hidden foster care

A bipartisan bill now before Congress would require states to track their reliance on “hidden foster care," a widespread but poorly regulated practice.

New Mexico will now ensure foster care subsidies for kinship guardians taking in children under a voluntary placement agreement.

By Annie Sciacca

Washington state legislators are weighing a bill that would guarantee legal counsel for hundreds of parents ensnared in “hidden foster care” — informal placements arranged outside of court oversight.

Three leading firms that represent children in New York City and Buffalo have filed a lawsuit seeking to halt "extrajudicial" host home programs from operating.

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

California officials have named longtime dependency attorney Lawrence Fluharty as the state’s next foster care ombudsperson, a watchdog for the nation’s largest child welfare system.

A special session bill before the feuding Texas Legislature takes aim at a practice widely referred to as hidden foster care.

Outside of the traditional foster care system exists a shadow system of potentially hundreds of thousands of children removed by CPS to their relatives or family friends—without a court case, monetary support, or due process.