyers and advocates as they navigate the child welfare system under a bill passed by the House of Representatives.

A child welfare overhaul bill that recently sped through the Kentucky Senate would, in part, explicitly distinguish poverty from neglect.

The Children’s Bureau has approved two more states' Family First plans — Montana and South Carolina — granting access to federal funds to curb foster care entries.

Child advocates and Fresno County have reached a prompt settlement in a lawsuit over allegations that the California county was not adequately including the community in developing its juvenile justice realignment plan.

Federal watchdogs are keeping a close eye on the potentially predatory loan practices of some post-secondary institutions.

The FBI is reviewing the death of a Black teenager in foster care who died in custody last fall at a juvenile intake center in Kansas.

After five teenagers escaped from a youth detention facility in Washington, one is still at large and all have been charged with robbery and kidnapping.

Former Indiana Department of Child Services director Mary Beth Bonaventura has been temporarily appointed family court judge in Marion County.

A recent Columbia University report urges Colorado lawmakers to raise the age of eligibility for the state's Youthful Offender System, among other recommendations.

A bipartisan bill proposed by Florida legislators would guarantee access to an attorney for youth in the foster care system at court hearings.

Angelique Salizan participated in the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's Foster Youth Internship Program in 2015. Now, she's returning as a policy director.

Michigan will again contract with foster agencies that don't work with LGBTQ couples due to a Supreme Court decision, but the state reiterated its support of these families.

The number of family separations has been dramatically reduced in two Florida counties since the state took over foster care services from a private contractor

The New Jersey Supreme Court has decided that young people who were sentenced to long prison terms can petition for release after 20 years.

Maine, Nebraska and Tennessee are among the states that have collectively been hoarding billions intended to help low-income families.

Vermont has no secure place to hold severely troubled youth who previously would have been housed in the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, which closed in 2020.

FosterClub is accepting applications for paid internships that will provide leadership training and other opportunities for people age 18 to 24 who have been in foster care.

A new study of young people who have been in foster care and are enrolled at community colleges in Illinois paints a dismal picture of their educational success.

JMacForFamilies is soliciting applicants for its spring internship program, which trains promising young people with lived experience in the child welfare system in the skills to help advance themselves and their community.

A child welfare worker with two children of her own was fatally stabbed inside an Illinois home while investigating a report.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that child welfare agencies must have probable cause to search a parent's home amid anonymous allegations.

By The Imprint staff reports The U.S. Supreme Court could decide by the end of the week whether to take up a case involving the rights of Indigenous tribes and families in child welfare cases — an area of law that was thrown into confusion when a federal appeals court invalidated several provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA.

Canada has reached a historic tentative agreement with Indigenous people to compensate them for mistreatment by the child welfare system.

The family of a 16-year-old Michigan boy who died at the hands of staff members at a youth facility has settled in a wrongful death suit.

A two-year federal probe has uncovered evidence that residents of a state-run juvenile lockup in Connecticut were improperly punished with solitary confinement and systematically deprived of mental health services and schooling.

The placement of youth in congregate care settings, including foster youth, faced criticism and a push for greater oversight this year.

This year, it became likely that the Supreme Court will hear Brackeen v. Halaand, a case that puts tribal sovereignty and the Indian Child Welfare Act on the line.

Early legal counsel, the termination of parental rights, and ideas around peer support were among the issues The Imprint covered in 2021.

Throughout 2021, The Imprint continued reporting on how the shadow system of hidden foster care impacts parents, relatives and children.

Millions of federal grant dollars are going out the door before the end of the year to support youth and help enhance equity in the juvenile justice system, the Department of Justice announced last week.

As in-person learning resumed in schools, an increase in concerning incidents had some districts reconsidering their choices to remove campus police.

In 2021, Youth Voice received many powerful submissions, and published over 50 pieces from current and former foster youth.

When 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant was killed by police in April, it raised questions about how the teen came to be in the home of a stranger.

By The Imprint staff reports New York state foster parents are in line for a major increase in support payments under the terms of a settlement announced in an 11-year-old legal battle in federal court.

A national campaign has been launched to push back against the practice of issuing fines and fees to the families of youth involved in the juvenile justice system.

Driven by evidence that child welfare system judges parents of color more harshly, there is growing interest in a color-blind approach.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced earlier this month that thousands of the state's essential social workers would receive a 10% pay bump

In 2021, California has become a testing ground for universal basic income programs for youth aging out of foster care.

As federal policy on child welfare aims to help parents build strong bonds with their children so that fewer kids end up in foster care, a pair of bills in Wisconsin propose new grounds for terminating parental rights.

The NBA Foundation announced grants totaling $11 million to organizations around the U.S. and Canada with missions to further economic empowerment in Black communities.

In 2021, The Imprint reported on what went on in the early days of the pandemic in juvenile lockups, and what challenges persisted.

A report from Generations United and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recommends extending foster care-type supports to kin caregivers, including grandparents.

In Massachusetts, electronic repositories would contain the educational records of each foster child to make school transitions easier.

Friends of the Children has received $3.4 million in grant funds to expand its mentoring model and study its effectiveness.

A recent study suggests implementing a multidimensional strategy to address poverty and firearm-related deaths after associating high county-level poverty with gun deaths among young Americans.

The Administration for Children and Families is seeking public input on a plan to collect new data on centralizing services for low-income Americans.

The number of foster children housed in unlicensed facilities in Texas has surged to the point that hundreds are being exposed to “unreasonable risk of serious harm."

Child welfare advocates in West Virginia have recently offered up a slate of significant proposals to right the system that is admittedly flawed.

The Biden administration has revoked a Trump-era waiver that exempted federally funded foster care providers from following nondiscrimination rules.

By The Imprint staff reports Child welfare leaders are getting behind an initiative that they say would accelerate a major national shift toward building a child safety system that prioritizes keeping families from falling into the foster care system because of severe maltreatment while at the same time improving the safety of children at risk of maltreatment.

By The Imprint staff reports People in the child welfare field, like folks in virtually all occupations, are still trying to figure out exactly what the “new normal” will look like when (and if) COVID-19 fades to a lower-level public health concern.

One of the world’s best-known social welfare organizations, UNICEF, released two reports to make the case for nations to stop incarcerating children.

Beginning next spring, some Delaware students who were previously in foster care will have access to cost-free college.

A campaign is underway to extend the right to an attorney to children and parents nationwide caught up in the child welfare system.

