InnerViews – The Amazing Begins to Outweigh the Terror: Entering the ‘It Gets Better’ Era

High Risk and Hard to Reach

On today’s episode we are joined by David Muhammad, founder and executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. We talked to Muhammad about “high risk, hard to reach youth,” which is a term he and fellow justice reformer Vinny Schiraldi have coined to describe the relatively small group of youth they believe should be the focus of the next phase of youth justice reform. This group of youth, he says, have come more into view after decades of declining incarceration rates and greater attention to community alternatives.  David Muhammad is the founder and executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. He was the chief of committed services for Washington, D.C.’s juvenile justice agency, and served as the first executive director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.  Reading Room HR Squared: Effective Services and Supports for Youth Who Are High Risk and Hard to Reach https://nicjr.org/files/galleries/HR2_Report_V8_2_13_26.pdf [https://nicjr.org/files/galleries/HR2_Report_V8_2_13_26.pdf] What Happened When America Emptied Its Youth Prisons https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/magazine/juvenile-prison-crime-rates.html [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/magazine/juvenile-prison-crime-rates.html]

InnerViews – Healing, Masculinity & The Stories We Tell Ourselves

In this powerful episode of InnerViews, Ivory Bennett sits down with author, musician, and creative visionary Qpidluv for a deeply honest conversation about foster care, masculinity, identity, and healing through storytelling. From entering foster care as an infant to creating The Safe Home Chronicles and the Forever Home Project, Qpidluv reflects on survival, imagination, and the search for belonging. Together, Ivory and Qpidluv explore what home really means—and how creativity can become both refuge and reclamation.

Headlines: D.C. Activity, Parental Relinquishments, Fentanyl Legislation and More

On this week’s Headlines edition of the podcast, we discuss the latest on the Trump administration’s A Home for Every Child initiative and some child welfare bills moving in Congress. We also discuss The Imprint’s recent reporting on parental relinquishments, a law in Oklahoma prompted by a child fentanyl death, foster youth and chronic absenteeism, and more.  Thanks to iFoster [https://www.ifoster.org/] for sponsoring this episode. Reading Room A Home for Every Child Innovation Challenge https://acf.gov/home-every-child-innovation-challenge [https://acf.gov/home-every-child-innovation-challenge] The Imprint’s Who Cares Project FosterCareCapacity.com [http://fostercarecapacity.com/] New Focus on Psychotropic Medication Use in Foster Care Declared at RFK ‘Overmedicalization’ Summit https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/top-federal-child-welfare-official-focused-on-psychotropics/274408 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/top-federal-child-welfare-official-focused-on-psychotropics/274408] Trump’s Planned Spending on Child Welfare and Youth Justice https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/trumps-budget-plan-on-child-welfare-and-youth-justice/274224 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/trumps-budget-plan-on-child-welfare-and-youth-justice/274224] Federal Bill Aims to Address Sibling Separation in Foster Care https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/federal-bill-aims-to-address-sibling-separation-in-foster-care/274283 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/federal-bill-aims-to-address-sibling-separation-in-foster-care/274283] House Committee Moves Bills to Support Current, Former Foster Youth https://imprintnews.org/subscriber-content/house-committee-moves-bills-to-support-current-former-foster-youth/274257 [https://imprintnews.org/subscriber-content/house-committee-moves-bills-to-support-current-former-foster-youth/274257] Lawmakers Seek to End Ban on Medicaid Covering Foster Youths’ Residential Care https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/bill-would-end-ban-on-medicaid-covering-foster-youths-residential-care/273791 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/bill-would-end-ban-on-medicaid-covering-foster-youths-residential-care/273791] Foster Care for Mental Health Treatment: Parents Surrender Thousands of Kids Each Year In Search of Help https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/foster-care-for-mental-health-treatment-parents-surrender-thousands-of-kids-each-year-in-search-of-help/273355 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/foster-care-for-mental-health-treatment-parents-surrender-thousands-of-kids-each-year-in-search-of-help/273355] Adopted and Locked Away: Kids promised ‘forever homes’ instead confined in for-profit institutions https://apnews.com/article/adopted-children-boarding-schools-treatment-investigation-e5d8dab2e4db1f2f4c5abbfaf0d97c52 [https://apnews.com/article/adopted-children-boarding-schools-treatment-investigation-e5d8dab2e4db1f2f4c5abbfaf0d97c52] At CT DCF, staff turnover is high. The costs can be devastating. https://ctmirror.org/2026/05/10/ct-dcf-staff-turnover/ [https://ctmirror.org/2026/05/10/ct-dcf-staff-turnover/] ‘This is where they came to die’: Historical marker highlights horrors at segregated reform school https://marylandmatters.org/2026/05/07/this-is-where-they-came-to-die-historical-marker-highlights-horrors-at-segregated-reform-school/ [https://marylandmatters.org/2026/05/07/this-is-where-they-came-to-die-historical-marker-highlights-horrors-at-segregated-reform-school/] Leo's Law to protect children from fentanyl approved by the Oklahoma Senate https://okcfox.com/news/local/leos-law-to-protect-children-from-fentanyl-approved-by-the-oklahoma-senate [https://okcfox.com/news/local/leos-law-to-protect-children-from-fentanyl-approved-by-the-oklahoma-senate] When Life ‘Explodes’: New Research Explores Why California Foster Youth Miss School https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/when-life-explodes-new-research-explores-why-california-foster-youth-miss-school/274367 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/when-life-explodes-new-research-explores-why-california-foster-youth-miss-school/274367] California Lawmakers Try to Avoid Foster Youth Going Hungry Following Federal Food Stamp Cuts https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/california-lawmakers-looking-to-avoid-foster-youth-going-hungry/274537 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/california-lawmakers-looking-to-avoid-foster-youth-going-hungry/274537] Indigenous People Honor and Raise Awareness for Relatives Who are Missing or Have Been Killed https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/indigenous-people-raise-awareness-for-missing-murdered-relatives/274252 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/indigenous-people-raise-awareness-for-missing-murdered-relatives/274252] ‘The Little Flowers Are Me, Unbloomed:’ Georgia Foster Teens Find Their Voices Through Art Exhibit https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/the-little-flowers-are-me-unbloomed-georgia-foster-teens-find-their-voices-through-art-exhibit/274098 [https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/the-little-flowers-are-me-unbloomed-georgia-foster-teens-find-their-voices-through-art-exhibit/274098]

