US: I Will Never Forget That I Could Have Lived With People Who Loved Me (Opinion) (May require subscription)
New York Times – September 16, 2021
When I left the foster care system, I founded a nonprofit, Think of Us, to promote systems change for foster care. We partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Casey Family Programs to conduct research to collect the stories of foster youths in group care. The result is our new report, “Away From Home: Youth Experiences of Institutional Placements in Foster Care.” In many ways, the group home system exists because of the failures of foster care family placements. Ending institutional placements and reforming our foster care system will not be easy. Part of the journey will require preventing unnecessary entries into foster care and providing the right support structures for families while encouraging and supporting kin to take in foster children and growing the number of loving foster families available.
Also: Away From Home: Youth Experiences of Institutional Placements in Foster Care: https://bit.ly/3kh69bC