Backed by more than $20 million in federal funds, a national effort is underway to engage foster youth in the decision making around their care.

Legal advocates for California’s juvenile justice-involved youth have filed a lawsuit against Fresno County for not welcoming public input in developing local plans for youth justice.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has again ranked the 100 American employers that best support workers who are adoptive parents.

Last month, 25 states urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which was signed into law 43 years ago this week.

The child welfare agency in Florida is changing how it responds to allegations of abuse against foster caregivers, following a news investigation in March.

The Center for Adoption Support and Education plans to launch a teaching clinic so more professionals can provide adoption-competent therapy.

A former social services director in North Carolina pled guilty to obstruction of justice for the department's use of illegitimate documents.

Some people who were sentenced for crimes they committed when they were very young can now ask a judge for a second chance of sorts under a new law in New York state.

A bipartisan group of Florida state lawmakers filed two companion bills that would prohibit juvenile court fees in the state.

Employees with the Housing and Urban Development's Office of Public and Indian Housing won an award for an initiative helping transition-age youth.

Prevent Child Abuse America is offering nonprofits with a history of serving Black, Latino and Indigenous families grants of up to $150,000.

Grandparents and other kin who stepped up to help their loved ones' children are getting one-time pandemic relief funds in Arizona.

More than $140 million in competitive federal grants will help combat youth homelessness in 33 communities across the United States.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has chosen 10 finalists in the running for a total of $90 million to fund racial equity projects.

The Guardian ad Litem Foundation, 20th Judicial Circuit, has received a $17,000 grant from a local chapter of the United Way.

The for-profit Sequel Youth & Family Services faces regulatory and legal complaints for its management of residential care facilities for teens.

Miquel Lewis has been named acting director of juvenile probation in the nation's second most populated county, Cook County, Illinois.

A group that offers long-term professional mentoring to kids at risk of getting trapped in the child welfare system is opening new offices.

Montana lawmakers will study two promising pilot programs courts have used to address the increase and improve the lives of foster youth.

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed an executive order early this month establishing the Division of the Child Advocate.

Years after foster care children and their legal advocates sued the state of Washington over mental health services, a federal judge is satisfied that the state is committed to lasting changes.

National child welfare provider Youth Villages learned Sunday night it would receive $1 million from "Celebrity Wheel of Fortune."

California is asserting its responsibility for the care of immigrant children in the state who don't have any adult to look after them.

In rejecting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s position, a Canadian judge has set the stage for Ottawa to pay billions of dollars in compensation to Indigenous children who were removed from their homes and systematically given inadequate child welfare support.

A class-action lawsuit alleging that the state of Oregon has violated the rights of children in its child welfare system may proceed, a federal judge ruled last week.

Black youth in California are more likely to be injured during police interactions, according to a study that examined data from 2005 to 2017.

For years, foster children in Illinois have had to stay in psychiatric treatment facilities longer than necessary because there are no suitable placements for them.

Reginald Dwayne Betts, a poet and justice reformer, was awarded a prestigious “genius” grant through the MacArthur Fellowship.

President Joe Biden granted a special commission an extension to complete a report on government and tribal programs that serve Indigenous children.

A state watchdog says Nebraska should cancel the remainder of its contract with child welfare case management provider, Saint Francis Ministries.

A Georgia circuit judge ruled that federal law entitles students with disabilities to education services when in adult jails.

A campaign announced in March to seek repeal of the Adoption and Safe Families Act has brought in a strategist to lead the effort.

The leader of South Carolina’s juvenile justice agency is stepping down after more than four years running the long-embattled department.

New York City’s child welfare agency told certain service providers they should vaccinate 16- and 17-year-olds against COVID-19, even without parental approval.

Children’s Rights announced earlier this month that it hired Leecia Welch, previously with National Center for Youth Law, as lead counsel.

The federal government has signed off on Maine's plan for expansion of prevention and treatment for families whose kids are at risk of falling into the foster care system.

Six- and 7-year-olds accused of committing felonies in North Carolina will no longer be prosecuted in criminal court under a juvenile justice bill Gov. Roy Cooper signed on Aug. 30.

In Rhode Island, a parent’s disability can no longer be the sole basis to deny or restrict their rights in matters involving a child's welfare.

Saying efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect are "tragically underfunded," two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that could pump hundreds of millions of dollars into addressing the problem.

Students in foster care in Tennessee are exempt from a rule that bars kids who transfer to a new district from playing sports for a year.

North Carolina lawmakers have passed a broad bill that backers hope will improve the lives of hard-to-place children in the foster care system if Gov. Roy Cooper signs it, as the author expects.

A juvenile detention center in Pittsburgh must close by Sept. 18 after findings that staff failed to correct major violations for years.

New Hampshire is the latest state to step up the monitoring of medications intended to immediately control the behavior of children in foster care.

Leecia Welch, the National Center for Youth Law’s senior director of legal advocacy and child welfare, has been awarded the Janet Reno Endowment Women’s Leadership Award.

By The Imprint staff reports A bill granting the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Tribal Justice two additional years to complete a study on the needs of Native children is on its way to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.

Illinois youth in juvenile facilities may no longer be thrown into isolation or room confinement as a punishment for their behavior.

With just 1 in 4 of Louisiana’s incarcerated youth fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, children’s advocates say the state should do more to protect them, as the more transmissible delta variant spreads.

By The Imprint staff reports The Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is asking for more time to complete a survey aimed at sussing out information about the factors that affect family stability at least eight years after families adopt kids out of the child welfare system.

Less than four years after courts across the land began to release “juvenile lifers” from prison, evidence out of Michigan shows that few of the released prisoners have resumed committing grievous crimes.

A new ruling by the highest court in Maryland offers fresh hope to hundreds of offenders sent to prison for crimes they committed as minors.

Transitional foster youth in Wisconsin could get up to $6,000 in direct payments to help them recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

Brian Blalock, who presided over a reduction in the backlog of complaints about New Mexico’s child welfare system but also faced criticism for allegedly retaliating against whistleblowers, has stepped down as head of the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department.

End Child Poverty California, a coalition of groups whose legislative and policy advocacy work has helped thousands of California kids, has a new leader.

A former Child Protective Unit supervisor in North Carolina has pleaded guilty to reduced charges in exchange for his testimony against higher-ups implicated in the wrongful removal of children.

Children’s Rights, a national nonprofit that uses the law to improve public systems serving children, has named Shereen White as its first policy director.

Under an alternative sentencing bill recently reintroduced in the Senate, eligible parents or caregivers would be provided with resources to help keep their kids at home.

