The Imprint Weekly
The Imprint Weekly Podcast offers listeners a regular review of news and trends in America's child welfare and juvenile justice systems, along with other critical services for youth and families. Join Imprint Senior Editor John Kelly for a discussion of the week's major headlines, plus interviews with leaders in the field.
Episodes
266 episodes
Headlines: New Data on Foster Care Capacity, Mental Health-Driven Incarceration and More
On this week’s episode we start by discussing the new update to Who Cares, which is The Imprint’s project on foster care capacity data around the country, and how it connects to the Trump administration’s central child welfare goal for the pres...
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Episode 233
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50:09
The Future of Federal Research on Youth and Families
On this week’s episode we talk to Naomi Goldstein, who for nearly two decades led the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). We discussed the way that the federal government decides wh...
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Episode 232
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36:32
The Civil Rights of System-Involved Youth, with Marsha Levick
On this week’s episode we talk to Marsha Levick, co-founder of the Juvenile Law Center, who stepped down last year after serving for decades as the organization’s chief legal officer. We discussed the origins of the center and how it survived, ...
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Episode 231
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1:09:37
InnerViews – Love Shouldn’t Hurt: When Relationships Become About Survival
InnerViews is trying something new. In this special episode, we bring you the audio from Youth Voices Rising’s powerful webinar, Love Shouldn’t Hurt. Panelists with lived child welfare experience reflect on how trauma, housing instabil...
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1:21:46
Headlines: Treating Addiction, Youth Justice Workforce Woes, and More
On this Headlines edition of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, we start with a discussion of three medication-assisted treatments for substance use that the Trump administration has cleared for federal child welfare funding.Also discussed on t...
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Episode 230
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28:12
Older Foster Youth and The Cliff of Instability, with Don Wells
On this week’s episode we talk to Don Wells, the Chief Empowerment Officer at Just In Time, which is a San Diego based organization working to support and mentor older foster youth on their path to adulthood. President Trump signed ...
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Episode 229
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53:32
InnerViews -- Restoring Safety Within: What We’re Carrying Forward & What We’re Leaving Behind
In this restorative Season 3 premiere of InnerViews, host Ivory Bennett reunites with Dr. Alison Davis for a soulful conversation on renewal, emotional safety, and intentional becoming. Together, they reflect on the lessons of the past seaso...
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59:29
Stuck Kids: How Foster Youth End up In Hospitals for Months
Last week, the Baltimore Sun’s Jean Marbella reported on a lawsuit filed on behalf of youth in the state’s foster care system who had been left in hospital wards with no plan for a return to the community. While the lawsuit focuses ...
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47:17
Headlines: Trump Administration News, Foster Care and Child Fatalities, and More
In our first podcast of 2026, we discuss new data on the administration’s goal of A Home for Every Child, a new leader for the U.S. Children’s Bureau, Trump’s freezing of safety net funds in five states, and more. Reading Room
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Episode 227
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35:00
The Best of The Imprint Weekly Podcast, 2025
As always, we were fortunate to have some amazing guests join us this year on The Imprint Weekly Podcast. In this episode we feature clips of 12 great interviews from 2025. If you enjoy this podcast, or the great work our reporters ...
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Episode 226
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47:07
Final Thoughts on 2025 with Marina Nitze
We will post our annual “Best of The Imprint Weekly Podcast” show next, but this is the last new episode of 2025. Frequent guest Marina Nitze, a child welfare and tech expert, joined to discuss the flurry of federal activity on child welfare si...
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Episode 225
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54:20
Trump’s Top Child Welfare Official: An Interview with Alex Adams
On this week's episode, Imprint reporter Michael Fitzgerald was in Washington last week to interview Alex Adams, who was confirmed in October to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Family Support at the Administration for Children and Families...
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Episode 224
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1:19:10
College Stability After Homelessness or Foster Care, with Maddy Day
On this week’s podcast Maddy Day of Maddy Day and Associates joins to talk about what it takes to provide stability on college campuses for youth who have experienced aging out of foster care, homelessness or both. She is helping to coordinate ...
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Episode 223
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1:02:52
Trump’s Second Term Child Welfare Agenda
President Trump’s White House event announcing an executive order on foster care got a lot of attention. But it is not the only indicator of what the administration might have in mind for policy making in child welfare during his second term. W...
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Episode 222
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34:42
InnerViews – Becoming the Woman I Am: Faith, Family & the Future
In this powerful season finale, Ivory reflects on a transformative year—motherhood through kinship adoption, buying her first home, navigating love, and preparing for preventive surgeries after testing BRCA2+. Joined by spiritual healer and aut...
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1:10:06
From the Barber’s Chair to the BRO Experience, with Barry Cooper
Barry Cooper is founder of the BRO Experience, a Brooklyn-based organization that uses cognitive behavioral therapy at the center of its approach to mental health support for young men of color. He is among this year’s winners of the David Priz...
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Episode 221
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45:28
The History of Closing Youth Prisons, with Nell Bernstein
On today’s episode we discuss some of the recent Imprint reporting on how the federal shutdown is impacting youth and family programs like food stamps and Head Start, and one state where the shutdown has prompted gatekeeping of child welfare se...
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Episode 220
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50:42
Remembering Latonia Rolbiecki
Latonia Rolbiecki, a Minnesota mother of three, died last month at the age of 48. Several years ago, Rolbiecki was the subject of an Imprint series about her fight to adopt her grandson after he was taken into foster care at birth. ...
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Episode 219
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40:45
InnerViews – Homeownership & Healing: Building Stability After Adversity
In this episode of InnerViews, Ivory sits down with Realtor Joy Hill and Mortgage Banker David McGowan to discuss her journey to becoming a first-time homeowner—while navigating adversity, foster care advocacy, and single motherhood. T...
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1:09:00
The Life and Times of Vinny Schiraldi, Part Two
On this week’s episode we present the second part of our career-spanning interview with Vinny Schiraldi, currently a visiting fellow with the Pinkerton Foundation. In
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Episode 218
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1:38:16
The Life and Times of Vinny Schiraldi, Part One
On this week’s episode we begin a two-part in-depth interview with Vinny Schiraldi, a firebrand for justice reform whose career has included leadership on alternatives to incarceration, advocacy, and government leadership.In part one we ...
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Episode 217
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1:34:59
Headlines: The Shutdown, New Foster Care Numbers, and More
On this week’s Headlines edition of Imprint Weekly Podcast, we discuss the implications of the government shutdown, the newest federal data on foster care, and promising research on home visiting programs. We also talk about recent headlines ab...
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Episode 216
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37:20
InnerViews – Resilience Redefined: Destiny Jackson on Foster Care, Type 1 Diabetes, and Advocacy
In this powerful episode of InnerViews, Destiny Jackson shares her journey of navigating foster care, homelessness, and life with Type 1 diabetes—all while pursuing her dreams at Spelman College. From overcoming systemic barriers to ad...
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59:14
Dobbs, Abortion and Adoption with Gretchen Sisson
On this week’s episode we talk to Gretchen Sisson, a sociologist studying abortion and adoption. Sisson’s research on mothers who choose to relinquish their rights into private adoptions led to her writing Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption...
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Episode 215
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1:03:47
Wards of the State, with Author and Journalist Claudia Rowe
On this week’s episode we talk with Claudia Rowe, one of the true veteran journalists in the child welfare and youth justice space. We talked about her experiences covering both systems in New York and in Washington State, but focused on her re...
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Episode 214
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43:07