The Sun Keeps Rising, with Christopher Baker-Scott

In 2021, Christopher Baker-Scott joined The Imprint Weekly Podcast to talk about Sun Scholars, a new nonprofit he started to help support Connecticut foster youth on college campuses. Unlike many school-based approaches around the country, Sun Scholars is a centrally located organization serving youth on a number of campuses around the state.  Five years later, Baker-Scott joined us to talk about what’s gone well, what’s changed, and what he hopes to accomplish in the future as Sun Scholars continues to grow in the state.  Christopher Scott is the founder and Executive Director of SUN Scholars Inc. Drawing from his personal experience in the Connecticut foster care system, Scott has led SUN to achieve a graduation rate 10 times the national average for this demographic.  Thanks to iFoster [https://www.ifoster.org/] for sponsoring this episode. Reading Room Supporting Foster Youth on College Campuses https://imprintnews.org/podcast/supporting-foster-youth-on-college-campuses [https://imprintnews.org/podcast/supporting-foster-youth-on-college-campuses] The Imprint’s coverage of Education https://imprintnews.org/topic/education [https://imprintnews.org/topic/education]

A Fashion Forward Experience for Foster Youth with Sixto Cancel and Sharon McDaniel

On this week’s episode, we were joined by Sixto Cancel, founder and CEO of Think of Us, and Sharon McDaniel, founder and CEO of A Second Chance. We talked first about their relatively new joint venture between the two organizations called Fashion Forward Kinspire, which is entering its second year of helping expose youth in kinship or foster care to the world of fashion culminating with a trip to Fashion Week in New York City.  They stuck around to discuss the recent efforts to update the federal Chafee program for transition-age foster youth, the future of kinship care, and more.  Thanks to iFoster [https://www.ifoster.org/] for sponsoring this episode.  Reading Room Application for the Fashion Forward Kinspire Program https://asecondchance-kinship.com/fashion-forward-kinspire/ [https://asecondchance-kinship.com/fashion-forward-kinspire/] InStylePhD: Fashioned to Lead https://www.youtube.com/@sharonmcdaniel6321 [https://www.youtube.com/@sharonmcdaniel6321] Trump’s Planned Spending on Child Welfare and Youth Justice https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/trumps-budget-plan-on-child-welfare-and-youth-justice/274224 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/trumps-budget-plan-on-child-welfare-and-youth-justice/274224] A Model Standard for Approving Kinship Caregivers https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/model-standard-approving-kinship-caregivers/245279 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/model-standard-approving-kinship-caregivers/245279] Biden Proposes Major Spending Shifts to Prioritize Kin, Foster Care Prevention https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/biden-prioritize-kin-foster-care-prevention/63821 [https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/biden-prioritize-kin-foster-care-prevention/63821]