Child welfare officials on Florida's west coast have seen more children removed from their homes recently because of parents’ “inability to cope" with their mental health struggles.

By The Imprint staff reports A range of concrete and economic supports could sufficiently stabilize families and children to the point that they could avoid traumatic involvement with the child welfare system, according to a newly updated policy brief by researchers from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

The director of Georgia’s family and children’s services resigned after he demeaned a Black sheriff’s deputy on state property.

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges has recognized family court judge David King with its Justice Innovation Award.

The Biden administration may revise the handbook for evaluating services meant to prevent the use of foster care in some child welfare cases.

Researchers at Duke University found that visits by a registered nurse to the homes of newborns can have significant, lasting positive effects.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has ordered a landmark probe into the harmful, traumatic legacy of American Indian boarding schools.

President Joe Biden has chosen a former harsh critic of Florida’s unemployment system to oversee the Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration.

A key group of Congress members is crediting a former foster youth with inspiring them to introduce legislation that would fund pilot programs for sibling groups in foster care.

Olivia Golden, who has run the poverty-fighting Center for Law and Social Policy since 2013, is stepping down early next year.

The country’s next drug czar, if confirmed by the Senate, will be the first physician to hold the post, according to news reports.

Colorado closed a private residential center for youth with behavioral problems in the wake of ongoing allegations of licensing violations.

A Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit with a goal to prepare youth for success in college, work and life before age 21 will have a deeply experienced new leader come September: Mishaela Durán.

To address wealth disparity, Connecticut has set aside public funds that will establish trust funds for babies born July 1 and later.

New laws affecting the protection of children went into effect July 1 in Tennessee, including one that increases the penalty for knowingly exposing children to dangerous drugs.

The Mandated Reporter Commission in Massachusetts has failed to settle on a path forward on recommendations for expanding mandated reporting.

Pennsylvania’s juvenile justice system needs an overhaul to address pervasive violence and racial disparities, according to a bipartisan task force report.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed the closure of the state’s only lockup youth facility, saying that shuttering it would pose a threat to public safety.

Redlich Horwitz Foundation, a major financial supporter of programs to strengthen New York's foster care system, has hired Jessica Maxwell.

Illinois will beef up services and existing mandatory training for staff members, partner organizations and foster care providers to improve how LGBTQ people are treated within the child welfare system.

A bipartisan group of federal lawmakers has introduced a resolution that would standardize the process of conducting home visits.

The government has launched a pair of new web portals to help families manage and track advance monthly payments of their child tax credits.

Virginia’s foster youth now have an official watchdog. In June, Gov. Ralph Northam appointed a director of the Office of Children’s Ombudsman.

Perhaps the ninth time will be the charm for lawmakers who want to ban the routine shackling of juvenile defendants in Minnesota courtrooms. Every year since 2013, legislation to do so has fallen short.

Colorado youth who have transitioned out of foster care can re-enter the system if they wish to access services expanded under a new state law.

This year’s Kids Count Data Book, an annual snapshot of the well-being of children, paints a troubling picture of how the pandemic affected American families.

Minnesota youth who have foster care experience are significantly more likely than their non-foster peers to report each of five dental problems and markedly less likely to report receiving dental care.

Georgia has a new leader to advocate for the rights of children and youth in the child welfare system and the services they are entitled to.

West Virginia is splitting part of its welfare bureau into two smaller pieces as part of a broader effort to improve the child welfare system.

President Joe Biden has decided to tap the leader of the Obama Foundation’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance program to oversee AmeriCorps, a federal agency that runs the largest service-learning program in the country.

The coronavirus pandemic took an “alarming” toll on the food security, housing stability and mental health of millions of young people in the United States — especially among Black people and other people of color — according to a new study.

Maine lawmakers voted narrowly to close the state’s only juvenile prison, but it’s not clear the governor, a former prosecutor, will let it happen.

The watchdog agency that oversees Washington’s foster care system is launching an investigation into the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families’ allegedly punitive treatment of hard-to-place foster youth, especially after hours.

By The Imprint staff reports The coronavirus pandemic coincided with major drops in foster care exits, reunifications and adoptions last year, according to an Associated Press analysis of child welfare records from 34 states.

The head of South Carolina’s Department of Juvenile Justice took a blow last week when the state Senate gave him a vote of no confidence.

New York University’s Silver School of Social Work has received what NYU called one of the largest gifts ever given to such a school, which will be used to try to crack open new insights into the problems of racism and social inequality.

Oregon lawmakers have voted to codify provisions of the federal Indian Child Welfare Act into state law and sent the bill to the desk of Democratic Gov. Kate Brown.

More than a decade after a federal judge approved Michigan’s sweeping agreement to fix problems with its child welfare system, the court-appointed monitoring team reported multiple ongoing concerns about the safety of kids under state care.

Illinois teachers and others who look after children in a nonparental role may soon have to be taught how to recognize and eliminate their own racial and ethnic biases as mandated reporters of potential child abuse and neglect.

Groups are urging the Biden administration to discourage states from charging fees and fines to incarcerated juveniles, saying they unfairly load debt on low-income youth and their families.

Gordon Bazemore, a pioneer of restorative justice, a reconciliation-based system of addressing criminal behavior, has died.

Child protective services officials in Texas can no longer remove a child from their family because a parent tested positive for cannabis.

A federal judge has been trying for years to get Ohio to pay kinship caregivers their due under federal law, but counties say there’s not enough money from the state to make it feasible.

Lawmakers are calling for the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate the foster care experience of Ma’Khia Bryant, the 16-year-old Black girl who police shot and killed on April 20.

A new report from Prevent Child Abuse America recommends President Biden appoint a child abuse prevention czar.

Alliance-COA, an organization that accredits and strengthen organizations in the social sector, has announced a set of critical new hires.

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed a measure that would have required police to withhold from the public the identity of juvenile offenders under the age of 20 unless or until they are charged with a felony.

Tribes and advocacy groups want the federal government to once again begin collecting voluntary data about sexual orientation of foster youth and adoptees.

Weis Markets, a grocery chain that operates in the Mid-Atlantic states, presented a $250,000 check this week to the iFoster Hope campaign.

Illinois is one step from becoming the first state to bar police from using deceptive tactics when interrogating people under the age of 18.

Thirteen senators led by Dianne Feinstein and Mark Warner called on the Biden administration to aid transition-age foster youth, who were hit especially hard during the pandemic.

