December 14, 2024
Why the Riskiest Situation NYC Foster Kids Can Face Is Visiting Their Birth Parents
Between 2020 and 2023, there were 2,154 cases of substantiated abuse and/or neglect of foster children in New York City. When New Yorkers read that statistic — taken from a recent City Comptroller’s audit of the Administration for Children’s Services — they might be shocked. Indeed, it might confirm their prior assumptions about how terrible foster care…
May 13, 2024
The Biden Administration Crossed a Line in Its Rule on Gender Health Care and Foster Children
What is the best way to support a child diagnosed with gender dysphoria, that is, a child who believes their body doesn’t match the person they really are? A couple of weeks ago, the Biden administration put through changes to Title IX rules, forbidding discrimination based on gender identity, which would mean, among other things,…
October 10, 2023
New White House Proposal to Further Alienate Religious Foster Parents
“All young people in foster care, including those who happen to be LGBTQ, deserve affirming, supportive environments to call home,” said Kasey Suffredini of the Trevor Project, as she and other advocates applauded the recent announcement from the White House proposing rules to require training for foster parents in how to care for these youth. The rule might…
September 26, 2023
Former Foster Kids Need More Than Higher Education
When I tell people that I write about child welfare and the foster care system, the question I am most often asked is “What can we do about the problem of kids aging out?” “Aging out” is what happens when these teens and young adults — about 40,000 each year — leave foster care without being adopted…