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Preserving Family Connections, with Vivek Sankaren
Vivek Sankaren is a clinical professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, and director of their Child Advocacy Law Clinic and the Child Welfare Appellate Clinic. He’s authored over three dozen journal and law review articles, including “The Ties That Bind Us: an Empirical, Clinical, and Constitutional Argument Against Terminating Parental Rights”.…
Read MoreLittlejohn v. School Board of Leon County, Florida, et al
Read the Brief Parental rights are fundamental. And because of this, public schools cannot lie to parents and tell 13-year-old children to also lie to their parents. That is what our friend of the court brief to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Littlejohn v. School Board of Leon County, Florida,…
Read MoreReforming the Child Welfare System from the Inside, with Jerry Milner
This week, we talk with Jerry Milner, former Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Far too often, the US child welfare system creates incentives to unnecessarily separate families, harming the children it tries to protect. During his tenure with the Children’s Bureau, Jerry worked to create…
Read MoreThe World of Hidden Foster Care, with Josh Gupta-Kagan
This week, we talk with Dr. Josh Gupta-Kagan, Professor at Columbia University School of Law and author of “The Hidden Foster Care System.” Josh explains how many parents in child welfare investigations find their children placed with relatives, completely off the official record. While placing children with relatives, sometimes called kinship care, is not an…
Read MoreWhat Medical Child Abuse Is – and Isn’t, with Maxine Eichner
This week, we talk with Maxine Eichner. Maxine is a Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina, and she writes on legal issues surrounding families and social welfare law and policy. In this episode, Eichner explains the history of a concept called “medical child abuse” and how innocent parents of medically complex…
Read MoreReforming the Texas Foster Care System, with Andrew Brown
Welcome back to the EPPiC Broadcast! We’re kicking off season 7 with Andrew Brown, Associate Vice President of Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. As an attorney, Andrew has represented children in the child welfare system, advocated for the rights of parents, and helped build families through domestic and international adoption. Andrew breaks down…
Read MoreFoundation President Testifies before Colorado Study Committee
On July 18, I was honored to testify before the Colorado legislature’s Child Welfare System Interim Study Committee. The committee, made up of 7 representatives and 4 senators, was formed to gather information on the problems in the state’s child protection scheme and on the potential for reforms to improve outcomes. July 18 was the…
Read MoreFoundation Files Brief with Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Critical Parental Rights Case
On Tuesday, we submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in a critical parental rights case pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, Georgia. This powerful federal court is just one step below the U.S. Supreme Court, so this critical case could determine the future of parental…
Read MoreMaine Parental Rights Amendment Headed to Committee
We are excited to let you know that L.D. 1953, a proposed parental rights amendment to the Maine Constitution, will be heard by the Committee on Judiciary tomorrow, May 24, at 10 AM in the State House, Room 438. This powerful amendment to the Maine Constitution will establish that “All parental rights are reserved to…
Read MoreAdoption and Foster Family Advocacy with Laura Adams
This week, we talk with Laura Adams, founder of FACTS4safefamilies.com, which provides education, support, and advocacy to improve understanding of adoptive and foster children and complex trauma. Laura explains how through her work with international adoption and parenting her own adopted children with special needs, she saw firsthand the challenges that exist in getting the proper…
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