The Iowa Department of Human Services is ready to cut checks to people between ages 18 and 26 who are or have been in the child welfare system — a one-time payment of $750 to help them help pay rent and utilities.

Connecticut is one of the handful of states that is currently looking at raising the minimum age for juvenile court jurisdiction, in this case from 7 to 10 years old.

A philanthropic gift of $6 million should mean a significant bump in the number of kids who will benefit from one-on-one adult mentoring through Friends of the Children.

Few occupations are tougher on workers than those in the child welfare field, with national turnover rates estimated to chronically range from 20% to 40% a year. Two U.S. Senators want the Department of Health and Human Services to lighten the load for these workers.

North Carolina is expected to ban the shackling of incarcerated women during childbirth, according to a published report.

States would be required to report all deaths related to child abuse and create recommendations for curbing them under a bipartisan bill being pushed in the U.S. Senate.

In the first study to compare national data on the rate of rural versus large urban child maltreatment reports, researchers found that kids living in the country are about one-third more likely to be reported to authorities, but the rate of substantiation was about the same in both settings.

By The Imprint staff reports Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan on Tuesday signed a stronger and more expansive college tuition waiver law for some of the state’s most disadvantaged youth — those who are homeless and kids in the foster care system.

A nonprofit in southeast Texas is turning a former nursing home into about 25 transitional apartments for kids aging out of foster care.

A linchpin provider of Texas’ budding plan to privatize the placement of foster youth across the massive state has dealt a blow to the concept by unexpectedly walking away from its contract with the Department of Family and Protective Services.

By The Imprint staff reports The latest effort to ban spanking and other forms of corporal punishment in Louisiana public schools once more failed to get enough votes to pass. The state House voted 48-49 last week, five short of the number required to pass the bill, which was authored by Republican Rep.

By The Imprint staff reports The New Mexico child welfare agency has announced that it’s no longer using an app that critics say allowed it to work in secret and may have violated the state’s open-government laws.

Virtual hearings may have been a necessary precaution for the past 14 months because of the pandemic, but a new report from the National Juvenile Defender Center says they take a toll on the legal rights of juvenile defendants and should not remain a normal practice once it’s safe to gather in court again.

The rate of kids younger than 18 who were arrested fell in 2019, but the numbers varied across demographic groups and offenses.

By The Imprint staff reports Lynn Johnson, former President Donald Trump’s top child welfare official, is now running children’s initiatives for CityServe, a national faith-based nonprofit.

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By The Imprint staff reports The William T. Grant Foundation has announced this year’s scholarship winners for promising early-career researchers working on methods to improve the lives of young people who have experienced poverty and other forms of hardship.

Six new bills signed into law in Georgia this week are intended to accelerate the state’s ongoing efforts to make adoption easier.

The Children’s Defense Fund, a major U.S. child advocacy organization, has a new vice president in charge of strategy and program.

The Oregon House of Representatives recently gave unanimous approval to legislation that would require state judges to accept tribal customary adoptions in cases involving Native American and Alaska Native children, ensuring that they can remain connected to their tribe.

Oregon this week became the 12th state to win federal approval for a plan to prevent children from falling into foster care.

By The Imprint staff reports

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By The Imprint staff reports President Joe Biden has selected Shirley Sacha Sagawa, a longtime champion of youth and national service, to be a member of the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service, an independent government agency that makes grants to support service and volunteer organizations.

By The Imprint staff reports The great majority of infants who unexpectedly suffocated and died in their sleep in recent years were bedded in unsafe sleeping conditions, according to a new study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that underscores decades-old public health guidelines.

By The Imprint staff reports Elizabeth Watson, who has a lengthy history in youth and family policy and income inequality, has been nominated to be the Biden administration’s point person to Congress and the states on labor issues.

A former foster youth-turned state senator credits caring adults who helped guide her path to success, and now the odds are better that other foster kids in Washington state’s public schools will have similar help.

Missourians who adopt children or take in foster kids will get meaningful tax breaks in the future since Gov. Mike Parson signed a pair of bills this week amid a rare legislative session in which child welfare is a major priority.

By The Imprint staff reports Nearly 2.7 million children are being raised by grandparents, other relatives or close family friends and not their own parents, and some members of Congress want to prevent child abuse by giving these caregivers more help.

More than 90% of parents and foster parents who asked for an investigation into problems they had while dealing with the West Virginia foster care system in the recent past said they did so despite fear of retaliation, according to a news account based on the ombudsperson’s first-ever report.

New research following more than half a million newborns to age 18 backs up a recent estimate that terminations of parental rights is more common than people think, and that one of every 100 children born will experience the state-induced loss of a parent.

By The Imprint staff reports The mayor of Los Angeles wants to give the 2,000 poorest households in his city $1,000 a month in income for a full year, no strings attached, just to see how the money affects their lives.

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By The Imprint staff reports Hearing-impaired parents from at least two Washington state families were denied their right to have sign language interpreters available to them in their fights to keep the state from taking away their kids, according to a settlement agreement announced Monday between the federal government and the state.

By The Imprint staff reports Texas’ family services agency has launched a new online hub that aims to make it easier than ever for people to volunteer their time and talents to help vulnerable children and the elderly.

By The Imprint staff reports The Missouri House of Representatives unanimously passed two bills on Jan. 27 that would increase financial support for foster and adoptive parents. Now, they await approval by the Senate.

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill deleting the term from the state’s child welfare laws in recognition of psychosocial studies finding that young people are able to make responsible choices when given the appropriate interventions to counter the trauma that filled their formative years.

By The Imprint staff reports Eight states are getting together for the rest of 2021 to work out the best way to help children and families weather the second year of the coronavirus pandemic with a minimum of child neglect and abuse.

By The Imprint staff reports This could be the year that nearly 1 million Texas adoptees can get a copy of their original birth certificate without asking a judge. Texas adoptees said attempts to pass a measure making it easier for them to obtain the document have fallen short time and again in recent years.

By The Imprint staff reports Many of Arizona’s current and former youth are in line for more federal help to get them through the pandemic, the state Department of Child Safety has announced.

By The Imprint staff reports Homelessness is a huge black eye on the face of California, and youth homelessness is an oft-overlooked aspect of the scourge, according to a new report from John Burton Advocates for Youth.

By The Imprint staff reports Unless the Missouri state Senate balks, families that adopt children, foster them or care for relatives’ children will have more money from the state, come July 1, to help make ends meet.

