The Imprint was fortunate to feature dozens of perspectives and analyses in our Opinion section this year. The following is a selection not necessarily of the best 10 pieces from 2025, but strong work that captures the breadth of topics within child welfare and youth justice that were written by Imprint columnists this year.
From ‘I Need People’ to Becoming the Person She Needed
Sarah Winograd, co-founder of Together With Families, writes about a mom who struggled not only with addiction but with accepting help, and today, thanks to her own perseverance, is able to provide that help to other families facing challenges similar to hers. Click here to check out the rest of Winograd’s regular column in The Imprint titled “Crisis Confidential.”
We Need Alignment on Accountability in Child Welfare
Mike Leach, former director of the South Carolina Department of Social Services, writes about how bureaucracy can force states to focus on compliance and accountability rather than the best outcomes for families. “When oversight becomes a maze of disconnected regulations, we must ask: Are we truly protecting children, or are we making it harder for the system to do its job?” writes Leach.
Children Deserve More Than an Investigation
Why can’t the child welfare system help a family it finds living in a car, if the children aren’t victims of abuse? It’s because the child welfare system as we know it isn’t designed to address the actual struggles families face, writes Vivek Sankaran, director of the Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic at the University Michigan Law School.
Closing Youth Prisons Opens Opportunities for America’s Youth
Between 2010 and 2023, governments pledged to close at least 118 juvenile facilities across 33 states, which might seem like a step in the right direction, write researchers Benjamin Danielson, Karin Martin and Emily Johnson from Washington state. But what’s the real impact on youth and communities since youth in the US continue to be arrested at a higher rate than in any other country?
Surveillance Won’t Resolve Unaddressed Poverty
“Each year, resources fail to reach our most vulnerable neighbors before an overwhelming crisis consumes their lives. We must break this cycle to create meaningful change,” writes Ashley Cross, founder and executive director of HOPE585 in New York state. Family surveillance will never achieve what community-driven resources can, according to Cross.
Child Welfare Reckons With the Harm of Investigations
Investigations might be a necessary component to the child welfare system, write Nora McCarthey and Jeremy Kohomban of New York. But investigations also cause harm, and less intrusive methods should be explored – which some states have started doing.
Pay-to-Play Protection for Unaccompanied Children Seeking Safety in the United States
Wendy Young, president of Kids in Need of Defense, questions whether minors seeking asylum should be subjected to fees for crossing the border and seeking protection. “No one should have to pay to seek safety, particularly children,” she writes.
The Odd Bipartisan Effort to Oversell the Evidence for Home Visiting
Researchers Sarah Font and Emily Putnam-Hornstien interrogate the evidence that home visiting programs actually prevent child abuse and neglect. “When the effects of social programs are oversold, we stifle innovation and divert scarce dollars away from the development of new interventions and adaptations that could better meet the needs of vulnerable children and their families,” they write.
The Trump Administration’s Dangerous Response to Youth Gun Possession
Liz Ryan, former administrator of the Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention, writes “… instead of understanding why teenagers carry guns, or investing in what works to guide them away from such behavior, policymakers are relying on one-size-fits-all punitive responses that not only fail to make communities safer, but also jeopardize young people’s futures.”
It’s Time to Recruit Foster Youth to College Like We Do Division I Athletes
“While the work of addressing trauma and preventing immediate harm is critical, it is incomplete. Rarely do these systems make college and career planning a priority and too often post-secondary planning is not addressed at all,” writes Shante Elliott, founder of TasselTurn Education and creator of the Homeplace College Network. She argues that systems aren’t set up to invest in the potential of students in foster care.
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