Foster Care

Davis holds her phone as she work on her computer

This Virginia program helps former foster youth get degrees, at any age

5:00am January 19, 2025

Great Expectations was designed to help people who grew up in foster care get their two-year degrees. And unlike many programs for former foster youth, there are no age limits.

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Justin Kasieta, who is 22 now, was just 13 when his father died and he was thrust into a role looking after his four younger siblings. In college, he interned in the state legislature and the U.S. Congress.

National

These kids used to get the bill for their own foster care. Now that's changing

10:07am September 12, 2023

by Joseph Shapiro

States routinely took the benefits checks of children in foster care who were orphans or disabled. After an NPR/Marshall Project investigation, there's reform.

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More than half of U.S. states saw a decline in licensed foster homes from 2021 to 2022. In Nevada, the decline was nearly 18%. In South Carolina, it was a 61% decline, the largest of any state.

Health & Safety

Kids housed in casino hotels? It's a workaround as U.S. sees decline in foster homes

5:00am June 14, 2023

by Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

A nationwide decline in foster home spots has led to dire situations around the country. In rural northeastern Nevada, officials resorted to housing children in casino hotels for short stints.

A rural road near Connelly Springs, N.C., where people who've come from the Marshall Islands — many to work in nearby poultry plants — have built a church community, the Marshallese New Beginnings Church.

National

In some states, an unpaid foster care bill could mean parents lose their kids forever

5:00am January 19, 2023

by Joseph Shapiro

Some states allow children to be removed from their parents if they fail to pay the cost of foster care. But that can be hundreds of dollars a month, and it's often the poorest families who must pay.

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