Fixing Our Foster Care Crisis Part 1

In May 2018, The Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and The Arizona Daily Star held a presentation about the Star’s investigation: Fixing our Foster Care Crisis. Members of the Star’s reporting team discussed their foster care research in Arizona. They also reported which cities and states are doing a better job of keeping families together, and ultimately what Arizona can learn from others to fix our foster care crisis.

The Arizona Daily Star, with support from the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona and the USC Annenberg Center’s Fund for Journalism on Child Well-being, investigated how Arizona came to have one of the nation’s highest rates of child removal, and how we can keep more kids at home by helping at-risk families break generational cycles of trauma, neglect or abuse. Four Star journalists talked with more than 100 local, state and national leaders in reform over the past year. They visited six U.S. states to see what programs are working to support families at home, transform child safety agencies and guide children and families to a healthy future.

Today on 30 Minutes, we’ll hear an introduction from President and CEO of Community Foundation for Southern Arizona Clint Mabie discuss how they became involved in funding this in-depth investigation. Arizona Daily Star editor Jill Jorden Spitz gave an overview of the project and their commitment to solutions-based journalism. Reporter Patty Machelor spoke about her research in Washington state and Colorado to learn how states and counties can keep kids from entering foster care by building stronger families. Reporter Emily Bregel visited both Allegheny County in Western Pennsylvania and Alabama and saw how formerly dysfunctional agencies became national models for reform.

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Recorded and produced by Amanda Shauger