By The Imprint staff reports A large study of European residents, one of the first to look at the effects of growing up amid financial strain, family conflict – or both – links those kinds of childhood adversities to a wide range of social and health difficulties in adulthood.

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By The Imprint staff reports In 2020, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) signed into law a a “religious freedom” bill ensuring that foster care and adoption agencies could continue to be eligible to receive taxpayer funding even if they refuse to serve same-sex foster and adoptive parents.

By The Imprint staff reports The head of Kentucky’s Juvenile Justice Department was fired last week after a months long personnel investigation into allegations that she had harassed, bullied and intimidated employees, leaving at least one in tears.

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By The Imprint staff reports Kentucky is backing off a law it passed in the tough-on-crime 1990s under which minors age 14 or older were automatically tried on felony charges as adults if a firearm was involved in the incident.

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Cornhusker State becomes 10th approved under Family First Act By The Imprint staff reports Nebraska is about to greatly enhance its prevention aimed at building up families and curbing the state’s use of foster care.

North Carolina case could become an oft-cited marker in the push to “raise the floor” By The Imprint staff reports Most people probably would agree that raising a child to respect others’ property is important and that a kid who doesn’t do so should be corrected.

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By The Imprint staff reports In a reversal of Trump administration policy, Biden federal immigration officials will no longer collect information from the Department of Health and Human Services that could lead to the deportation of parents or other possible caregivers who step forward to care for children who cross the border unaccompanied seeking asylum.

By The Imprint staff reports Several organizations representing executives in California who run county-level health and human services agencies have joined the growing list of public entities declaring racism a public health emergency.

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By The Imprint staff reports All but unnoticed in news coverage of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed on Thursday is $10 million to start up a technical assistance center to help relative caregivers who step up to fill in for parents whose children have been taken away from them.

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By The Imprint staff reports For two decades, the Jeremiah Program has been helping single moms get through college and on the road to leaving generational poverty behind. That’s a lot of work, and until now, program officials haven’t found the time to step back and collectively celebrate the women’s successes.

By The Imprint staff reports Thousands of people who were in foster care during the infamous water crisis in Flint, Michigan, have not been left out of a chance to secure a chunk of a proposed settlement that will distribute hundreds of millions of dollars in claims through state and federal courts.

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By The Imprint staff reports It’s time to stop placing American foster children in institutions and other group settings, according to a new report by the national child welfare group Children’s Rights.

By The Imprint staff reports Actor and comedian Tiffany Haddish has launched a program for current and former California foster youth to receive paid internships in media, arts and entertainment. Haddish’s She Ready Productions, in partnership with the nonprofit Ready to Succeed, will provide the youth selected with training, mentorship and networking possibilities.

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By The Imprint staff reports The federal government is funding five locally conceived demonstration projects across the United States aimed at decreasing death and serious injury resulting from child abuse and neglect.

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State inks new health services deal with nonprofit Mercy Care By The Imprint staff reports

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By The Imprint staff reports A pair of Ohio legislators want to make sure that reports of child abuse never fall through the cracks again — a move that comes more than a year after a Dayton boy died after years of suspected abuse and multiple reports to authorities.

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By The Imprint staff reports Four years after the Illinois formally committed to honoring the rights of LGBTQ youth in its care, an audit released this month found little evidence that it lived up to its initial promises.

By The Imprint staff reports Two of the most common words in the foster care field? Not enough. As in: not enough resources, families or support.  If that’s the case in your community and you’re willing to work with other Christian churches in your area to raise $10,000, here’s some good news: The Christian Alliance for Orphans may be willing to match your funds dollar for dollar.

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By The Imprint staff reports A federal judge has greenlighted legal advocates’ lawsuit seeking to represent all of Oregon’s behaviorally disabled schoolchildren who have allegedly been illegally deprived of their right to full-time schooling.

By The Imprint staff reports Florida’s child welfare chief handed in his resignation letter Friday, weeks after the official acknowledged that the agency had done a “bad job” protecting multiple children from sexual abuse at the hands of foster parents.

By The Imprint staff reports A leading organization that works to prevent child abuse and neglect before it ever gets started announced Thursday that 10 of its state chapters have completed all the steps the organization requires to be chartered.  

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By The Imprint staff reports Former foster youth Ángela Quijada-Banks, author of “The Black Foster Youth Handbook” has been nominated for the NAACP’s Image Award in the category of Outstanding Literary Work-Instructional, along with the works of four other distinguished writers. 

By The Imprint staff reports Amid an emergency that threatened to leave the state with no one to manage Omaha-area child welfare cases, Nebraska officials have approved a new $147 million no-bid contract with its existing beleaguered child welfare services provider.

By The Imprint staff reports A federal judge has approved a settlement agreement that children’s attorneys say will ensure children in Kansas’ foster care system can get the mental health care they need.

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By The Imprint staff reports Youth and young adults who are having a rough time overcoming the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic are targeted for help under a set of long-awaited initiatives announced this week by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

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By The Imprint staff reports Jennifer Jones will be the new chief strategy officer for Prevent Child Abuse America, leaving her position as director of the Change in Mind Institute at the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities.

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By The Imprint staff reports The Los Angeles Kings hockey club is sticking up for the Southern California community’s mental health this season as coronavirus precautions drag toward their 12th month.

By The Imprint staff reports More than two years after the California Department of Justice launched an investigation into deficient and inhumane conditions in Los Angeles County’s juvenile detention facilities, the county and its school district settled on plans to clean up the problems over the next four years.

By The Imprint staff reports As we approach one year of living with the coronavirus pandemic, we want to hear from foster and kinship families about how the global health crisis has transformed their lives.

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By The Imprint staff reports Among the many ways Donald Trump is seeking to leave a lasting imprint on the government in the final days of a beleaguered presidency, the administration this week erased Obama-era rules that prohibited publicly funded, faith-based social service providers from discriminating on the basis of factors such as sexual orientation or religion.

By The Imprint staff reports From the teeming high-rise tenements of New York City’s Bronx County to the sparsely populated hamlets of rural Yates County, before the pandemic, more than 800,000 of the Empire State’s children were living in poverty and over 900,000 households were struggling to keep a roof over their heads, according to a new report.

By The Imprint staff reports The influential American Academy of Pediatrics has added to growing pressure on the incoming Biden administration to reverse the practice of separating children from their asylum-seeking parents at the Mexican border set by President Donald Trump, concurring with other prominent groups that the practice amounted to torture under international standards.

