Dr. Natasha (Honorary)

Idaho is ending a long-criticized practice of taking foster youths’ Social Security survivor checks to pay back the cost of their care. Under a new directive from the state’s health department leadership, those federal benefits will be protected for each child’s needs and future. The change must be fully in place by July 1, 2026. […]

California has ended the long-standing practice of using Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) funds to place adopted former foster youth in residential treatment programs outside the state. Included in this year’s budget follow-through, the change took effect July 1, 2025, and brings most residential placements back under California’s oversight while aligning supports for adoptees with the

As high school students across Washington settle into the new academic year, foster youth face a particularly difficult transition: navigating school without dedicated support. Recently, the nonprofit Treehouse lost a critical $7 million state grant that funded its Graduation Success program, which provided individual, one-on-one help to students in foster care. This significant reduction, combined

California lawmakers are advancing a proposal that would tighten the rules for adults seeking to sue public entities over childhood sexual abuse — including schools, foster-care agencies and juvenile facilities. The measure, Senate Bill 577, is slated for review in the Assembly Appropriations Committee and, as written, would add new filing requirements and deadlines while

Children’s rights attorneys have sued New York state, accusing officials of concealing critical safety and security policies that govern locked juvenile facilities. The Legal Aid Society argues the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) violated the state’s Freedom of Information Law by heavily blacking out documents and withholding dozens of additional policies. Filed in

Charell Star entered foster care at just three years old and spent much of her childhood adjusting to other people’s homes and rules. Decades later, the New York–based television host, marketing executive, and writer is telling that journey on her own terms in a new memoir that blends hard truths with hard-won hope. Now 44,

Disability advocates say federal officials are preparing to cancel a swath of grants that sustain crucial special education supports nationwide — a move that could strip millions of dollars from programs serving students with disabilities. The potential targets are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act’s “Part D” discretionary grants, which are separate from the formula

Georgia lawmakers have launched a bipartisan Senate study committee to examine how well the state helps young people as they age out of foster care—and where critical gaps remain. The new group, chaired by Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, opened its first hearing with testimony from former foster youth who described unstable housing, disrupted schooling, and limited

Bestselling Ojibwe novelist Angeline Boulley returns this fall with Sisters in the Wind, a young adult thriller that places a former foster youth at the heart of the action while spotlighting the stakes of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The story follows Lucy Smith, an Ojibwe teen whose childhood is shaped by a carousel

The federal government has restored tens of millions of dollars in funding to the National CASA/GAL Association for Children, the nonprofit that coordinates volunteer advocates for foster youth, after the organization revised its training manuals to omit references to diversity, equity and inclusion. According to internal documents, CASA affiliates across the country were directed to