Click here at 2 p.m. EST to watch the town hall on coronavirus relief supports for older foster youth, featuring federal officials Lynn Johnson and Jerry Milner

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One foster youth used her entry into a holiday decorating contest to honor equality By The Imprint staff reports In late December, the nonprofit iFoster hosted its inaugural Great iFoster Bake Off, a national Zoom-hosted competition where foster youth and caregivers teamed up to decorate holiday houses made out of Pop Tarts.

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By The Imprint staff reports The first few months of the coronavirus pandemic took a significant toll on the well-being of former foster youth, according to a new survey that researchers said points to the need to address those effects in the medium and long term. 

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A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports As COVID-19 began what would be an unrelenting spread of hardship in America, The Imprint spoke with the CEO of a major child welfare service provider in Washington state, one of the first places hit hard in the pandemic. 

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports Congress approved legislation in 2018 that will reduce federal spending on group homes and institutions. Since that law was signed, several investigative stories in our pages and others around the country have exposed the shortcomings that prompted it. 

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports In 2010, California approved legislation that would extend foster care until age 21 for youth who otherwise would be forced out on their own at 18.

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports In March of 2016, Latonia Rolbiecki’s grandson was born at Fairview Hospital in Wyoming, Minnesota, his body riddled with the effects of his mother’s drug and alcohol abuse.

By The Imprint staff reports Although the population of youth locked up in America plunged by two-thirds between 2000 and 2018, the country stubbornly continues to lead the world with its rate of 60 per 100,000, according to a new report.

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports The year 2020 is almost over and what a year it has been! Several issues and events sparked major outrage and discussions about how those issues affect those who have experienced foster care, homelessness and juvenile incarceration around the world.

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports The killing of George Floyd, and the summer of protests that followed this tragedy, spurred new conversations about the appropriate role of law enforcement.

A roundup of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020. By The Imprint staff reports Two stories The Imprint covered in 2020 reflect the growing concern over how much influence drug testing has on child welfare system involvement. 

A roundup of some of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020. By The Imprint staff reports The Family First Prevention Services Act, the most consequential rewrite of federal child welfare policy in decades, was signed into law in 2018 and took effect at the end of 2019, making 2020 the first full year of effect.

A roundup of some of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020. By The Imprint staff reports California is ramping up a $140 million plan to screen many of the state’s children for adverse childhood experiences, often referred to as ACES.

A roundup of some of The Imprint’s most impactful stories in 2020 By The Imprint staff reports David Anderson founded the Chicago-based Safe Families as a faith-based alternative to the child welfare system, designed to provide needed respite for parents in crisis.

A roundup of some of The Imprint’s most impactful stories from 2020. By The Imprint staff reports America’s most populous state has put itself on a path to hand over all youth incarceration to local government, and its largest city is pondering a complete reimagining of what juvenile justice means. 

Gold standard study results position the program for national expansion By The Imprint staff reports A gold standard study has found Year Up to have perhaps the strongest evidence to date in connecting youth and young adults to the workforce, perhaps setting the stage for increased investment in the model around the country. 

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By The Imprint staff reports One of the most respected county human services directors in the country is calling it quits after a quarter-century of service to the children and families of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County.

By The Imprint staff reports Washington state this week agreed to pay $2 million to settle a case that alleged negligence in a foster care placement in which a girl claimed the state ignored her complaint of sexual abuse at the home for years.

Sequel

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By The Imprint staff reports Two more states have joined the roster of states that can now use the federal child welfare entitlement to support services for families whose kids might otherwise be taken away and fall into the foster care system.

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By The Imprint staff reports In 1996, about 1,000 delegates from 130 nations gathered in Stockholm to finally get serious about a global effort to curb a problem to which it had long turned a blind eye: the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

By The Imprint staff reports Amid a fresh wave of coronavirus infections washing over New York City — a development that has reversed the city’s halting efforts to slowly ease more students back into the classroom — comes a new report finding that thousands of students “failed to connect” at all with remote learning opportunities last spring.

By The Imprint staff reports Massachusetts must stop its yearslong practice of using “unsupported stereotypes” to justify taking away the children of parents with disabilities, under a settlement that the U.S.

By The Imprint staff reports A federal appellate court last week struck down local bans in Florida on psychotherapy aimed at changing the sexual identity or orientation of minors. The ruling increases the odds of the “conversion therapy” issue ending up in the U.S.

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By The Imprint staff reports Three years after a federal appeals court ordered Ohio to pay those who assume custody of relatives the same amount it pays licensed foster parents, the Buckeye State continues to severely shortchange kinship caregivers, according to a lawsuit seeking to enforce the order.

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By The Imprint staff reports A leading philanthropy this week announced the next group of organizations to receive training aimed at encouraging juvenile justice professionals to embrace and spread the principles of positive youth development.

By The Imprint staff reports For more than a decade, hundreds of disabled students locked up in a large Georgia jail have not been getting the special education services they’re entitled to under federal law, but that may soon start to change.

By The Imprint staff reports Newsletter Sign up Sign up to California Watch InstagramThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.Email* Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_109" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime()

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By The Imprint staff reports A new report highlights the ways that the coronavirus pandemic has heightened the risk for LGBTQ youth in foster care. It then recommends steps that child welfare agencies, states and the federal government can take to curtail those risks.

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By The Imprint staff reports Child neglect laws are far too broad in many states and should be changed to make it easy, safe and legal for parents to decide when their children can benefit from appropriate parental independence, according to a group that contends today’s “helicopter” parenting style is bad for children and society.

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By The Imprint staff reports Andrea Sanders, credited with cleaning up the Mississippi Department of Human Services in the wake of a scandal earlier this year, is Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ choice to head the state’s Department of Child Protection Services.

By The Imprint staff reports New York City’s newly named official in charge of health and human services comes with professional experience that neither of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s recent appointees for the position has had: deep roots in child welfare issues.

By The Imprint staff reports A federal judge on Sunday threw out a Trump Administration proposal that would have cut food stamps to 700,000 Americans, including many foster youths aging out of care, at the end of the coronavirus emergency, which has put millions out of work.

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By The Imprint staff reports Adding to the growing wave of research emerging from the early days of the novel coronavirus, the results of a survey of professionals in justice and child welfare agencies show that, like health care workers, they faced a harrowing shortage of masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment.

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By The Imprint staff reports The Medi-Cal program is failing children, and the state must urgently make managed health care plans accountable, a large coalition of youth advocacy groups said Tuesday in a letter to the Administration of California Gov.

By The Imprint staff reports The U.S. Children’s Bureau on Friday greenlighted Washington state’s plan to spend federal funds to provide services to families whose children might otherwise be taken away and placed in foster care.

By The Imprint staff reports Groups interested in understanding the current state of early childhood in Los Angeles County now have access to a new and vast amount of data they can mine to make informed decisions about how best to design and deliver social programs.

Vast majority of Latino households are struggling financially By The Imprint staff reports As Washington worked this week to craft the latest, long-promised and long-delayed coronavirus relief package, the Harvard School of Public Health and its partners have released a report painting a dire picture of how American households with children are faring financially amid the health and economic crises.

By The Imprint staff reports The families of children in Riverside County juvenile detention went to court Monday seeking reimbursement of millions of dollars in fees their lawyers say were illegally charged. 

By The Imprint staff reports A new study on mothers’ use of marijuana during pregnancy found links to a small increase in the child’s risk of developing a range of problems, including psychopathology, low birth weight and sleep problems.

By The Imprint staff reports Ohio made a strong move Wednesday toward becoming the 24th state to ban sentences of life without parole for crimes committed when the defendant was a juvenile.

By The Imprint staff reports After 17 years of operating under a consent decree, Los Angeles County has reached an agreement to extricate itself from a long-running federal lawsuit that sought to address gaps in mental health care services for children in foster care in California.

By The Imprint staff reports Foster youth often feel misunderstood and marginalized by society as a whole. Within the larger foster youth community, however, certain groups must deal with even more stress.

By The Imprint staff reports The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to crush the college dreams of thousands of people who will soon be aging out of foster care, and Congress must take urgent steps to avoid these devastating outcomes, according to a report being released this week.

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By The Imprint staff reports A federal appellate court ruled late last week that Los Angeles County did not violate a man’s due process and privacy rights when it retained a closely held record of unfounded allegations of child sexual abuse against him – without providing him notice or an opportunity to challenge the allegations.

By The Imprint staff reports Last year, New York researchers determined that when parents have a child in foster care and are represented by teams of lawyers working in tandem with social workers and parent advocates, they were reunited with their child about four months sooner than those who were represented by a solo practitioner.

By The Imprint staff reports The National Center for Youth Law is bringing in a longtime fighter for child, youth and community justice as the Oakland, California-based organization’s second in command.

By The Imprint staff reports The devastation that the coronavirus has piled on communities that have long suffered under the weight of racism and poverty – along with the fallout from a national uprising against police brutality – has also given rise to an opportunity for historic change in Los Angeles County and beyond, according to a new research report.

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By The Imprint staff reports When California voters easily approved the adult recreational use of cannabis in 2016, there were what might be called high hopes for the tax revenue, then projected to one day total $1 billion annually.

By The Imprint staff reports Aiming to bring some clarity to kids who need in-person, school-based services amid the coronavirus pandemic, as well as to anxious parents and staff, California health officials issued rules and guidelines last month for how that might be done safely.

By The Imprint staff reports Georgia will no longer maintain its child abuse registry, which launched four years ago to help investigators quickly identify and locate substantiated cases and keep tabs on the scale of the problem. 

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By The Imprint staff reports Eight states are developing pilot programs to educate young expecting parents about their  responsibilities, including how to manage their finances, emotions and relationships. The grant money for the programs will come from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

By The Imprint staff reports Foster youth would benefit from stronger access to dental health coverage under a bipartisan bill recently introduced in Congress.   Foster youth already are entitled to dental coverage through Medicaid, but according to bill author Rep.

By The Imprint staff reports As protests against police violence against Black people played out this summer in Portland, some current and former foster youth in Oregon – disproportionately people of color – were thinking of how they might rid the foster care system of systemic racial bias.

By The Imprint staff reports Months before coronavirus appeared, youth homelessness in greater Los Angeles soared almost 19% from the previous annual point-in-time survey, according to results released Thursday, as regional efforts to house this vulnerable population failed to keep pace with the growing need.

By The Imprint staff reports The federal government is hoping to improve the quality of local Head Start agencies’ programs by refining how it determines when grantees are falling short and must be thrown into competition for ongoing funding.

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By The Imprint staff reports In exchange for helping Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice research and develop its next wave of innovations through internships and employment opportunities, some students from the historically Black Bethune-Cookman University will get an inside track for careers at the department.

By The Imprint staff reports Two significant organizations in the fields of social, health and human services have agreed in principle to a merger early next year.  The boards of the Milwaukee-based Alliance for Strong Families and Communities and the New York City-based Council on Accreditation announced Tuesday that they had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to combine forces if due diligence, now underway, doesn’t surface any unforeseen issues. 

By The Imprint staff reports Wisconsin’s plans to overhaul its juvenile justice system by building new lockups closer to juvenile offenders’ families and communities suffered a new blow this week when the state’s two largest counties declined millions of dollars in state funds for construction.

Supreme Court arguments in another faith-based case set for day after election By The Imprint staff reports Two significant developments occurred this week that have the potential to shape the limits of how far faith-based, publicly funded child welfare agencies can go in selectively choosing what foster or adoptive parents they are willing to work with.

By The Imprint staff reports Researchers think they’ve come up with a cutting-edge way to predict the likelihood of a given homeless youth running into trouble with substance abuse – and to devise individualized rehab strategies for those who nevertheless develop a disorder.

By The Imprint staff reports It’s not cheap to keep people in California’s county-run jails and juvenile lockups. So the law allows sheriffs to run commissary stores inside and to charge the residents to make outside phone calls, then tap the profits “primarily” to pay for programs and services that benefit the incarcerated people. 

By The Imprint staff reports Forty-two states permit some youth to be included on their sex-offender registry, even though research shows that only small fractions of juvenile sex offenders recidivate as adults, according to the Juvenile Law Center.

Lawsuit comes from foster parent denied because she was Catholic By The Imprint staff reports A Catholic mother’s lawsuit alleging bedrock religious discrimination by South Carolina’s largest child-placement agency with the blessing of state and federal officials may proceed, a federal judge ruled this week, rejecting calls to throw out her case.

By The Imprint staff reports Relative caregivers are parenting 2.7 million American children in kinship care. This group of caregivers often goes without critical support that is available, sometimes to the detriment of their own well-being, according to a new audit by the congressional watchdog agency.

By The Imprint staff reports Less than a week after joining dozens of other prosecutors, corrections officials and probation chiefs in signing an open letter calling for the closure of all youth prisons, one California district attorney took her first official step toward doing just that in her own county.

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Youth in group homes exposed to hazards, report finds By The Imprint staff reports Federal auditors recently faulted Kansas’ Department for Children and Families for allowing residents of its foster care group homes to be chronically exposed to potentially hazardous conditions, even though the state regularly inspected the facilities.

Expanding to serve 20 more U.S. communities By The Imprint staff reports

By The Imprint staff reports The 80,000 children of New York state whose parents are locked up in distant state correctional institutions might have an easier time visiting mom or dad under a bill sitting on Gov.

New York City’s child welfare agency launched a bold small experiment in 2018: Three new community rooms deep in the city’s most under-resourced neighborhoods would offer comfy, staffed spaces for families to seek no-strings-attached advice and support, computer access, meeting space or children’s playtime, all at no cost.

Missouri has made it easier for an adult relative to temporarily look after the children of kin without legally removing them into foster care. That’s one of several substantive changes to the state’s child welfare system that Gov.

Several county workers investigating allegations of abuse and neglect in some of Arizona’s most struggling communities were reportedly fired last month, after they wore bright pink T-shirts to work declaring themselves a “professional kidnapper.”

A federal grant of up $12 million will allow Kentucky to provide comprehensive behavioral health and social services for almost 1,500 children and youth in the state’s child welfare system. The four-year grant of up to $3 million a year is intended to improve long-term outcomes for youth through age 21.

California lawmakers may have helped older foster youth from some of the immediate ravages of the coronavirus pandemic in the state’s recently passed budget, but the San Francisco-based Youth Law Center says it’s time to look forward and start planning now for long-term recovery strategies.

You Gotta Believe, a pioneer in the field of finding permanent families for young adults, teens and pre-teens in foster care, has a new leader, allowing the former director, Mary Keane, to return to her first love, program work, after three years at the helm of the nonprofit agency.

Research has shown that quality legal representation on behalf of all parties in the child welfare system improves the outcome for children and families alike. But until now, little research has been conducted on just how funding affects the ability to provide quality legal services.

The recruitment and retention of foster parents — a critical but often overlooked aspect of development for children in foster care — has never been easy, and the coronavirus pandemic has made it perhaps harder than ever, according to a new report from CHAMPS, a national policy campaign that focuses on promoting high-quality foster parenting.

Kansas has agreed to a slate of dramatic changes to its child welfare system aimed at ending housing and mental health failures that destabilize youth in foster care. Child advocates who brought the civil rights lawsuit in 2018 said it was past time to end what they called “state-sanctioned homelessness.”

A comprehensive new review of programs and practices aimed at tackling youth homelessness did not identify a silver bullet but rather suggested some promising areas for further study — and a crying need for more and better evidence of what works.

New York City child welfare advocates are cheering a budget agreement that spares deep funding cuts from a program providing mentors for thousands of foster youth. The program, known as Fair Futures, was slated for significant cuts last week, when the city adopted an $88 billion budget that was deeply constrained by the economic fallout from the coronavirus.

Akonadi Foundation, an Oakland-based family grant maker, has announced a five-year, $12.5 million effort to end the criminalization of Black youth and other youth of color in Oakland. Akonadi, which has been focused on fighting structural racism for two decades, selected 11 local grassroots organizations to receive funding for various projects under the project’s umbrella name of All in for Oakland.

Last week, the North Carolina legislature sent a bill to Gov. Roy Cooper (D) that would make it easier and faster to put babies born exposed to drugs and alcohol on a path to adoption, cutting off efforts to return them to their parents.

Iowa aims to find out if giving families in crisis early access to lawyers would improve outcomes, rather than being assigned a public defender only after a child is removed and enters the foster care system. 

Consonant with its expanded approach to developing, promoting and supporting children in the child welfare system, the recently renamed Family Focused Treatment Association has hired its first executive director to lead the nonprofit’s transition to tackling a broader mandate under a new, landmark federal law.

A major new review of the effects of raising children in institutions — and the effects of getting those children into family-based care — concludes that institutionalization should be phased out.

A Michigan parent on Thursday became the state’s first to successfully appeal a judge’s decision to remove a child into foster care, a ruling that the family’s advocates hailed as “an important first step” toward ensuring that judges don’t put families through the trauma of separation without showing sufficient cause.

A new online portal will help children and families in crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic more easily get help from local churches. When human services agencies who enroll on the CarePortal hear from someone who needs help, they can log on to the portal and post the relevant information about that need, and churches in the immediate area with the ability to help can do so.

Hoping to capitalize on mounting political pressure to defund the New York Police Department, nearly 2,000 of New York City’s youth services workers are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to reverse his plan to cut $175 million from the city’s youth-oriented summer programs, which serve more than 175,000 youth.

Hundreds of uncontested adoptions in Los Angeles County have been hung up at the final stage since the coronavirus slowed in-person court appearances to a crawl, but that’s about to change.

Ken Schatz, who as commissioner of the Vermont Department for Children and Families pushed for the shut down of the state’s only remaining juvenile prison, is retiring at the end of the month after serving in the post since 2014 and will be replaced by Deputy Commissioner Sean Brown.

Advocates for the poor have long argued that most Americans’ assumptions about people who live in poverty are mostly wrong. If only, they say, Americans could see the world from the point of view of those who experience it every day, they might gain a more truer and more sympathetic understanding of the complex issues involved.

The number of child welfare agencies working to create a more welcoming experience for thousands of LGBTQ foster youth took a big jump in the past year, according to a report released Thursday by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. 

A group of Democratic senators wants to know what, if anything, the Trump administration has done to help state and local juvenile justice agencies comply with basic standards of care for youth locked up amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected seemingly everything, and the 20th annual congressional summer internship program for former foster youth is no exception. For the first time in the history of the Foster Youth Internship Program, familiarly known as FYI, participants in the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s program will take place not in Washington, D.C.,

Foster care researchers in San Francisco are surveying as many current and recent American foster youth as they can to find out what they need and want in the age of the coronavirus and beyond. 

COVID-19 has complicated the process of reuniting immigrant families with their children when a parent with an ongoing child welfare case is either in ICE custody in the U.S. or has been deported.

This thread includes all of The Imprint’s stories and articles on the coronavirus and its impact on children, youth and families published between March 13 and April 10. For our continuing coverage of the pandemic and how it is changing child welfare and juvenile justice, visit: www.imprintnews.org/coronavirus-kids-and-families